Welcome to my epic journey of self discovery, developing my understanding of education, how we learn and ways to grow as a professional alongside other like minded people that I meet along the way.
Current New Zealand research and results is showing evidence of students not achieving to their best ability.
Is it the Numeracy Project, our pedagogy or content knowledge that needs addressing?
How can we give the teachers more resources to select from and what are the foundation skills our teachers must be addressed?
Are we aligning in our practices across the school?
Prime Maths - could it be an alternative?
Dr Lester Flockton thinks so. He is currently doing research in Christchurch schools which is published on Scholastic website.
I was most concerned about how teachers implement when produced with a text book for every child. However, text books are designed for conversations between two children and teacher.
The lesson format is no different from Numeracy;
- concrete using concrete materials
- pictorial concepts are modeled by pictures representing concrete objects previously used
- abstract using only numbers, symbols, and mental thinking
Planning formats are all done. It includes resources and page numbers for the teacher. Available digitally.
Lestor Flockton has aligned to each curriculum level, ICAN, JAM and Gloss testing.
So;
My next steps;
Shared understanding of what is effective teaching looks like
Criteria of what is needed to raise student achievement
Understanding what teachers know about progressions and content knowledge.
What would support them more?
While these are my next steps, the move away from Numeracy project, I believe is up to the interpretation of pedagogy and knowing your students, progressions and how students learn.
I guess for me it's finding the way teachers learn best in a curriculum area that may or may not be a comfort zone.
Excel in teaching so our learners will excel in the future
The power of a quote to start dialogue about the role of leadership
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. Ralph Nader
Trues leadership lies in guiding others to success, in ensuring that everyone is performing at their, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well. Bill Owens
A leader is a person you will follow to a place you would not go by yourself. Joel Barker.
Classroom Observations
Timperley (2013)
Routine Experts
Teachers transmit content and skills to students and give them opportunities to respond to that knowledge and practise these skills
Adaptive Experts
Teachers who focus on
promoting valued outcomes for each learner
continual learning professional
promoting outcomes for each learner
know each learner
find content or way of teaching them that will help them
ongoing inquiry to advance how their student outcomes
adapt their teaching for every learner
acquire more sophisticated knowledge of the learner and their learning
Start with the WHY; Great leaders inspire everyone to take action
Why?
Protocols
Feedback
Why do we moderate?
Tasks get more complex over time
How consistent are we in our understanding of the literacy progressions?
Do we align with National Standards?
Our OTJ's need to be defendable and justifiable
PACT tool has a literacy exemplars that are awesome
The people that we lead have....
- diverse perspectives
- make assumptions
This is a mum who sold the last shovel at a hardware store during a snow storm.
The Ladder of Inference Creates Bad Judgements
Question your assumptions and conclusions
Seek contrary data
How do the roles within our school with dual roles
Collaborative Activities
Buy, Sell and Exchange - 6 statements each then meet with a buddy to reduce to 6 then meet with four then eight. At the end 8 people 6 statements. (What is the role of Literacy Leader?)
What do we think a Literacy Leader does?
Rich dialogue and Conversations
- provide provocations to challenge current beliefs respectfully and reach new depths of understanding
Quality PD
- content knowledge (what)
- pedagogy of learners (how)
- moral purpose (why)
- current curriculum knowledge
- developed from needs analysis and analysed school wide data
- meeting student and teacher needs to raise student achievement
Be a Learner
- grow, inspire, develop in and out of school
- online
- professional development
- conversations with colleagues
- build a team around you to support the journey
Support and guide
- open to learning relationships
- humour
- interpersonal skills
- children at the heart of all that we do
- effective communication - celebration or difficult conversation
Multiple perspectives
- awareness of up to date approaches
- understanding of neuroscience of how children learn new information
- respectful of journey of teacher
Systems
- growing capabilities
- assessment and tracking and monitoring for student achievement
- support that is appropriate and timely
- distributive leadership
A Literacy Leader has very strong focus on.....
- focus on student outcomes
- leaders as learners
- leaders of learning - what is worth doing and what is not. Being able to say NO
- collaborative relationships with fellow teachers and collaboration encouraged
Robinson's Leadership Dimensions
establishing goals and expectations
strategic resourcing
planning, coordinating, evaluating, teaching and the curriculum
promoting and participating in teacher learning and development
ensuring a supportive learning environment
How Great Leaders Inspire
We believe -
each and every child deserves the opportunity to become empowered in their own learning journey to success.
Leadership Strategy
Put together a portfolio of readings relevant to school / teacher needs
invite staff to flick through and choose a reading to read over the holidays On the first week back we will have wine and cheese and have discussions around what you found out and how it will impact your classroom practice.
Connecting whanau to our learning
Invite parents to write a brag letter about their child.
Protocols of Observations
Have a clear procedure for observation visits
1. Pre-visit conversations 'the why'
2. Sharing and the conversation that happens afterwards
DO NOT ask - How do you think that lesson went?
3. Remember this is a sample - one piece of evidence. You need a series of evidence to know what is going on. Formally and informally.
What else would you add to this?
Having protocols around observational practice keeps personal being in tact.
It is the actions and outcomes as a result of these actions that we are interested in.
The value of number sense, place value, roll over numbers,
The Number Framework Book is the most vital resource we can refer back to. Having a broad range of the whole range.
1. Know the stage number but more importantly the name. (It tells you what the students are doing)
When we solve a problem in real life we have to solve it on our understanding of what we know and interpret from the situation.
When posing problems in maths we ask questions that keep it open - ie: not a specific question of how many or a final question and letting our children make sense of the problems
The difference between stage 6 and 7
The strategies you have applied to whole numbers in stage 6 are the same in stage 7. However they are now being applied to decimals, integers, fractions,
This will highlight any knowledge gaps of place value very quickly and takes time to correctly teach to catch them up.
Pose a problem at stage 4 but scaffold them through to stage six. The strategies build on each other. Don't hold them at a stage until they are completed. Move them through. KEY IDEAS
The key ideas are really important - when children struggle they have not grasped these key ideas.
Some vital key ideas we ned to be aware of; Stage 1
convince them them 7 is 7 Stage 2-3
7 can be split and rearranged in different ways through loads of experiences This is the beginning of place value understanding Stage 4
Objects can be counted by creating bundles of 10. Students must develop a solid understanding of Place Value. Stage 5
Our number system is based on 10. Stage 6
The equals sign means balance Stage 7
10 tens make 100 and 10 hundreds make 1000
Decimal fractions arise out of division.
Next steps
Look, as a team over the progressions of place value
Review visual pathways to ensure these new key ideas have been included accurately.
Are we posing the right problems to develop these key ideas?
If we are wanting children to part whole what equipment will we want them to use.
What are children doing to solve problems at each level?
Level 1
From stage 1 - 4 children count to solve problems
Level 2
From stage 5 - children partitioning around ten to solve problems
Level
From stage 6 - children are solving problems by flexibly using with whole numbers and choosing wisely in their choice of strategy
Level 4
From stage 7 - flexibly using strategies to solve problems wisely in not whole number problems
Allow students to solve problems their way - select student to share their solution they will then see the diverse ways of solving a problem and discussing the most efficient and why.
The Five Practices Anticipate
What stages are they at and where do I want to take them
What different materials might children use?
What we might we want to know? see the range of stages we are working with Sharing and Reflection
Who shares and in what order
struggling children need to articulate their thinking
What was the best equipment to best represent the opportunity for teaching next step
