Oral Language feedback: Jayne Newbury

Thank you, Jo, for sharing the following notes with us following Jayne's meeting with us on Tuesday afternoon.
Jayne shared back with us, having come to visit and observe/listen during one of our Learning Through Play sessions. Her feedback was of immense value, giving us much information about what we can be expecting of normally-developing language and articulation in our 5 year old children.

We were provided with a copy of Jayne's slideshow.

Preschool strategies and how to have very rich conversations was a talk given at the COL last year

Some strategies for younger children can be used at preschool

Difference between early development and conversational language.
Some sounds will still be developing but shouldn’t be for long eg th, sark for shark.
By 8yrs should be fine. Exception of th as f or v. Research shows it is becoming a NZ dialect.
Model and prompt re sounds.
Sometimes need specific structure which is passed the teacher time.
Occasionally teachers can make it worse, but you will notice.
Lisping is normal. 'Dun' for 'thumb' is error not happening at this age.
At school literate language will be more complex introducing more language.
Talk to learn for chn who don't have basic vocab and can’t talk in decent sentences.
Can talk it wouldn’t be useful. Can help with participation eg have skills but don’t participate.
ESOL.
Oral language groups - sometimes don’t make a difference. Keyu is quality programme and
quality support for the TA and that it gets delivered as it should be.
Time given. Eg 4 times a week 30 mins it has to be delivered.
It will develop expressive language, but not receptive language.
Check the programme meets the need.
In small group they might have different goals eg listening in a group - might happen in reading
group doesn’t need to be explicit language group.
During discover time target children who need conversational support.
Lots of opportunities for incidental conversation.

jayne.newbury@canterbury.ac.nz

PB4L Session 1

Introduction by Anna, on behalf of the PB4L team
Kate:

• observations and questioning on April 1 when people visited the teams

Anna:

• looking at preventative measures across the school
• long journey (4-5 years)

Gayle:

• not an easy journey necessarily, but one we'll move through at our own pace
• video: stuck in the mud!

Nigel:

• bullying has been shown to be at worrying levels throughout NZ schools (and some preschools)
• Purpose Statement: worked in teams

Kerilea:

• let's start with basic manners and the way we talk with each other as a focus with our children

DMIC PD Part 2

What are the Key Features of DMIC?

• Group norms
• Launch
• Misconceptions
• Generalisations
• Connections

What are the Teacher Talk Moves?

• Add on
• Repeat
• Revoice
• Turn and talk
• Wait time
• Agree disagree

The natural state of a mathematician is to be stuck - persistence is the key.

Children need the chance to explore and solve problems their own ways. All students will benefit if asked to solve a problem they've never seen before.

How to change status? Change your pairs/groups daily or weekly. This will avoid someone being locked in with the same person all the time and ending up thinking, this is the way things need to be.

Problem solving group-worthy tasks are really great with the development of concepts (see the chart that has all of the Big Ideas). To learn central concepts Ss need to interact, discuss, clarify, justify about big concepts.

How can you make mathematical connections to your students' home cultures?

• flags are presented in welcome assemblies 
• different flag on the flagpole each day
• parents are invited in to speak
• wellbeing survey - team building on sharing of culture

How can I build on this in terms of incorporating the cultures of Japan, Sri Lanka and China?

Add to the end of any problem: Be ready to argue and prove how you worked this out.

Nathan Wallis 21/03/19

On Wednesday, March 21st, teachers throughout Christchurch were lucky enough to be able to attend a 1 1/2 hour talk, given by Nathan Wallis, following the terrorist attack on Friday, the 15th. Nathan gave us highly valuable information about how best to manage children's feelings and behaviour in the wake of such an appalling event.
My notes were jotted in the back of my diary...

Emma Goodall: Interoception, feelings and behaviour in neurodiversity

Slideshow

Kinetic Letters PD

Sue - Kinetic Letters, Part 1

Sue's TAI last year confirmed the beliefs around body strength, pencil grip, etc.
Last year teachers photocopied the children's work at the beginning and at the end of the year. The
programme had had a huge impact.
The programme frees up working memory leaving the children free to concentrate on creativity.
Begin with the red and green sections of the handbook (body strength and pencil grip).
The first 3 weeks need to focus on finger dexterity exercises, and at the same time picking up the
pencil (20 minute sessions); children sit in a circle and pass around a cup - everyone gets a pencil;
we need to be SO quiet to learn how to pick up a pencil.
Hand and finger strength activities (pg. 3): deliberately teach these activities so that the children
are very aware of the purpose of each before putting the activities out at Learning Through Play time.
Learning the Letters: 5 families:
The Jumper Letters (helps with p/q confusion because p is a jumper letter); Island Adventure is the
book to support the jumper letters.
The Abracadabra family ('d' is an abracadabra letter so this helps with the b/d confusion.
The Window Washers (each letter has a little flick)
Move it, Say it, Write it (move it - make it big while standing, medium while kneeling, using a finger
on the carpet - from gross to fine motor movements).

Grow Waitaha Roadshow

Led by Nicole (Rāwhiti) and Rachael (Wigram)

bit.ly/continuumchoice by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClusky (check this website).

Continuum of Choice TM

Providing choice can be confusing. If learners are choosing from a set of pre-planned choices from a computer program or a list of options from the teacher, then the teacher is ultimately the one responsible for the learning not the learner. As learners increase responsibility around voice, teachers can also provide a process that builds ownership as learners move toward agency with choice. 

Participant 

The teacher or a computer program provides a menu of options for learners. These options are choices for learners to learn content through images, videos, text-based resources, audio, hands-on activities, or interactions with peers. These options allow learners to access information, engage with content, and express what they know and understand. The choices offered provide learners opportunities to showcase what they know from writing a paper to creating a performance.

Co-Designer

The teacher provides learning possibilities and then gets out of the way for learners to go on their own journey (via Jackie Gerstein). They invite input from learners to add to options of choices on how they would prefer or need to access information, engage with content, and express what they know. The teacher collaborates with the learner to brainstorm ideas for lesson design, assessment strategies and types of tools and resources to use with activities. Teachers and learners review and collaborate how to give more choice as they learn and demonstrate evidence of learning.

Designer 

The learner chooses topics and direction for what they plan to design based on personal interests. They research topics based on questions generated individually or with peers. The learner acquires the skills they need to choose the appropriate tools and resources for developing and creating their design. Learners, individually or with peers, brainstorm and choose ideas using the design thinking process to create change or design new products:

1. Empathize is where they talk to people and reflect on what they see.
2. Define is where learners become aware of needs and how to make changes to meet needs.
3. Ideate is where learners brainstorm ideas and questions around changes.
4. Prototype can be a sketch or model that conveys the product or idea for change.
5. Test is to determine what works, what doesn’t work and then modifies the prototype.

The learner can be part of a pathways program that guides the design of their learning. They find an advisor or mentor who can guide them as they explore their interests, talents and passions to discover their purpose. They can choose extended learning opportunities such as internships or apprenticeship to take their aspirations to another level.

Advocate

The learner chooses a challenge or problem that they are passionate about. This is where the learner wants to make a difference and perseveres to choose what will be their purpose of learning. When they identify the challenge or problem they then own an authentic voice with a clear purpose for the choices they will make to advocate for what they believe. They employ strategies and build a network of others who want to solve the challenge or problem to advocate for change. The group works strategically to develop an action plan to shape the change. When the learner has the experiences of advocacy working toward something they believe in, they are using the power of democracy and understand their part in the system.

Entrepreneur
The learner self-regulates, adjusts, and determines learning based on what they want to do with their lives. They take their ideas and passion to pursue an idea and possibly to create a business. Even young learners may invent or come up with an idea that improves a product or invent something that has never been done before. This is the driving force that becomes their purpose. They take the lead by driving the design process and advocating for what they believe is an important product or idea. They build a support system as their personal learning network (PLN) that helps guide them on their journey to learn, build, design, create, develop, and promote an idea or product. The learner understands the importance of being connected, branding who they are and pursuing their purpose for learning. 

Reflections:

The Continuum of Choice is highly relevant to my own learning and thinking, not only by dint of the fact that it relates directly to my collaborative appraisal goal this year, but also because, as we know, motivation levels in children increase as those children are given a greater element of choice in what their play and learning relates to. My question is: how is this going to 'work' with children who are transitioning to school with fewer and fewer self-management skills?