PB4L 27/08/19

Paulette and Nigel started with our Outdoor Spaces plan.
3:35 p.m.
PB4L:
Active Supervision (duty, by another name)

1. Pre-correct (identify in advance and prompt - positive forecasting)
2. Look the part (be highly visible by using the duty vest)... hotspots are Treemendous (basically the problems occur when it's closed) and behind Tāhaki; discussed duty areas and looked at adjusting these
3. Active Supervision: S(can)M(ove)I(nteract)L(earn)E(ncourage)

Be unpredictable about the way you move! Be planned and purposeful.
Interact
What happens if non-compliance occurs? Restorative.
Lesson plans followed: our respect for others and the environment.

Longworth Education Hot Tips 21/08/2019

Hot Tips & Ideas E-Newsletter

Not All Play-Based Classrooms are Created Equally As we work around the country, supporting teachers to implement evidence-based teaching practices within play-based classrooms, we observe a consistently wide variety of understanding and teaching.  At one end of the continuum, we have those opposed to children playing at school, or those who see play as the activity children do when learning has concluded.  At the other end, we have those passionate free-play advocates, who support the ideal that if children are just left alone to play, learning will occur as a spontaneous by-product of the play process.  And somewhere in the middle we find truly effective, inspiring and exciting learning spaces in whichteachers are intentionally teaching the curriculum through play, gently guiding and respecting children's desire to self-direct and self-inquire about things that interest them. While both ends of the teaching continuum can cite evidence and research to support their claims, it is important to consider the context in which both types exist. Those advocates of the didactic, top-down instructional approach are correct.  There are some things children learn best when 'instructed', rather than left to discover for themselves.  And those advocates of free-play are also correct.  Children learn and develop many new skills when left to explore and discover without adult interference.  Advocates for free-play slam the industrial model of schooling, citing the death of creativity, curiosity, innovation and initiative as victims of the traditional instructional model.  Advocates of teacher-led instructional methods forecast failing achievement levels of students, particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy.  An effective play-based classroom environment is more than setting up a space for children to play in.  It achieves a combination of a variety of teaching strategies, including moments of direct instruction and moments of child-led play. But for the most part, skillful teachers achieve a balance of adult and child-guided learning experiences. For teachers to observe the wide and valuable benefits play provides our children, significant support is required to understand the complexity of teaching skills and strategies needed in an effective play-based classroom.   This support should be sustained and ongoing, because, as with children's learning, there are many highs and lows as teachers work through their own learning pits.

Diverse Learners PD: 13/08/19

Led by Jo and Lynne - link to their slideshow.
Sensory Support Strategies and Heavy Work Activities for Kids (see desktop Word docs).
Lynne's role (as the 'ambulance at the top' rather than at the bottom) and the project described.
Lynne's equipping us to manage with all sorts of diverse learners.
What pushes your buttons? Video clip of Sheldon in his new office (we're all sensitive to certain sensory inputs; mine different to those of others)

• clicking pens 
• certain smells
• sniffing

The other three senses:

• Vestibular: ability to maintain balance (difficulty sitting still, motor planning, problem solving organisation skills, poor handwriting, they'll walk right through the middle of a group without realising)
• Proprioceptive: ability to sense the position, location orientation and movement of the body and is part at any time (our sense of position in space location and orientation of our body and the way it moves to do with the receptors that run through joints and muscles; work on heavy work activities to support with this - there are 40 heavy work activities - if in doubt give these activities to anybody - these are the children who chew on anything, who hide in spaces slot themselves in between two pieces of furniture- give the tightest of hugs - sit and hug their knees - put their arms up inside their sweatshirt - rough play crashing and banging jumping off furniture - heavy work is calming for them - if unsure you can't go wrong with heavy work - handwriting again very tight grip on the pencil press very hard)
• Interoceptive: provides info about our internal sensory system (body awareness - managing self - important for children to develop that awareness)

Children who have experienced trauma may show ASD behaviours (as well as children who have FAS).

Lynne interested to know how we're finding the use of the interoception activities - where are you noticing that stretch? next time see if you can feel it where your friend felt it. Guided noticing. Emotional regulation: for example, you're feeling scared - what happens when you feel scared? What is happening to your body? Take it to the next level.

Captain Lighthouse (youtube clip): message that if it's not working then we have to change something/divert our course. We can't keep doing what we keep doing, otherwise nothing will change.

Strategies for the three other senses:

Vestibular: wobble stool or cushion, hanging upside down, rocking on a Swiss ball, yoga activities, sitting on a spinning chair - this gives them the sense of what they need

Proprioceptive: heavy work, running jumping swinging climbing

Interoceptive: guided noticing of what our bodies look sound and feel like - calming activities; visual prompts to drink toilet, jackets, social stories re emotions, tracking how a student feels throughout the day

Lynne is setting up a system whereby we can access ideas as and when needed. Impt to notice that if another child is displaying the same behaviours as one who has already had support, try using the same activities for that child.

Also be aware of those children who may not have eaten, slept well, be feeling pain or sickness.

Think of a child and come up with a takeaway to try tomorrow: how are this child's sensitivities displayed? What is one strategy you could try tomorrow? Remember something may not work the first time, but it's worth persevering, rather than dismissing after the first (failed) attempt.

Dorinda thought of trying sorting as a calming activity. Might this work for A? 

Teaching For Positive Behaviour (find this!). An amazing resource. 

DMIC PD 6: Mathematical Tasks 12/08/19

Links for readings from PD 3:
A Detracked Math Approach to Promote Respect, Responsibility and High Achievement
Collaborative Planning as a Process
Counteracting the Language of Math Ability
Selecting and Sequencing Complex Tasks
Why Isn't Miguel Learning Math?
Introducing the Big Ideas

Links for readings for PD 6:
Selecting and Creating Mathematical Tasks
Classroom Interactions Around Problem Contexts and Task Authenticity
Teachers Promoting Student Mathematical Reasoning
(...oops, I now realise that all links simply take me back to gmail 😕

But... this link to Kelly's Slideshow should work!
Ref to reading breakdown of tasks into low and high level cognitive demands.

A high level of cognitive demand involves the requirement to make connections: require ch'n to dig deeper and connect to the big ideas/conceptual ideas.

This all comes down to teacher practice and teacher actions.

Mathematical practices: reasoning, justifying, generalising and making a claim which can be backed up with proof, representation. This is why the connect and generalising part of the session is so important.

Teacher actions: Why do you think that? (plus 2 more questions - add later)

SO important for the teacher to stand back and notice and listen. Sometimes the teacher does need to step in and reposition a group (status issues, etc.).

Asking the children to solve a problem in a particular way is reducing the level of cognitive demand. It is OK 'pause' the whole group and get one group to explain how they started the solving.

And it's OK to sometimes have less of an emphasis on context. 

Remember: 15 minutes small group inquiry time. 15 - 20 minutes share and connect. Too much time and behaviour or other problems might set in.

It's very easy to turn a low level cognitive demand problem into a high level one by adding a simple sentence, e.g., "Show your thinking in 2 different ways", or "Justify and prove".

It's good to add the "Show using cubes" requirement in, once a week or so.

Lesson openers that force children to look for similarities and differences 'beef' up the cognitive level.

Website: which one does not belong (and why)

As a lesson opener: ___ is double ___.

Children can have a minute or two on their own with a piece of paper/pencil before turning and talking.

Remember: "Do we agree? Disagree? Turn and talk. Why?"

Another good warm up: Two fractions are super easy to compare. What might they be?

In warm ups make sure there's lots of turn and talk time, justification time and 'how do you know that' time.

Closed question examples: 

• 3+ 7 = ?
• 13 + 17 = ?

How can you make these open questions?

• Turn the questions around
• Ask for similarities or differences
• Replace a number with a blank
• Ask for a number story
• Change the question.

3 + 7 = 

• write a word problem for this equation
• think of another way to represent or write this equation
• write another equation that has the same answer
• draw this problem using pictures or show using materials to justify your thinking.

Area and perimeter: start these problems in Year 2.

Some problems can extend over several days; however, your connects will be different each day.

Visual Patterns: link

Represent your thinking in a table. You can use this statement during the generalisation, e.g., Here's a table which one group has used. How could you put your information into a table. Turn and talk.

See LTP.

Assessment purpose:
Discussion re purpose, current practices and how the information is used.
 A new way... link?
The NAGs are very broad. We need a range of evidence and we need to triangulate.
Administration so assessment tasks:
Teacher uses assessment task as the problem with half the class, with children completing the task individually, and teacher scribing if necessary.
See Fraction example at Level 1. It includes a 'push' to see whether children might be heading into Level 2, knowing more about fractions than required at L 1.
At L 2:

• Do you agree or disagree?
• Can you explain why?
• Can you write some fractions that are =?
• Can you prove that they are = in different ways?

This avoids Maths anxiety. Children are just proving what they know. It's not a test. It's a snapshot of a point in time.
These snapshots can be kept in a clearfile. Every student will have their own clearfile which is kept throughout their schooling to show progress across their schooling.
Tasks can be relatively open tasks which can show their level of thinking regardless of the task itself.
Schools can email Bobbi who will share assessment tasks in particular strands at any level. Many tasks cross levels - the students' responses will indicate the level they're operating at through their response.
See the Algebra task. Nice and open-ended!

Students should always be consolidating what they are doing in their group anyway, so there should always be that 'on your own' Must Do/Can Do section during the time when their half of the class isn't involved in problem-solving with the teacher. This avoids that anxiety, resulting from 'this is a test situation'.
Moderation:
Very similar to the way that we've moderated writing for ages now. Have the Elaborations out so that we know exactly what we're expecting at each of the levels.
Reflection after the moderating is the most important part. Reflection about the teaching:

• Student strengths
• Areas for improvement and misconceptions (important)
• Possible tasks going forward

More links:

• Big Ideas in Maths
• Curriculum Elaborations
• Number and Algebra Patterns and Relationships (Beckenham)
• Geometry and Measurement Position and Orientation (Beckenham)
• Draft Number and Algebra Planning: Koru and Kahikatea

Digital Technologies 12/08/19

Sherryn from Methven: facilitator
Technology Online
Kia Takatū ā-Matihiko - look at this Ministry resource.
See booklet for the process followed throughout this PD session:

1. Computational Thinking Progress Outcomes (CTPOs 1, 2 and 3): reading and summarising them; looking at some examples; assigning the correct PO to particular example activities
2. Designing and Developing Digital Outcomes (DDDOPOs 1 and 2): reading and summarising them; looking at some examples; assigning the correct PO to particular example activities
3. Beebot Innovation Challenge working with Anna, Tracy and Gayle
4. Authentically integrating into a lesson/activity using some of our own planning.