"I love teaching" conference

This was a great conference and very inspriring on several levels.

Dr Jeni Wilson

Made me look at the nature of inquiry in my room again, and think of some tools to use to encourage higher order thinking.

Her keynote had a lot of ideas about how schools can work in ways that are better for kids learning, ina less traditional way. There were some exciting use of spaces and teacher resources. It has made me consider how I structure my programme in literacy and numeracy and question whether there is another way that is is even more small group centred (there is already a lot of small group teaching) , and therefore more targeted to individual needs. I'm not sure how to structure this as yet, but am willing to give it a try!

I also liked her workshop idea, where children can take more responsibility for their learning by signing up for teacher led workshops. I wonder how this would look in my room?

James Nottingham

• Praise the process, not the child.--Effort!
  
• Eureka! I found it!- Not my teacher told me... Appreciate and value the struggle to gain a new understanding. Question and question and get them muddied in their own explainations.

Wilson McCaskill

A very passionate man, with a fantastic approach to teaching life skills through games. I was intrigued with the language he uses, and how he puts things for children. "Were you doing the right thing Sally? How did that feel?" as an example for those who are not. Creating a safe place for kids to challenge themselves.

I plan to spend some time with his books and DVD's, in order to absorb some more of his language and philosophy, and use some games with my class.

Allie Mooney

What a dynamic presenter. I really identified with her descriptions of a 'peaceful' person, and it helped me understand some things about myself- like how I hate being put on the spot, and do much better if I have some time to consider an answer or opinion. I find myself considering everyone- collegue, friend, child, parent, in terms of thier 'type', and I'm looking forward to reading her book, and maybe doing some work with my class using her treasure tree book too.

Lots to think about and take action on!

Techie

I was fortunate enough to go to Marks techie on twitter, readers and skype. I had hooked up to twitter but was still unsure how to use it, and I had never 'skyped'.

Mark is quite a fan of twitter and it was really interesting to see how he uses it. I can see when you have a group of professional educaters, it's a great way to get ideas, and keep motivated. I need a tweetdeck so I can use it at school, which I can't get yet as my 'old' laptop doesn't have 'appstore'. However I can keep an eye on it at home. The key is to get following some interesting people, and in turn, be 'followed', so any crafty questions have a hope of being answered! I still wonder about the time issue- where to fit it in amongst a busy life, but as Mark said he doesn't have the time not to do it it's so useful, so I shall give it a go!

It was great to skype for the first time. Very easy too! I am looking forward to finding a purpose to do this with my class in the near future. It amuses me that now I can see when people in my skype address book come on line, and can also instant message them. That could be useful- Nat and I had a great work based chat the other night. At the same time I was getting emails and saw people working on google docs. It was 9pm! What a dedicated lot we are...

2011

OK, it's the end of the first term and here I am. After much staff discussion, I am seeing how blogging could be a great reflection tool as a practictioner, so I am going to have a go, and revivie my blog! I had some great inspiration today from our cluster Kath Murdoch day. I left feeling buzzed, and energised with the thought of where to next with creating my inquiry classroom? It was great to reflect on how far we have come in a year (since our last Kath Murdoch day) in our understanding and teaching of inquiry. It was also somewhat daunting! As I listened to her talk and show examples I had a clear sense of where to next, but there seems so much to do, and I want it all to happen tomorrow! However, after some discussion I left with clear goals to implement now. I will

• revisist Kath's book, and her recommended websites to choose some inquiry tools to explicitly teach, and make part of our class routine. These will become part of our class display.


• Use inquiry language (something I'm already trying to do with the stages of inquiry) and keep talking about how the children are learning to be thinkers (in all curriculum areas)- building learning muscle, let's check our thinking, building the concept of replacing old thinking with new thinking. Awareness of themselves as learners!


• Work on the concept of the 'tool box' and filling the 'compartments'


• Use our learner profile to help create a culture of being a learner- goal setting and reflection, co-constructed understanding of each with the children.


• Work at encouraging the curious nature in our learners!


• Question more, tell less. Involve the children more.

Not much to work on then! I'm excited to contemplate the shift in my classroom practice. I hope the reflection of blogging will help keep the 'buzz' alive, and keep me focussed on what I'm trying to achieve!

Trying Voice Thread

Awnswer Garden

What is a New Zealander?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

It's been ages since my last post! Naughty me. However, I plan to improve! It's been a really busy term with production and things. I've continued using ict in the classroom and I've continued finding it a challenge. I have enjoyed exploring all the great websites we have been discovering, and adding weekly games appropriate to the childrens learning to my literacy programme has been easy (except finding the time to explore everything as much as I would like!) The challenge comes in the extra time using the log in system- the children are logging in as anyone, and it's a pain getting back to my log in with the appropriate thing bookmarked. And also fixing things when they navigate off the page the game is on. I really don't like taking time away from my reading groups and not sure how to manage this more effectively.

I love using the IWB each day for writing. The children are good at giving feedback to the writer, and it keeps their own feedback skill polished when its their turn with their buddy.

Have tried using cameras in independent activities several times recently without much success. They don't always follow instructions well, and need an adult with them as they learn. Some more close guidance would help I think, but time constraints have been great in the last few weeks. However, I have some ideas for the last few weeks of term, so I hope to get things up and running, and a few things added to our class blog.

Watch this space!

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