Following my first visit for my appraisal Marcelle and I had a chat about my next steps when delivering my maths programme. Having netbooks in my classroom I am now integrating ICT into my reading, writing and maths programmes. BUT the reality of using technology in the classroom was witnessed in my appraisal. Unfortunately my netbooks weren't allowing me to save into favourites so I thought the next best option would be to type up the websites and save them into a word doc so that the kids could go to that copy it and paste it into the URL space. For some students this was no trouble and away they went but for others it was a difficult task navigating their way around. Spending time struggling on their own to sort it out rather than move onto the next task I had allocated or asking another person in their group meant they wasted some of their learning time. Hence one of my goals was to establish netbook experts. I thought it was important to have experts for each group this way we don't just have a couple of experts who are pulled out of their learning time with me to sort a problem out for someone completing an independent task. Hopefully by having a couple of experts in each group they can help sort each other out. To help me in my attempt to make the kids more independent I can now save into favourites YAY! So I have created a folder for each group within favourites. Using the teaching station I was able to show the whole class how to access their favourites folder and the task that had been set. The experts then showed everyone how to do it giving everyone another opportunity to watch how it is done but also to confirm to me that each of the experts knew what they were doing. This has worked well so far :-) and the confidence in using the netbooks will hopefully cross over into the other learning areas. I guess integrating netbooks into our learning is like anything else it will take sometime for it to be 'the norm' and for everyone to easily access it takes practice.
Another goal was to get the kids more confident in using the language to explain what they were learning. Last year I went on some maths PD and discovered during that the benefits of getting the kids to come up with the WALT at the end of the lesson to check who got it and who didn't. I do find this useful but the other day a couple of kids were telling me what they learnt and said things like 'what a third of 18 equals,' (which was more about the problem we had been working on). What we were really learning was fractions of a set. This got me thinking that perhaps with them coming up with the WALT they were not being exposed to enough modelling of the language of what they have been learning. As a result I have since established a page in their modelling book where at the end of the week I talk about what they have been learning to do and then get them to help me put it in their words to write in their modelling book. I have told them that they can use this to come back too if someone asks what they are learning to do and they want to say more than just learning about fractions. We are referring back to this learning goal at the beginning of lessons (when it still applies to what we are learning). In the short time this has been established in class I have noticed an increase in children's ability to answer the question of what they have been learning to do, which is great to hear!
All through the groups modelling books I write the children's names when they give me a strategy of how they work out a problem which provides great formative assessment. When I think kids might have just about got a concept I will pose a problem and give each child a piece of paper to show their working on and glue this in the modelling book as another snapshot of where they are up to with their learning. But one thing that was picked up on was that there wasn't one place that I could quickly glance to see who has got a concept and who hasn't. Hence this became my next learning goal. So on the bottom of the page with our weekly WALT statement/goal I have used a pink post-it note to show which kids have 'GOT IT' and a yellow post-it to highlight the kids that still need some 'PRACTICE,' at it. Then after each lesson I have started putting in little pink and yellow bubbles the kids names in the appropriate box. It is interesting that after introducing it to them they are now at the end of the lesson putting themselves in the boxes saying "I think I still need some practice at that." This is great to see as it merges the two latter goals together as kids are obviously becoming more responsive to their learning goals and were they fit with it.
So all in all I think as a class we are making some good steps towards achieving these goals and I look forward to contining to see improvements in their mathematics learning.
Below is a snapshot taken from one of my modelling books showing how I have set up the new language WALT focus and the assessment at a glance.
Another goal was to get the kids more confident in using the language to explain what they were learning. Last year I went on some maths PD and discovered during that the benefits of getting the kids to come up with the WALT at the end of the lesson to check who got it and who didn't. I do find this useful but the other day a couple of kids were telling me what they learnt and said things like 'what a third of 18 equals,' (which was more about the problem we had been working on). What we were really learning was fractions of a set. This got me thinking that perhaps with them coming up with the WALT they were not being exposed to enough modelling of the language of what they have been learning. As a result I have since established a page in their modelling book where at the end of the week I talk about what they have been learning to do and then get them to help me put it in their words to write in their modelling book. I have told them that they can use this to come back too if someone asks what they are learning to do and they want to say more than just learning about fractions. We are referring back to this learning goal at the beginning of lessons (when it still applies to what we are learning). In the short time this has been established in class I have noticed an increase in children's ability to answer the question of what they have been learning to do, which is great to hear!
All through the groups modelling books I write the children's names when they give me a strategy of how they work out a problem which provides great formative assessment. When I think kids might have just about got a concept I will pose a problem and give each child a piece of paper to show their working on and glue this in the modelling book as another snapshot of where they are up to with their learning. But one thing that was picked up on was that there wasn't one place that I could quickly glance to see who has got a concept and who hasn't. Hence this became my next learning goal. So on the bottom of the page with our weekly WALT statement/goal I have used a pink post-it note to show which kids have 'GOT IT' and a yellow post-it to highlight the kids that still need some 'PRACTICE,' at it. Then after each lesson I have started putting in little pink and yellow bubbles the kids names in the appropriate box. It is interesting that after introducing it to them they are now at the end of the lesson putting themselves in the boxes saying "I think I still need some practice at that." This is great to see as it merges the two latter goals together as kids are obviously becoming more responsive to their learning goals and were they fit with it.
So all in all I think as a class we are making some good steps towards achieving these goals and I look forward to contining to see improvements in their mathematics learning.
Below is a snapshot taken from one of my modelling books showing how I have set up the new language WALT focus and the assessment at a glance.
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