Writing Effectively Conference

Wow what an amazing conference!
2 days spent at the Ellerslie Event Center being inspired and changing the way we look at writing and our writing programmes.

I am slowly trying to take in all the new ideas, information and work out how I am going to apply those to my class effectively. I spent the entire conference tweeting out tidbits of information that I found interesting, inspiring and though provoking. What was cool about this was other teachers around NZ were tweeting me back and being able to join in on the learning and passion for writing being shared by the great presenters.

We were lucky enough to attend the entire conference as a school. Our main focus being on seeing Jeff Anderson.

Day 1:

Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences, Grammar and Beyond (Jeff Anderson) - Whole Day

Day 2:

- Writing WORDshop: Grappling with Words (Jeff Anderson) - This was my favourite session!!
- Express Lane Editing (Jeff Anderson)
- What's in a Sentence (Gail Loane)

I love to write (I spend a lot of my own time writing YA Fiction) but I don't by any means consider myself an expert. I think my writing programme is working but I know it can be better. Now I have some tools and knowledge to open the door even further for my students.

A huge thanks to Annemarie Hyde who so beautifully Storify-ed my tweets for me! 

Day One:

Day Two:

My Goals:

1. Co-construct anchor charts with my students and put them up as 2nd teacher/visual reminder
2. Words! - Get a writing journal (A4) for my students and begin to collect words
3. Revise - Introduce DRAFT
4. Shopping List/Receipt
5. Notice - Start noticing literature, different text types across the curriculum 

I have compiled a list of the Literature that Jeff Anderson had either mentioned or was in the Appendices of his books (Unfortunately it is only letting me show 7 of the 270 books, will try fix this later):

Lego Self Portraits

I decided to do something a little different this year. Instead of asking students to draw a self portrait of themselves in pencil (that they usually hate because one facial feature is always way out of whack) I told them they were creating a Lego character that embodied who they are inside and out. They had to design this Lego character's clothing, facial expression and background to fit who they viewed themselves as.

There are tons of great examples of this art on Pinterest that I showed my class before we began to provide inspiration and motivation. What I love most about this art, is that it looks so vibrant on the wall and no one feels like they failed at a self portrait. My students are extremely proud of their efforts. The Art is going to be paired with a 30 word poem they wrote about themselves on the first day of school.

I can't wait to get it all up on the wall - Once I track down a ladder for my insanely high ceilings!

Survival Island (Critical Thinking)

I started the first day of the school year assessing my student's ability to think critically. It was a full day activity that I found hugely successful and the students had fun!

I had the desks arranged in groups of four before the students entered the class. As the students filtered in I told them to think carefully about where they sat because there was an exciting challenge ahead. They needed to sit with people they thought they could work well with and who they thought were good problem solvers and finders.

Through this activity I was able to see who was creative, who had leadership qualities, who thought outside the box, what their work ethic, their questioning skills and was like and who was confident in sharing their ideas.






Examples of Student Work:

Teacher Only Day: Session Three

21st Century Teaching and Learning

How do you engage students in quality thinking?

3 Student Engagement Myths

1. High-Tech works best

- This is has well intentions
- More tech is coming into play and teachers think they need it all
- We don't need 6 usb ports at every desk and 25 3D printers to have quality thinking and learning
- It is a tool not a strategy
- The high touch works, not the high tech
- The number one driver of student learning is what does the student bring to the learning?

2. You must be like them

- You don't need to dress, walk and talk like them
- Don't be a generational transvestite
- They don't want you to be like them
- Be yourself, and be real!

3, They are Self Sufficient

- On the outside students look self assured, in control and can use all the tech.
- Behind this confidence is a generation who crave mentoring, leadership and connection with adults
- This is a fatherless generation, with 62% growing up in single mother homes
- We need to bridge the gap to help form relationships the are craving


The 6 Keys to Engaging Tomorrow's Students 


1. Put Relationship Before Role

- "The teachers we connect with are the ones who treat us like people and not like students"
- Common sense isn't always common practise
- Many teachers were taught the phrase "Don't smile until Easter" - This is the Industrial approach of power and control, authority developing distance and fostering fear and intimidation. This is the separation of role and relationship, this does not work today!
- "I don't care how much you know till I know how much you care"
- Today's students learn teachers not subjects

Be Authentic

- Make opportunities to be real with your students
- Be willing to look silly
- Break down barriers
- They sense BS faster than any other generation, as soon as they sense hypocrisy, fakeness or double standards that wall of trust is gone and they will shut down
- Show weakness - this is a strength today, students value honesty
- Apologise for mistakes
- Give up the control!
- Be vulnerable

Be Interested

- Weave pop culture into the classroom to create relevance
- When you take an interest in them, they will want to learn about you - 2 way exchange

Be Flexible

- Less rules - Less ways for you to be frustrated, let down and upset 
- Pick your battles - does it really matter?
- Are the rules you have set up in the context of a relationship?
- Rules without relationships lead to rebellion, rules with relationships lead to respect

2. Matrix Learning

- Show students how what you teach is connected to other subjects, learning and the outside world
- Students need to see the interconnectedness of knowledge
- Knowledge spread across a range of subject areas is vital
- Show connections between skills - if not students will fail to see the relevance - "Why are we learning this? Why do I need this? When will I ever use this?"
- Connect learning to things that are real - tangible
- Be honest with students, if it doesn't connect tell them. This will earn their trust - "Hey let's play the game together, you need to learn this just because you do"

3. Adopt a Facilitator Role

- Be the facilitator of learning and knowledge
- A facilitator asks all the right questions
- We have a generation of 'lazy' learners because all the answers are a click away
- The purpose of a good question isn't to get an answer, it is to promote discussion and self reflection

5 Ingredients to a Powerful Question

1. Avoid closed questions
2. Ask with a curious and inquiring tone
3. Answer a question with a question
4. Adjust your expectations of what an appropriate response is
5. Don't ever start a question with the word 'Why'

- If you start a question with the word 'Why' you have instantly set up an adversarial scenario. You have set that student up to fail, they will get on the defence, justify and argue or they will play the game.
- Change from "Why did you do that?" to "What made you do that?"

4. Give Regular Positive Feedback

- What gets recognised and rewarded gets repeated
- How often are we recognising behaviours we don't want repeated?
- If you want to get the best out of the students, you need to catch students doing the right thing and reward it
- Don't catch students doing the wrong thing and punish it
- Give feedback personally
- Give feedback publicly
- Give feedback proportionately to the amount of effort put in
- Generation Y are incredibly competitive and will work hard to get public praise
- However if you are praising all the time students will become desensitised to the praise

5. Use Stories to Make your Point

- Narrative is effective
- Put the lessons and principles to life
- You are no longer the messenger of content, you are the key part
- Stories are powerful
- "Don't tell me it's right, show me it works"
- Don't feel like you are wasting class time if you are telling a story with a purpose
- Share your experiences and let them make the connections of commonality
- Don't just tell good stories, share your mistakes


6. Go for Commitment not Compliance

- When trying to get students to adopt actions and behaviours, are you opting for commitment or compliance?
- Give students a reason to want to commit
- This is all done by the language we use:

Compliance

- You must...
- You should...
- We expect...
- In the past we have done...
- It is always been...
- The punishment will be...
- The rules clearly say....

Commitment

- You might find...
- You could...
- The benefit would be...
- There is great value in...
- It might be a good idea if...
- The reward for...
- The advantage is...