Relationship based learning - research

So, I have stripped the back wall of the classroom, with the help of my students. I have started to explain to them what we are doing, and why, and they seem fairly interested.

I started researching best practice around feed-back and feed-forward and found this (below). It seems perfect for what I want to achieve with my inquiry.

Kai Ora Hui

Oruaiti School was recently awarded $1000 towards or chicken run project. Today I went to a networking session in Kaikohe to share our panui and listen to others'. It proved really useful, as I now have a number of contacts from Whangaroa who want to get involved with our school. There were a couple of people who wanted to help us source good laying chickens, another who recommended ducks for our dam, and most exciting, a cooperative farm in Kaeo who want us to take cuttings from our manuka, to supply them with manuka saplings at $1 ea and potentially buy our next year's crop of honey from us.

The opportunities to support our local communities are exciting and I felt among the community groups present, a real sense that our school has built mana within the community in recent years.

Post Coaching Group Meeting Reflections

After a rigorous discussion around our school-wide inquiry focus we have re-jigged the focus to students demonstrating their learning, instead of articulating their learning. The group agreed that their observations confirmed that students are more able to demonstrate than just describe or explain what they have been learning.

The video clip below of a student following the success criteria shows that she can demonstrate what she has learnt but my subsequent questions confirmed that articulating what she was learning was at best reading from the board and most likely not embedded and merely memorized without deeper meaning.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMFuvV7BSfGt1IZCTG4h1YMljTbhKz29Uur8mrA

Today's Reflections from Coaching conversation with Su

Rob Coaching notes Oruaiti

DATE: 14 May 2019

GOAL: How to get the students to articulate and explain what they are learning,
why they are learning it and how they know they have been successful

To have visible exemplars on the walls for students next steps for R, W, M

WHY? Data from RBL has shown that when we ask a cross section of students they
aren’t able to answer that. In order for learning to be fully embedded they need to be
able to articulate their answers and thinking.
If they can do this then they can apply their knowledge and understanding to new situations.
Building the motivation and skills for life-long learning and problem solving

REALITY:

At the moment they are reading it off the board

Can’t necessarily apply it to a new situation

Not transferring skills to Gloss test

Want on the back wall:

ADD/ SUB example of a problem the strategy the next steps all in a line across the wall.

E.g.

Stage 6 I have 112 sheep in a field, I add 126 sheep. How many sheep do I have altogether

Making tens

Making tidy numbers

Place value partitioning

Stage 7 Add/ subtract four digit numbers

So that after a test they can go to the wall and point to where they are at and therefore what
their next steps are.

OPTIONS:

Change the task section on board to a why

Change ‘success criteria’ to ‘How’

Look for ideas for wall displays on pinterest to help students identify their next steps.

WHAT NEXT:

By the end of week four I will have researched different examples of classroom exemplars
so that I can modify them to fit our school.

Bloom's Taxonomy

I think this could be the answer to students articulating their learning and next steps. I have shared it with everyone and we are going to discuss it at our group coaching PD session later today.

Bloom’s Level	Key Verbs (keywords)	Example Learning Objective
Create	design, formulate, build, invent, create, compose, generate, derive, modify, develop.	By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to design an original homework problem dealing with the principle of conservation of energy.
Evaluate	choose, support, relate, determine, defend, judge, grade, compare, contrast, argue, justify, support, convince, select, evaluate.	By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to determine whether using conservation of energy or conservation of momentum would be more appropriate for solving a dynamics problem.
Analyze	classify, break down, categorize, analyze, diagram, illustrate, criticize, simplify, associate.	By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to differentiate between potential and kinetic energy.
Apply	calculate, predict, apply, solve, illustrate, use, demonstrate, determine, model, perform, present.	By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to calculate the kinetic energy of a projectile.
Understand	describe, explain, paraphrase, restate, give original examples of, summarize, contrast, interpret, discuss.	By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to describe Newton’s three laws of motion to in her/his own words
Remember	list, recite, outline, define, name, match, quote, recall, identify, label, recognize.	By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to recite Newton’s three laws of motion.

Coaching with Su - Wall exemplars

Having discussed my ideas with Su in our coaching session I have decided that a simpler approach like the one above will work best. So, the exemplar is on the top, going across in stage order. Instead of names below in colours I will have student friendly success criteria.

I have agreed that by the end of week 4 I will have completed my research of current wall displays and have decided finally on what I will go with for maths.

Health and well being

One of the things I am really bad at is looking after my well being. Particularly during busy periods of the term. Juggling sole parenting while Su is away, school and renovation takes its toll physically, mentally and emotionally. I don't want to get to the end of term two a total wreck like every other term end, so I am committing fingers to keyboard in order to initiate my well being overhaul.

It appears that my diet is too acidic and that a more alkaline diet will provide me with more energy, focus and clarity. These are three things that I have struggled to maintain of late.

So, improved diet is key. Rich in dark green vegetables and low in caffeine, dairy, sugar, alcohol and refined carbohydrates. How exiting?!

I am going to try a week of high alkaline consumption, this week I have the following to salivate over:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

Wall exemplars

I am considering putting gloss questions on the back wall.  They will be in rows according to add/sub, mult/div and proportions.

Under the word problem will be a breakdown of the stage and the appropriate strategy for that stage.

Students will know what stage they are at for each domain because after week they will do a brief snapshot which will be assessed and feedback given.

This will clearly show where they are and what their next steps are.



Add/sub questions → strategies/exemplars → levels

Mult/Div questions → strategies/exemplars → levels

Proportions and Ratios questions → strategies/exemplars → levels

Assessment for Learning

I have just marked my Gloss Maths tests for term two, pre reports. The thing that stands out is that the content that the students are learning is not being related to the questions well enough. Therefore the students are not making the connection to their prior learning.

For example, when I give the year 5 students a piece of work that is levelled at stage 6-7 they can complete it successfully. Conversely, when I put a question in front of them in test conditions, the strategy that they were confident using a week or so ago has slipped away.

So, do I gloss test a strategy at a time after each piece of learning? I clearly need to make more explicit connections to the word problems. Below is an example of what I am currently doing.

On reflection, the success criteria is not clear enough and the question is too broad. I am going to try again. This time I will try a Gloss question, with really tight success criteria and then test the students afterwards. 

Critical thinking - Teaching as Inquiry

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IA2fBvHntIRYm4U9P2IqlO6hyKR7jd_1SGxF6q2av5U/edit?ts=5cd4dbd2

For our school-wide teaching as inquiry focus we are looking deeper into students' critical reflection and how well they can articulate their learning goals, why they are learning it and what their next steps are.

While I am developing my wall space to clearly show exemplars, levels and next steps I have also worked towards clearer learning intentions and success criteria.

However, the reflective questions that the students answer seem as if they are just repeating what is on the board and they are not speaking from their hearts.

I am having a coaching session on Tuesday and this is going to be my focus...

Relationship Based Learning - My Journey towards clearer success criteria and next steps

I still need to use my wall space in the classroom more effectively. Kauri class moved away from student displays some tome ago as we are more interested in the process of learning (growth) than the final product.

This means that I can use the back wall to display leveled exemplars that clearly next steps.  This what my wall currently looks like.

It is a wasted space at the moment, apart from the habits of mind jigsaws. The student certificates have not been kept up to date and there is not much in terms of student success. My next step is to look at different ways of presenting levels in maths, writing and reading and next steps that student can easily navigate around and articulate.

First week of Alim

This week kauri class has begun ALIM front loading. I have six target students in the group, however I have no room for other students to make it less "levelled."

So far I have seen some promising results. I am still unsure if one particular student needs a different intervention as he still struggles with engagement and focussing in a small group (is this deficit?)