TEACH LIKE A PIRATE - ASK AND ANALYZE

"Capturing your thoughts validates their worth" pg 47

Where and when do you get your best ideas? What do you do to remember them?

"Creative ideas don't come out of the blue; they come from engaging in the creative process. That critical process starts when you ask the right types of questions and then actively seek the answers".

Pinterest is my favourite. I often find myself scrolling for nothing in particular just before bedtime and this is when I will find an idea that I love/want to share with my class or adapt it/change it. Remembering ideas from Pinterest is easy - save it to my board.

I also believe some of the best ideas are from the great teachers around us! Sharing/asking questions/general conversation about what one another is doing.

RAPPORT - TEACH LIKE A PIRATE!

What is rapport? Why is it important?

Connecting with all students in a environment that is safe and supportive where children feel valued. Rapport is building trust and respect with all students in the class.

"Kids can tell the difference between teachers who only seem to care about them when they are sitting in the classroom, and those who see past the "student" to the unique person who resides inside."

IMMERSION - TEACH LIKE A PIRATE!

Are you a lifeguard (more focus) or a swimmer (total immersion)?

I think I mainly sway towards being a swimmer. Yes I may have the odd lesson where I stand back but most of the time I'm immersed in the learning with the children.

Interesting in this section...."Student's can feel it when you are truely present".

I wonder if the kids have noticed I haven't been truely present this week....having nits, I have to say my paranoid mind has been in action and it's constantly been on my mind. I'm pleased to say I had my hair checked today and she confirmed that they were all gone :)

This also made me think of the Bin it, Bag it, and Bring it approach that Donna and Glenys introduced us too. 

What are 2 things you can do in your classroom to make the swap from focus to immersion?

Testing - this is a time where I'm not immersed in the tasks set for the children. Where possible I try to complete my testing in my extra value added time / CRT etc.

Independent group tasks i.e maths / reading - Join in on an activity after taking a group / have a slot where I join in with the children on their independent activities.

"Total immersion. Your ability to completely give yourself up to the moment and fully "be" with your students is an awesome and unmistakably powerful technique".

PASSION - TEACH LIKE A PIRATE!

In your classroom what curriculum area are you passionate about teaching?

I am most passionate about teaching WRITING! 

 

I love providing opportunities for children to use their imagination, engage in new experiences, be creative and share their stories with others. I love listening to my student's stories. Seeing them smile, laugh and be so proud of their work. Every student has a different story to tell and each piece of writing is unique and tells a different story. 

Within your profession but not specific to curriculum area, what are you passionate about?

I'm passionate about being the best teacher I can be, building some of the best relationships with my student's and being their for those kids who need that someone special in their lives. I want to be a breath of fresh air for my students and make their learning environment a positive and safe environment. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion#t-67213

Completely outside your profession, what are you passionate about?

I'm passionate about my family. I love having family time with my partner and my wee boy. I enjoy renovating our house and moving forward together.

Art, craft, craft markets...

Cooking, baking....etc

Oh and gardening :)

I LOVED....

"It's about helping the next generation fulfill their potential and become successful human beings. It's no longer about memorising facts; it's about inspiring greatness." P.g 10

"no matter where they start in life, or how low they fall, they can still, through the power of self-education and their own efforts, rise to greatness." P.g 10.

"Passion is all about being on fire in front of your class." P.g 12

Hui Term 2

First Hui yesterday afternoon for Term 2. We have moved onto focusing on actions for the next four weeks, then body parts between weeks 5-8 and then finishing the term with Matariki in weeks 9 and 10. I took our first session yesterday and for it being the first day back after a two week holiday and an afternoon session I thought the children did well. Two children from each class get an opportunity to come up to the front to complete their mihi and we have now extended the mihi for our Yr 3 students. This seems to take a very long time as most students need help to complete their mihi. For example they don't no what their parents first names are, they don't know their iwi etc. I believe it would be beneficial for each child to have their own copy of their personal mihi. These could then be laminated and practised over the week and brought to the hui session to make this part of the hui more beneficial. 

I loved the lyrics and music to Ka taea e au and thought this was a great song to include for our action hui lessons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ehsUjQhMUM

Moving forward I would space some of the songs out better between activities as I had put a lot of the songs near the end of the lesson. 

Writing! Writing! Writing!

Well we all know Writing is a huuuuuugggggeeee passion of mine and if I could I would teach Writing all day long! We end Term 1 and I can happily say I'm amazed with how my Writing programme is ticking along and the high standard of writing being produced by my wonderful students. They know I have very high expectations of them but they always rise to the challenge and by the end of their writing session they are super proud of themselves. Every child is able to write the short date and underline it using a ruler, the children are writing on every second line (some still needing stars in their margin) and they are all writing amazing sentences about the experience we have completed on the Monday. We write a class brainstorm on the Monday together, sometimes we do a map plan on this day also. I take loads of pictures during our experience, whether that is making popcorn, planting our flowers in pots, making fruit kebabs etc. I then make a sheet up which has pictures of them doing their experience and all the words we used in our brainstorm. This is ready to go and stuck in on the left hand side of their page so that they have a reference to turn to before their writing session. I have a lot of ESOL students in my class this year and I really find the visuals and the class brainstorm already stuck into their books helps these students a lot. Whilst I'm working with a mixed ability group the other students are either making a plan for their writing for the week, completing a fine motor activity, completing a jolly phonics sheet, creative writing or doing cut up sentences.

Next term our focus for Writing is:

Like this term we will still complete an experience on the Monday, whether that is brushing our teeth, making something healthy etc. We will do a classroom brainstorm about what we did and the steps. We also have some amazing opportunities to complete personal recounts about our visits when a guest speaker comes to visit us and also about themselves and their family. I'm really excited for another wonderful term of writing :)

Delving Deeper - Collaboration and Innovation in Schools.

Jane Gilbert presented at the Delving Deeper conference at the beginning of our day. She talked about Collaboration and Innovation in schools. Many points she made about collaboration raised questions, ideas, thoughts in my head about how collaboration is working in our junior team and how I could better myself as a teacher in the junior team and/or how our team could collaborate better also.

Strong collaboration is "not just sharing, pooling or exchanging existing ideas - this just reproduces existing ideas". I love this!! We as teachers are creative and forward thinkers but yet so many of us get trapped and collect and use ideas developed by others. I feel it's important that I remember to process the ideas raised, change ideas and make that idea better if possible. It's important as we travel along the collaboration journey that we create not best practice but next practice. This world is forever changing around us and it's so easy to hear or see an idea that is being used collaboratively and use it but how can we make that idea better.

Jane mentioned that productive collaboration requires deep engagement with ideas, with colleagues, with difference. It's important that if I don't understand the context about something that is being said, instead of going along with the flow, I need to think how can i get something from this person? ask questions. I need to always pay attention to my own learning and development needs and to my own on-going cognitive growth and ask myself....what am I getting out of this? How can I get more out of this to make me a better teacher.