Wow! What a busy term! But in that time there has been a lot of great learning too for both the kids and myself. Attending an ICT course in the holidays I learnt about exploring the ipad and layering the apps. I have always been aware of using the ipad in a productive way so that it doesn't just become a babysitter or give kids 'busy' work. But this course made me think even further about it.
Since attending that course I have shared back the information at a staff meeting with Te Kowhai and at the term ICT Connected Cluster. It has been great to see kids playing games that they love like Maths Slide but then taking a screen shot and posting it on their blogs reflecting and setting goals for the next time they play that game. Today it was awesome to see my Techsperxs coming back from their meeting and sharing what apps are good to use. They then took a screen shot of the apps, created a comic life, then put the comic life onto a pic collage and then loaded it onto the blog. A great example of layering but the best thing was that it was completely student driven with no teacher direction to layer the apps and get more out of them.
Something I want to do more of next term is our app wall in class. We are beginning to look at an app a fortnight. How can this help with our learning type reflective questions and getting the kids to tell me if it is a practice app, problem solving app, collaborative app etc and how can we make it more than just a practice app? Getting the kids to talk more about the benefits and justify why it should still be on our ipad and not removed.
This term I started a class twitter account. Some of the kids have really understood the benefit of twitter and are sharing links to their work encouraging people to comment and visit their blog which is great to see. We have also taken part in kidsedchat which the kids have enjoyed and gets them sharing with others around the country finding out what they are learning and again encourages questioning as they comment back to people.
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Raw&Flawed, Published vs Perfect-Student Voice
I really like the idea of using our blogs to showcase the process of learning rather than the mastered learning. I like the idea of publishing raw ideas ready to get feedback all the way along. He is right in the momentum being great at the start. I notice this with comments as well. The sooner the kids see the comments the more impact they get from them.
Publishing student voice from EDtalks on Vimeo.
Publishing student voice from EDtalks on Vimeo.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Giving kids choice-Who holds the power
I really like this idea as a way to get the kids thinking about who holds the power and to reflect on my own teaching. Am I making too many of the decisions? Am I letting the kids take ownership of their learning? How could I give them more choice in the day?
I would be interested in trialing this with my class and maybe adding a column with what they would like to have more choice or say in?
Taken from Emma Winder's blog http://my-learning.me/2013/04/22/who-has-control/
Who has control?
Interestingly, when I’ve spoken to the students in Year 6 lately, they’ve told me that they have lots of control in the classroom. I can’t say I agree, though they may well have plenty of control compared to previous years at school. So, to give both myself and the kids in my class a better idea of who had control over the various aspects of the classroom, I decided to have a big discussion around this.
Below is the result of this discussion:
| Miss Winder controls: | Teacher and kids have joint control: | Kids have control: |
Planning:
|
|
|
Human Connections-Relationships
This is a great video about relationships an interesting point made about how kids don't learn from teachers they don't like. Nothing new but so right! I certainly had some teachers who I didn't click with or really truly respect. Because of this I either taught myself because I had exams that were worth something to me or gave up on the subject. Which if we let our students give up on a subject doesn't that mean that we have given up on the student? Have we done our best job if students give up?
I wonder how I can use positive affirmations each morning to raise students confidence in themselves?
I love her positive attitude and turning a negative situation (the F) into a positive and you can only imagine the student will next time try their best to do better not only to please the teacher but also do better for themselves. I think sometimes that is the key getting them to take ownership of their own learning.
I wonder how I can use positive affirmations each morning to raise students confidence in themselves?
I love her positive attitude and turning a negative situation (the F) into a positive and you can only imagine the student will next time try their best to do better not only to please the teacher but also do better for themselves. I think sometimes that is the key getting them to take ownership of their own learning.
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Storytelling ipad apps Master Class
This morning we meet for a master class on Storytelling apps on the ipads.
Sock puppets was the first one we looked at for an animated way to tell a story.
The saved copies can be found under open and to delete you just hold down on one you want to delete and it will come up with a delete button to push.
Toontastic was another recommended one. This has a plot, setting, characters, problem and solution to all plan and plot your story out with.
With Puppet Pals you can insert your own photos eg: you as the character or our school as the setting. You can save it to your camera roll to upload onto your blogs by inserting as a video or going through safari on the ipad as it is a video.
Big cats are big book read-a-louds but you can also go to story creator and retell the story the kids have just listened to.
Book creator is another great app that you can then save as an ibook. With book creator you can add a photo, sound or even video.
TIP-To stop the annoying update beeps go to settings then notifications then find the app that keeps popping up and push to off.
Sock puppets was the first one we looked at for an animated way to tell a story.
The saved copies can be found under open and to delete you just hold down on one you want to delete and it will come up with a delete button to push.
Toontastic was another recommended one. This has a plot, setting, characters, problem and solution to all plan and plot your story out with.
With Puppet Pals you can insert your own photos eg: you as the character or our school as the setting. You can save it to your camera roll to upload onto your blogs by inserting as a video or going through safari on the ipad as it is a video.
Big cats are big book read-a-louds but you can also go to story creator and retell the story the kids have just listened to.
Book creator is another great app that you can then save as an ibook. With book creator you can add a photo, sound or even video.
TIP-To stop the annoying update beeps go to settings then notifications then find the app that keeps popping up and push to off.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Te Kowhai and iPads
Wow what a great afternoon learning from other like minded teachers experimenting with the use of iPads in the classroom. I felt it was a great sharing opportunity with both parties learning something new. It was great to see that even though we are both using pic collage we could see different uses for this app. My class are confident in using this app now and will often ask to go on it and create a pic collage learning tennis or gymsport etc. This app is being used in more of a showcasing way as a collection of photos in my class. One thing I started doing as I introduced these different apps was to ask the kids how else could this be used? This is something I think I need to go back to and do more of. It was cool to see Te Kowhai using it to take photos of maths learning with materials out and basically writing what their WALT is in the middle. Another great use for this app and one I will be trialling in class.
They also introduced us to a fantastic thinking hats tool. The teacher had used it for topic work but I could see how this would be great as a reading follow up, during shared reading as well as topic and I am sure much more as I experiment more with it. It was great that it reminded the kids what each hat stood for and could be uploaded to their blog. I think I might trial this first with a reading group, but it could have some value as a self assessment type of tool during our designing of our wearable art outfits as well???
Educreations was another app that they talked about which is very similar to the show me app. Except the benefit of educreation is that it has several pages. I know this is a problem some of my boys run into when they are explaining and they write too big running out of space. I also liked that with educreation you can upload a photo. It could be great to get the kids to work out a problem using materials take a photo and upload it. Then they could record what the materials stand for and how it shows the process of reaching the answer.
I loved the idea of the visual poet app it could be used in so many ways, sequencing their writing, sequencing a shared book, a collection of photos with key words, social stories etc. I think this app is one that needs time to explore all the possibilities it has.
Scratch was another really cool app for writing time. It split your screen in half, one half being a website and the other a notepad. One of their teachers used the website side to bring up an image from the Internet and then get the kids to write key words, describing words to do with the picture on the other side. I am not sure yet if you can import your own photos on the website side if you can you could take a picture of one page of a reader and get the kids to make notes about what is happening on this page, what this page shows etc.
They also talked about A+ spelling test which I have seen before. It is great for recording the kids weekly spellings words and saying them in a sentence. Then the kids can test themselves during spelling time. The same with spelling app spellasaur.
Grammar wonderland and parts of speech were other good apps for getting kids to work in small collaborative groups to refresh what nouns, verbs adjectives etc are and identifying which word is a noun etc. The parts of speech one even gave you a pie graph of what they got and what they need work on almost like a mini PAT analysis.
Talking to Krystal after the session the seniors talked about a cool maths slide app to teach the kids to use the iPad in a collaborative sense. It also keeps that competitiveness going to get the kids having a quick recall of their basic facts. It also means no one needs to be the teacher with some of the games I have got my less confident mathematicians doing I have needed a more able mathematician to be the teacher to make sure they are getting the answers right.
Some great ideas that I can't wait to start experimenting with! A very worthwhile afternoon.
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Maths=Dancing
I love this idea of getting the kids to move to learn maths.
I can see how this will help with symmetry, rotation, translation etc miming the kids buddies movements.
Angles with tell them to move 90 degrees to their right etc.
I can also see how it could be useful with algebra and getting kids to see patterns getting them to come up with 4 counts and getting the buddy beside them to tell me what would come next.
I can see how this will help with symmetry, rotation, translation etc miming the kids buddies movements.
Angles with tell them to move 90 degrees to their right etc.
I can also see how it could be useful with algebra and getting kids to see patterns getting them to come up with 4 counts and getting the buddy beside them to tell me what would come next.
Friday, 12 April 2013
Children's Books-Ideas for read-a-louds
Going back to University Scholastic were there to share some of the top trends in books at the moment and to remind us of the importance of the teacher reading to the class.
To begin with we were told how children who are read to each day are one whole year ahead of those who aren't regardless of socio-economic class or anything else.
Some good read-a-loud titles we were shown were the My New Zealand Story series
Emily Rodda's new series of The Golden Door, The Silver Door and one other Door.
Sally Sutton's Diary of a _____ there is a whole series with bat, pukeko and sea lion being three of them.
Picture books-On the road to Tuapeka
-Mind Your Gramma (good one for tense)
-Far Far From Home
We then looked at the top trends around books and some titles within those themes.
1. Bullying
-Three Cheers for No Ears
-Scrap, tale of a blonde puppy (This is a new series from Vince Ford with Scrap being on all of them)
-Diary of a sea lion
-Great Galloping Galoot
-Payback
-Ransomwood (intermediate plus)
-The Great Orlando
-Iris's Ukulele
2. Sci-Fi
-The 4 Powers
-Vitality Code
-Extinction
-Itch (series)
3. Non-Fiction
-Bear Grylls (intermediate plus)
-One Little Fantail
-Eruption
-Angry Birds (National Geographic)
4. Novels-in-Cartoons
-Diary of a Whimpy Kid
-Chickenhare
-Captain Underpants
-Dinosaur Rescue
5. Kid Lit on Screen
She touched on how there is a growing demand for kindles etc but that people still enjoyed the choice between and book and a screen.
6. War
-Here come the Marines (My NZ Story)
-When Empire Calls (Year 6 plus)
-A medal for Leroy
-My Brother's War
-Caesar the war dog
-Lest we Forget
-The Red Poppy
-Nice Day for a War
7. Touch Girls (resilient)
-EJ12 (9+)
-Gold (My NZ Story)
-Wolf Princess
-Torn
8. Survival
-Saving Zasha
-On two feet and wings
-The Wahine Disaster (My NZ Story)
-Castaway (My NZ Story)
-A Winter's Day in 1939
9. Diversity
-Old Huhu
-Melu
-Blue Gnu
-Great Galloping Galoot
-Seesaw Po
-Colour the Stars (Describing colour to a blind boy-good for teaching description)
10. Nature runs Amok
-My NZ Story - Earthquake
-Tangiwai
-Cyclone Bola
To end with we got a sneak peak at some new titles coming out in June
Luther and the Cloud Makers (conservation theme)
The Freedom Merchants
The Three Bears Sort Of - great humor two person narrative
To begin with we were told how children who are read to each day are one whole year ahead of those who aren't regardless of socio-economic class or anything else.
Some good read-a-loud titles we were shown were the My New Zealand Story series
Emily Rodda's new series of The Golden Door, The Silver Door and one other Door.
Sally Sutton's Diary of a _____ there is a whole series with bat, pukeko and sea lion being three of them.
Picture books-On the road to Tuapeka
-Mind Your Gramma (good one for tense)
-Far Far From Home
We then looked at the top trends around books and some titles within those themes.
1. Bullying
-Three Cheers for No Ears
-Scrap, tale of a blonde puppy (This is a new series from Vince Ford with Scrap being on all of them)
-Diary of a sea lion
-Great Galloping Galoot
-Payback
-Ransomwood (intermediate plus)
-The Great Orlando
-Iris's Ukulele
2. Sci-Fi
-The 4 Powers
-Vitality Code
-Extinction
-Itch (series)
3. Non-Fiction
-Bear Grylls (intermediate plus)
-One Little Fantail
-Eruption
-Angry Birds (National Geographic)
4. Novels-in-Cartoons
-Diary of a Whimpy Kid
-Chickenhare
-Captain Underpants
-Dinosaur Rescue
5. Kid Lit on Screen
She touched on how there is a growing demand for kindles etc but that people still enjoyed the choice between and book and a screen.
6. War
-Here come the Marines (My NZ Story)
-When Empire Calls (Year 6 plus)
-A medal for Leroy
-My Brother's War
-Caesar the war dog
-Lest we Forget
-The Red Poppy
-Nice Day for a War
7. Touch Girls (resilient)
-EJ12 (9+)
-Gold (My NZ Story)
-Wolf Princess
-Torn
8. Survival
-Saving Zasha
-On two feet and wings
-The Wahine Disaster (My NZ Story)
-Castaway (My NZ Story)
-A Winter's Day in 1939
9. Diversity
-Old Huhu
-Melu
-Blue Gnu
-Great Galloping Galoot
-Seesaw Po
-Colour the Stars (Describing colour to a blind boy-good for teaching description)
10. Nature runs Amok
-My NZ Story - Earthquake
-Tangiwai
-Cyclone Bola
To end with we got a sneak peak at some new titles coming out in June
Luther and the Cloud Makers (conservation theme)
The Freedom Merchants
The Three Bears Sort Of - great humor two person narrative
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
ICT Connected Cluster
The latest connected session at Southwell was another useful afternoon seeing where we are placed with our ICT journey and what new ideas are out there to experiment with.
Marcelle, Asri and I presented about gathering student voice using tools such as fotobable, audioboo and voicethread.
At the end of our session a teacher talked about a tool called photosnack that she uses to create slideshows of her photos. This could be another app to display a series of photographs when you have a collection.
Our class and individual blogs became a talking point following our discussion on voice tools. There were a few teachers who were struggling to get things up on their blogs or hadn't started one and once again this re-enforced our reasons for having blogs.
-Sharing our learning with our family and friends
-Reflecting on our learning
Plus it is always nice to reflect on how far we have come on this journey so far.
The second session I went to was on Apple TV.
To me it sounded very similar to our interactive teaching stations with the mobi being replaced by an i-pad. I guess the difference being though that you can push the TO SHOW button in the corner of the i-pad and bring it up on the big screen TV. At any time you can swap between the i-pads that you bring up and also that you can record sound through them. One advantage being for those that are shy to report back to the whole class you could pre-record their ideas on the i-pad and share it back through on the TV.
Another good way to use the ability to swap between i-pads is if you set a maths group a problem you could have them working in pairs on i-pads and if a group gets stuck you can flick it up onto the TV and get everyone to help them solve it. How can the class help from here?
One great management strategy the teacher used was that she took a screen shot of the i-pad app and put that on the task board for the group(s) that were using the i-pad(s) for that reading/writing/maths/spelling session. This meant that when they were independently working they knew exactly what they were looking for.
I could then link this in with the class experts wall where you could have experts names next to the app screen shot so that if people get stuck on a particular app they can ask the expert for help.
Since I am now trying to give my kids choice in their rotations I could put up three or so app photos and they can choose the one they think best suits the need of the task.
The rest of the session was spent looking at apps that they used in their class. One good looking spelling one was Spelling Test. With this app kids could make their own spelling tests on the i-pad, record their voice so say the word and put it in a sentence and then they have to spell it. Then you can go back and view the test scores which was always good for assessment purposes.
Could be a good way to motivate students to practice their spelling words....
Reading Comprehension Grade 2-3 also looked like a good app for reading obviously testing their comprehension. Giving them a text to read and then asking a range of questions to do with that text.
Sock Puppets is one that I have seen on our i-pads at school but it was interesting to see another way this teacher used the tool. She got the kids to share what they had learnt. Eg: (Sock Puppet 1) What did you learn today? (Sock Puppet 2) Today I was learning.... I am still to find out if you can embed the sock puppet show to a blog. It would be nice to capture what a child was learning to do or give an example of how they achieved their learning intention and put it up on their blog to share and have that sample to go back to.
The teachers presenting with Apple TV also talked about Notability a lot as this allowed them to record voices instead of always having to write and this seemed like another good app particularly if you are using the i-pads like our mobi, and were able to talk to your writing of how you were solving a maths problem like kids might with voicethread. Or kids could read a passage and record their answer to the question verbally rather than written.
There are a lot of apps out there and I have found that we are using a lot of Web 2 tools effectively. Now introducing i-pads and pods and the Apple products I am finding a lot of the apps are similar and have a similar function to others we are already familiar with. So I guess as I am being exposed to more apps I need to keep asking myself;
-What is the purpose of this app?
-How can the kids use it not just for substitution but for transformation?
Marcelle, Asri and I presented about gathering student voice using tools such as fotobable, audioboo and voicethread.
At the end of our session a teacher talked about a tool called photosnack that she uses to create slideshows of her photos. This could be another app to display a series of photographs when you have a collection.
Our class and individual blogs became a talking point following our discussion on voice tools. There were a few teachers who were struggling to get things up on their blogs or hadn't started one and once again this re-enforced our reasons for having blogs.
-Sharing our learning with our family and friends
-Reflecting on our learning
Plus it is always nice to reflect on how far we have come on this journey so far.
The second session I went to was on Apple TV.
To me it sounded very similar to our interactive teaching stations with the mobi being replaced by an i-pad. I guess the difference being though that you can push the TO SHOW button in the corner of the i-pad and bring it up on the big screen TV. At any time you can swap between the i-pads that you bring up and also that you can record sound through them. One advantage being for those that are shy to report back to the whole class you could pre-record their ideas on the i-pad and share it back through on the TV.
Another good way to use the ability to swap between i-pads is if you set a maths group a problem you could have them working in pairs on i-pads and if a group gets stuck you can flick it up onto the TV and get everyone to help them solve it. How can the class help from here?
One great management strategy the teacher used was that she took a screen shot of the i-pad app and put that on the task board for the group(s) that were using the i-pad(s) for that reading/writing/maths/spelling session. This meant that when they were independently working they knew exactly what they were looking for.
I could then link this in with the class experts wall where you could have experts names next to the app screen shot so that if people get stuck on a particular app they can ask the expert for help.
Since I am now trying to give my kids choice in their rotations I could put up three or so app photos and they can choose the one they think best suits the need of the task.
The rest of the session was spent looking at apps that they used in their class. One good looking spelling one was Spelling Test. With this app kids could make their own spelling tests on the i-pad, record their voice so say the word and put it in a sentence and then they have to spell it. Then you can go back and view the test scores which was always good for assessment purposes.
Could be a good way to motivate students to practice their spelling words....
Reading Comprehension Grade 2-3 also looked like a good app for reading obviously testing their comprehension. Giving them a text to read and then asking a range of questions to do with that text.
Sock Puppets is one that I have seen on our i-pads at school but it was interesting to see another way this teacher used the tool. She got the kids to share what they had learnt. Eg: (Sock Puppet 1) What did you learn today? (Sock Puppet 2) Today I was learning.... I am still to find out if you can embed the sock puppet show to a blog. It would be nice to capture what a child was learning to do or give an example of how they achieved their learning intention and put it up on their blog to share and have that sample to go back to.
The teachers presenting with Apple TV also talked about Notability a lot as this allowed them to record voices instead of always having to write and this seemed like another good app particularly if you are using the i-pads like our mobi, and were able to talk to your writing of how you were solving a maths problem like kids might with voicethread. Or kids could read a passage and record their answer to the question verbally rather than written.
There are a lot of apps out there and I have found that we are using a lot of Web 2 tools effectively. Now introducing i-pads and pods and the Apple products I am finding a lot of the apps are similar and have a similar function to others we are already familiar with. So I guess as I am being exposed to more apps I need to keep asking myself;
-What is the purpose of this app?
-How can the kids use it not just for substitution but for transformation?
Saturday, 6 April 2013
Creativity-How far a kids creativity can take him
Wow!
What a powerful story of how creative a child's mind can be with play.
This arcade is so cool, he has thought of everything! I love the problem solving of the claw for the toy game, the fun pass codes with the calculators and how the tickets come out the bottom.
New Zealanders are known for their creativity and thinking outside of the box when finding innovative solutions and new ideas. But will this continue if we place emphasis on what we deem important to be successful? We have heard time and time again that to be successful children need to keep hold of their natural creativity, embrace it and extend it to see where it can take them.
Going to ICOT at the beginning of the year one thing I got from it was to give kids time for passion projects.
I thought what about a Number 8 wire afternoon a week? NZers are known for our Number 8 wire thinking and these two videos has re-ignited my spark for this idea. Perhaps the first challenge I set for my class is what they can invent from a cardboard box something that is useable just as Caine's Arcade is.
What a powerful story of how creative a child's mind can be with play.
This arcade is so cool, he has thought of everything! I love the problem solving of the claw for the toy game, the fun pass codes with the calculators and how the tickets come out the bottom.
New Zealanders are known for their creativity and thinking outside of the box when finding innovative solutions and new ideas. But will this continue if we place emphasis on what we deem important to be successful? We have heard time and time again that to be successful children need to keep hold of their natural creativity, embrace it and extend it to see where it can take them.
Going to ICOT at the beginning of the year one thing I got from it was to give kids time for passion projects.
I thought what about a Number 8 wire afternoon a week? NZers are known for our Number 8 wire thinking and these two videos has re-ignited my spark for this idea. Perhaps the first challenge I set for my class is what they can invent from a cardboard box something that is useable just as Caine's Arcade is.
Creativity- how it is dimmed with the pressure of time
I love this idea and would like to try it with my class to see what they come up with.
Ewan McIntosh- The Problem Finders ICOT 2013
At the beginning Ewan challenged our thinking around;
Who is successful?
How do we measure success?
Which raises the question do we have to get hung up measuring success (meeting the standard) and is it taking away from the creativity? Are we breathing down the necks of our students to make sure they fit our mould of what we would consider achieved forgetting to give our kids the chance to play and find the answer out for themselves through exploration? I think we need to stop sometimes and slow things down. Through inquiry the big idea means so much more to kids than being spoon feed. MAYBE WE NEED TO LET THE KIDS DISCOVER IT! THEN JUSTIFY IT.
The essence of creativity is that people who are successful know what makes their ideas great!
They know 'The Why' why they are doing what they are doing.
They provoke
and They have a process.
The motivation is then there because they know why they want to learn it.
Often we consider the children achieving at or above where they should be as successful. But those that find reading or writing or maths difficult can be successful performers. Perhaps once I have found each child's success I need to use this to help to help make the other areas successful. Eg: Having had a child who picks up songs lyrics at the drop of the hat it has worked well for me in the past to teach that child to their times tables through song. How could I help the ones that are great at technology to read better? Or the mathematicians to add more detail to their writing? Could I liken it to in maths we need to stretch the problem out to show our working. Writing is the same where we stretch out the description so that the reader sees the same image as we do?
He picked up on Guy Claxton's six pillars.
Challenge
Collaboration
Responsiblity
Respect
Motivation (real things)
Choice
Children want challenge-they don't buy a video game that they are going to clock in two hours. But sometimes this can be a balancing act for those with low resilience I find sometimes they do need a task they know they can succeed in balanced with a task that is going to push their understanding further.
Collaborate-Ewan said you won't find any lone genius in creativity who is successful because everyone works in a team. But he touched on an interesting point. Sometimes working as a team means all working together but sometimes it can also mean working interdependently passing it onto someone else in your team once your portion is finished.
Responsiblity-Kids want to be responsible for their learning.
Respect-Let them go down tangents don't shut down their ideas too early on, let them inquire and explore because it is often the ideas that are off track that the kids will learn the most from.
Real things-motivation if it is not experiential how do we learn from it? It has to be relevant.
Choice-When do I give my kids choice? How could I give them more? In maths I do have like a daily 5 board where they have to do maths with a buddy, maths by themselves, maths writing etc and they can choose which ones they do when so long as they do a range of tasks over the week.
Could I give them more choice in reading for example by getting them to come up with their own follow up? How would you like to show what you learnt from that book? This would then open up the opportunity for them to showcase their creativity.
When the world Zigs, Zag. Ewan showed us the Levi advertisement for the introduction of black jeans so out of the realm it doesn't even show a picture of jeans but got people talking and was extremely creative. The words 'When the world zigs, zag,' has become the companies slogan now, which means the story of how the company became a success is told. Ewan said imagine a kids project defining your schools image or logo like the Levi campaign How could I get the kids to showcase their learning? Is there an app that the kids could use as like an advertisement for the children's learning? What would they advertise? Would it look like an overall showcase of the terms learning? Would it be a showcase of the process of learning something tricky? Would it be an advertisement of...
He talked about not letting technology become a means of substitution rather than transformation. Eg: Using the i-pad to take notes instead of using pen and paper is no different. But to set those notes up as a google docs means that people are bouncing ideas off one another and getting more from the notes that are taking transforming the notes. This is something I need to be wery of with the more technology I have in my classroom. Asking myself what is the purpose of this app? What is it actually teaching the kids? How is it benefiting them?
He talked about Googleable vs Non-googable. Moving the title of the topic away from an essential question to more of a statement to hook them in and get them to have an opinion and justify it. Eg: When does music become noise? When does noise become music? Became 'Music is just noise.' Make the subject line tantalising for the kids, for them to take it where they want it to go. Use the googleable questions to go and find it out but then spend the rich learning time to find the non-googleable answers. The people that will succeed in the world the way it is heading is that they are not just problem solvers they are problem finders who can see the gap that no one else can. He spoke about using master classes more where a kid asks to learn something and you find out who else wants to learn that so that learning becomes just in time rather than so much of the learning being just in case. This googleable/non-googable questions has been difficult to implement at the beginning of the year. It has also highlighted the valued googleable questions have in helping us further our understanding as the kids in their interdependence inquiry into why there are more birds in our backyards was very broad and they had to answer the googleable questions to be able to have a better understanding of the non-googleable.
He introduced the idea of a wonderbox where kids can explore a new topic and take an object out of the box and after a week of research they are able to share what they know about that object.
The wonderbox is something I have used to help introduce the idea of Interdependence. It was a great way to get the kids thinking about what we were going to be studying this term without giving them the answer. I pulled out an object one at a time and they had to link the ideas together to think about what it was we were studying. Interdependence is a big word and I cut it up into In ter depen dence. I pulled these chunks out in the wrong order and the kids looked at it. They went well there is the word dependence and inter it could be interdependence. So although they had no idea what interdependence actually meant they were able to piece it together to make the word using their prior knowledge of other words.
I loved his idea of creating TED talks giving the kids a place to share their ideas and speak to an audience in a comfortable setting. They were able to 'perform their learning.' Because kids live to perform. He Tweeted his students TED talks to provide the wide audience and the kids even set up a TED sign. They were challenged with their idea for a topic. Ideas went from 'My mum is the best,' to 'Why do we never tell those the closest to us that we love them enough.' Another idea was 'Do animals have a secret language?' The first idea of my mum is the best well most people are going to say that about their own parents at 7 years old and where is the so what, who cares element to that title (again I guess it is that concept of selling/advertising your learning with a catchy phrase or title to make others want to find out more about what you learnt). I loved this idea and would like to try it out around speeches time. Raising the question 'how can we inspire those always remember moments in our kids?'
He talked about how we often use ping pong questioning. Instead use Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce technique. Pose a question then pause ten seconds then let someone pounce. What do you think of this answer? Then bounce it onto another child what do you think about these two responses? Put ideas down on post it notes challenge kids to come up with 100 ideas in 10 minutes. Record a lot of the inquiry, exploration, investigation side of the project in photos on i-pads.
Another great idea around emotions was to use photographs to get kids to start talking about how they feel about their learning. Emotive photographs that have nothing to do with learning but represent hiding or being pulled in all directions or a long road ahead or joy. Often kids can see then that others are feeling scared or nervous or challenge showing they are not alone and suddenly giving them the pick me up they needed to carry on.
A very inspiring speaker with lots of new ideas to try and food for thought.
Who is successful?
How do we measure success?
Which raises the question do we have to get hung up measuring success (meeting the standard) and is it taking away from the creativity? Are we breathing down the necks of our students to make sure they fit our mould of what we would consider achieved forgetting to give our kids the chance to play and find the answer out for themselves through exploration? I think we need to stop sometimes and slow things down. Through inquiry the big idea means so much more to kids than being spoon feed. MAYBE WE NEED TO LET THE KIDS DISCOVER IT! THEN JUSTIFY IT.
The essence of creativity is that people who are successful know what makes their ideas great!
They know 'The Why' why they are doing what they are doing.
They provoke
and They have a process.
The motivation is then there because they know why they want to learn it.
Often we consider the children achieving at or above where they should be as successful. But those that find reading or writing or maths difficult can be successful performers. Perhaps once I have found each child's success I need to use this to help to help make the other areas successful. Eg: Having had a child who picks up songs lyrics at the drop of the hat it has worked well for me in the past to teach that child to their times tables through song. How could I help the ones that are great at technology to read better? Or the mathematicians to add more detail to their writing? Could I liken it to in maths we need to stretch the problem out to show our working. Writing is the same where we stretch out the description so that the reader sees the same image as we do?
He picked up on Guy Claxton's six pillars.
Challenge
Collaboration
Responsiblity
Respect
Motivation (real things)
Choice
Children want challenge-they don't buy a video game that they are going to clock in two hours. But sometimes this can be a balancing act for those with low resilience I find sometimes they do need a task they know they can succeed in balanced with a task that is going to push their understanding further.
Collaborate-Ewan said you won't find any lone genius in creativity who is successful because everyone works in a team. But he touched on an interesting point. Sometimes working as a team means all working together but sometimes it can also mean working interdependently passing it onto someone else in your team once your portion is finished.
Responsiblity-Kids want to be responsible for their learning.
Respect-Let them go down tangents don't shut down their ideas too early on, let them inquire and explore because it is often the ideas that are off track that the kids will learn the most from.
Real things-motivation if it is not experiential how do we learn from it? It has to be relevant.
Choice-When do I give my kids choice? How could I give them more? In maths I do have like a daily 5 board where they have to do maths with a buddy, maths by themselves, maths writing etc and they can choose which ones they do when so long as they do a range of tasks over the week.
Could I give them more choice in reading for example by getting them to come up with their own follow up? How would you like to show what you learnt from that book? This would then open up the opportunity for them to showcase their creativity.
When the world Zigs, Zag. Ewan showed us the Levi advertisement for the introduction of black jeans so out of the realm it doesn't even show a picture of jeans but got people talking and was extremely creative. The words 'When the world zigs, zag,' has become the companies slogan now, which means the story of how the company became a success is told. Ewan said imagine a kids project defining your schools image or logo like the Levi campaign How could I get the kids to showcase their learning? Is there an app that the kids could use as like an advertisement for the children's learning? What would they advertise? Would it look like an overall showcase of the terms learning? Would it be a showcase of the process of learning something tricky? Would it be an advertisement of...
He talked about not letting technology become a means of substitution rather than transformation. Eg: Using the i-pad to take notes instead of using pen and paper is no different. But to set those notes up as a google docs means that people are bouncing ideas off one another and getting more from the notes that are taking transforming the notes. This is something I need to be wery of with the more technology I have in my classroom. Asking myself what is the purpose of this app? What is it actually teaching the kids? How is it benefiting them?
He talked about Googleable vs Non-googable. Moving the title of the topic away from an essential question to more of a statement to hook them in and get them to have an opinion and justify it. Eg: When does music become noise? When does noise become music? Became 'Music is just noise.' Make the subject line tantalising for the kids, for them to take it where they want it to go. Use the googleable questions to go and find it out but then spend the rich learning time to find the non-googleable answers. The people that will succeed in the world the way it is heading is that they are not just problem solvers they are problem finders who can see the gap that no one else can. He spoke about using master classes more where a kid asks to learn something and you find out who else wants to learn that so that learning becomes just in time rather than so much of the learning being just in case. This googleable/non-googable questions has been difficult to implement at the beginning of the year. It has also highlighted the valued googleable questions have in helping us further our understanding as the kids in their interdependence inquiry into why there are more birds in our backyards was very broad and they had to answer the googleable questions to be able to have a better understanding of the non-googleable.
He introduced the idea of a wonderbox where kids can explore a new topic and take an object out of the box and after a week of research they are able to share what they know about that object.
The wonderbox is something I have used to help introduce the idea of Interdependence. It was a great way to get the kids thinking about what we were going to be studying this term without giving them the answer. I pulled out an object one at a time and they had to link the ideas together to think about what it was we were studying. Interdependence is a big word and I cut it up into In ter depen dence. I pulled these chunks out in the wrong order and the kids looked at it. They went well there is the word dependence and inter it could be interdependence. So although they had no idea what interdependence actually meant they were able to piece it together to make the word using their prior knowledge of other words.
I loved his idea of creating TED talks giving the kids a place to share their ideas and speak to an audience in a comfortable setting. They were able to 'perform their learning.' Because kids live to perform. He Tweeted his students TED talks to provide the wide audience and the kids even set up a TED sign. They were challenged with their idea for a topic. Ideas went from 'My mum is the best,' to 'Why do we never tell those the closest to us that we love them enough.' Another idea was 'Do animals have a secret language?' The first idea of my mum is the best well most people are going to say that about their own parents at 7 years old and where is the so what, who cares element to that title (again I guess it is that concept of selling/advertising your learning with a catchy phrase or title to make others want to find out more about what you learnt). I loved this idea and would like to try it out around speeches time. Raising the question 'how can we inspire those always remember moments in our kids?'
He talked about how we often use ping pong questioning. Instead use Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce technique. Pose a question then pause ten seconds then let someone pounce. What do you think of this answer? Then bounce it onto another child what do you think about these two responses? Put ideas down on post it notes challenge kids to come up with 100 ideas in 10 minutes. Record a lot of the inquiry, exploration, investigation side of the project in photos on i-pads.
Another great idea around emotions was to use photographs to get kids to start talking about how they feel about their learning. Emotive photographs that have nothing to do with learning but represent hiding or being pulled in all directions or a long road ahead or joy. Often kids can see then that others are feeling scared or nervous or challenge showing they are not alone and suddenly giving them the pick me up they needed to carry on.
A very inspiring speaker with lots of new ideas to try and food for thought.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
More on the Pinterest success
Today I had time to properly start our handwriting and oh how buying a mask and tiara was the best $4 spent.
Before setting them the task of doing their handwriting they were told about how I would be looking for a Handwriting Hero and a Printing Princess. To become this they had to be silent because handwriting can be a quiet time for us to focus on our writing. They had to focus on their work doing it quickly but also really tidy.
So this week Filipe and Gina were awarded as being the Handwriting Hero and Printing Princess. They could wear the mask and tiara in class and had their photo taken along with a close up of their handwriting for our class blog. Can't wait for our next handwriting lesson...hopefully the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly!
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Frustration-Pinterest follow up
So it has been a few weeks since my post on a frustrating day in the classroom.
Since then I have started implementing various parts from that rather length post.
The Super Star has worked a TREAT! The class has NEVER walked so well around the school. Today I used it for the first time walking to the ict suite which granted isn't far from our class but wow they did it well. Lined up outside the suite well and came in and sat down on the mat like angels ready for their instructions. Everyone did it so well that I gave my two Super Stars 10 minutes free time on the computer while we looked at our big book. But I also gave the rest of the class a tick on our Golden Rules chart. Another thing that works on rewarding individual positive behaviour and I made it known that I was so pleased with everyone's efforts.
The blowing the answer in the hand and releasing it has been a great way to stop the calling out and a fun way to all share the answer. Again it seems to be working well.
The magic necklace isn't working as well as I had hoped. I think the kids are still settling into the routines of what happens when I am with a group and the expectations. When I hand the first necklace out they seem to remember and try hard to stay on task but this can wane quickly.
Another thing that has worked well in making students accountable of their own behaviour is ending each day this week with circle time. In this circle time the kids have the whole day to think of what they are going to share. One thing they are proud of with their learning and one person they have spotted working hard and what they spotted them doing. It has been good for the well behaved kids to hear that others have noticed their hard work but I think it is also important that the children that need to remember their good choices hear others acknowledging those that have been focused learners and makes them stop to think about what they have done well at today.
We have still only got the one puzzle piece. Unfortantely we have had some children sent to the reflection room at lunchtime which has spoilt it for us in getting our second piece.
Tomorrow we are doing handwriting and I will be introducing the Handwriting Hero and Printing Princess ( I have already got a spiderman mask and princess crown ready for them to wear) which I hope will be as much as hit as the Super Stars are.
Since then I have started implementing various parts from that rather length post.
The Super Star has worked a TREAT! The class has NEVER walked so well around the school. Today I used it for the first time walking to the ict suite which granted isn't far from our class but wow they did it well. Lined up outside the suite well and came in and sat down on the mat like angels ready for their instructions. Everyone did it so well that I gave my two Super Stars 10 minutes free time on the computer while we looked at our big book. But I also gave the rest of the class a tick on our Golden Rules chart. Another thing that works on rewarding individual positive behaviour and I made it known that I was so pleased with everyone's efforts.
The blowing the answer in the hand and releasing it has been a great way to stop the calling out and a fun way to all share the answer. Again it seems to be working well.
The magic necklace isn't working as well as I had hoped. I think the kids are still settling into the routines of what happens when I am with a group and the expectations. When I hand the first necklace out they seem to remember and try hard to stay on task but this can wane quickly.
Another thing that has worked well in making students accountable of their own behaviour is ending each day this week with circle time. In this circle time the kids have the whole day to think of what they are going to share. One thing they are proud of with their learning and one person they have spotted working hard and what they spotted them doing. It has been good for the well behaved kids to hear that others have noticed their hard work but I think it is also important that the children that need to remember their good choices hear others acknowledging those that have been focused learners and makes them stop to think about what they have done well at today.
We have still only got the one puzzle piece. Unfortantely we have had some children sent to the reflection room at lunchtime which has spoilt it for us in getting our second piece.
Tomorrow we are doing handwriting and I will be introducing the Handwriting Hero and Printing Princess ( I have already got a spiderman mask and princess crown ready for them to wear) which I hope will be as much as hit as the Super Stars are.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Frustration-Behaviour Management and the joy of Pinterest
What a day!
Today was a challenging day but on the positive side there are always those children that you can rely on to bring a smile to your face. Whether it is being obviously proud of their swimming achievements or coming back from a Techsperx meeting to so confidently share with the whole class what they learnt. Stepping them through the process step by step.
We are in Week 4 now and it has been a challenging start to the year. I need to remind myself that the first two weeks weren't full weeks and Rome wasn't built in a day, because it feels like the weeks are rolling by and what have we actually achieved? Looking back we have done a lot but I guess I would have liked to have been further ahead...Establishing expectations does take time and the more you put into it at the start the more I will get out of it as the year goes by.
Before coming home I set up my class jigsaw puzzle where the class have to work well together to gain a puzzle piece with the aim being to complete the puzzle having collected all the pieces. To make this I found a picture which resembled people working together as a team and have cut it up into jigsaw pieces. Hopefully the puzzle pieces themselves will reiterate the message of working as a team (class).
So coming home I have turned to Pinterest for help and more ideas...
What other great strategies are out there to use?
I found hellomrssykes.blogspot.co.nz which has some great ideas.
I like her idea of the 'Secret Star.' She uses this when moving around the school (another area some of my kids are struggling with). She tells her class that she is going to be looking at how well her secret star makes it to their destination without talking. She picks a name out of her secret star container but doesn't tell the kids who it is. The idea being that they will all walk quietly as they don't know if it is them. If the secret star is not quiet then she just tells them that her secret star did not make it this time without telling everyone who it was keeping them on their toes. She gave the kids a starburst when they got back to class. This is something I will have to look at. What kind of reward will I substitute it with instead of lollies? Maybe computer time as this is a popular choice in the class...
I also found this cute little song to the rhythm of 'Do Your Ears Hang Low.' To promote walking sensibly to the hall.
She also had a cute idea at handwriting time. She has a 'Printing Princess' and a 'Handwriting Hero.' She picks one boy (the hero) and one girl (the princess) to acknowledge for their fantastic handwriting effort and displays this on the special wall. How could I alter this?? Perhaps take a photo of their work and post it on our class blog??
The other idea I liked was the Magic Necklace. When she is busy working with groups she tells her class that she is looking for a friend to earn the magic necklace for their hard work. She called it the magic necklace because it was made from solar beads and changed colour in the sun. I like this idea and I remember having a dress up crown in my class last year when we were looking at fairytales. The kids loved wearing the crown throughout the day and this is something I could capitalise on.
To stop calling out I saw a cool video (just below) where the kids blow the answer into their hand when the teacher says release they all call it out together.
As a attention grabber saying 'Class' and the kids saying 'Yes' and vary the rhythm to it.
I like the gestures that they use like when they share their ideas the teacher claps twice and raises her hands in the air and says 'teach'. Then the kids clap back and raise their hands in the air to say 'Ok'. I think this clap signal might be a good idea for those in my class that struggle with instructions. The clap and movement might help them follow along and give them a chance to make some noise.
Something else I have seen before is brownie points and I would like to try this next term as I already have my behaviour ladder with the kids names on pegs to move up and down signally where their behaviour is, as well as starting the jigsaw. We also have earlybirds for the individuals who get on with their work quickly and I think that is probably enough for now.
But I would like to try the brownie points with the reward being making some brownie when the cooking tray is fill of brownie.
I also wonder about using music more in my class. The type that they aren't all going to get up and dance too in the middle of maths, or reading or writing but something that can just be played calmly in the background. Then the music can be the volume guide. If the kids can't hear the music then they know they need to be quieter.
This (below) is a powerful video about working together and I wonder how I could use this with my class. I could start with a voicethread comment from each child on what the video meant to them. But it would be good to take it even further and get them to realise they are the ones that control their behaviour and hopefully ignite that intrinsic motivation to be the best that they can be.
Today was a challenging day but on the positive side there are always those children that you can rely on to bring a smile to your face. Whether it is being obviously proud of their swimming achievements or coming back from a Techsperx meeting to so confidently share with the whole class what they learnt. Stepping them through the process step by step.
We are in Week 4 now and it has been a challenging start to the year. I need to remind myself that the first two weeks weren't full weeks and Rome wasn't built in a day, because it feels like the weeks are rolling by and what have we actually achieved? Looking back we have done a lot but I guess I would have liked to have been further ahead...Establishing expectations does take time and the more you put into it at the start the more I will get out of it as the year goes by.
Before coming home I set up my class jigsaw puzzle where the class have to work well together to gain a puzzle piece with the aim being to complete the puzzle having collected all the pieces. To make this I found a picture which resembled people working together as a team and have cut it up into jigsaw pieces. Hopefully the puzzle pieces themselves will reiterate the message of working as a team (class).
So coming home I have turned to Pinterest for help and more ideas...
What other great strategies are out there to use?
I found hellomrssykes.blogspot.co.nz which has some great ideas.
I like her idea of the 'Secret Star.' She uses this when moving around the school (another area some of my kids are struggling with). She tells her class that she is going to be looking at how well her secret star makes it to their destination without talking. She picks a name out of her secret star container but doesn't tell the kids who it is. The idea being that they will all walk quietly as they don't know if it is them. If the secret star is not quiet then she just tells them that her secret star did not make it this time without telling everyone who it was keeping them on their toes. She gave the kids a starburst when they got back to class. This is something I will have to look at. What kind of reward will I substitute it with instead of lollies? Maybe computer time as this is a popular choice in the class...
I also found this cute little song to the rhythm of 'Do Your Ears Hang Low.' To promote walking sensibly to the hall.
Are you ready for the hall?
Are you standing straight and tall?
Are your hands behind your back?
Are you leaving any gaps?
Are you quiet as can be?
Are you looking straight at me?
Now, let's go quietly.
She also had a cute idea at handwriting time. She has a 'Printing Princess' and a 'Handwriting Hero.' She picks one boy (the hero) and one girl (the princess) to acknowledge for their fantastic handwriting effort and displays this on the special wall. How could I alter this?? Perhaps take a photo of their work and post it on our class blog??
The other idea I liked was the Magic Necklace. When she is busy working with groups she tells her class that she is looking for a friend to earn the magic necklace for their hard work. She called it the magic necklace because it was made from solar beads and changed colour in the sun. I like this idea and I remember having a dress up crown in my class last year when we were looking at fairytales. The kids loved wearing the crown throughout the day and this is something I could capitalise on.
To stop calling out I saw a cool video (just below) where the kids blow the answer into their hand when the teacher says release they all call it out together.
As a attention grabber saying 'Class' and the kids saying 'Yes' and vary the rhythm to it.
I like the gestures that they use like when they share their ideas the teacher claps twice and raises her hands in the air and says 'teach'. Then the kids clap back and raise their hands in the air to say 'Ok'. I think this clap signal might be a good idea for those in my class that struggle with instructions. The clap and movement might help them follow along and give them a chance to make some noise.
Something else I have seen before is brownie points and I would like to try this next term as I already have my behaviour ladder with the kids names on pegs to move up and down signally where their behaviour is, as well as starting the jigsaw. We also have earlybirds for the individuals who get on with their work quickly and I think that is probably enough for now.
But I would like to try the brownie points with the reward being making some brownie when the cooking tray is fill of brownie.
I also wonder about using music more in my class. The type that they aren't all going to get up and dance too in the middle of maths, or reading or writing but something that can just be played calmly in the background. Then the music can be the volume guide. If the kids can't hear the music then they know they need to be quieter.
This (below) is a powerful video about working together and I wonder how I could use this with my class. I could start with a voicethread comment from each child on what the video meant to them. But it would be good to take it even further and get them to realise they are the ones that control their behaviour and hopefully ignite that intrinsic motivation to be the best that they can be.
Friday, 8 February 2013
Personality types
I have done a lot of personality tests myself over the years at high school and since high school. But attending the International Conference On Thinking 2013 in Wellington at the beginning of the year reminded me of these tests and got me thinking of how these could be used in the classroom.
I knew that going into 2013 I had two particular boys that did not get on, in fact they have used very strong words, expressing how they feel about each other.
This got me thinking...
Is it that they are purposely going out of their way to annoy each other or is there a way to show them that sometimes that don't mean to annoy, it is just who they are? That message of all being different but because of this we are special and unique.
David Koutsoukis was a fantastic presenter at the conference and spoke about these different personality types.
Firstly he spoke about having 'Kefi'- a zest for life and that this will radiate out infecting those around you with a positive outlook. He had great messages about using the soft calm voice (which we all know gets the best results but sometimes I know I can be pushed past the soft calm voice) and the power of the pause. Don't just default as the teacher (or a parent) to outright 'No' as the reply to questions take the time to pause and make a more thought out response to children's requests.
Sitting at a table with some other ladies I really liked the saying one of them shared. "Catch children in the art of being good." It is something I am always trying to do, acknowledging the positive behaviour but I thought is was a nice quote to remind you of that when kids haven't had such a great day.
But the majority of David's talk was about how we all walk to a different tune and see the world through different coloured glasses. He gave us four cards; a blue one with a triangle for the analysers, a red heart for the carer's, a yellow circle for the players (the spontaneous ones) a a green square for the safekeepers.
He asked us to read the cards which gave examples of what these personalities are comfortable with and what they don't like as well the habits that are often noticed by others but sub conscious to the person. We had to stack the cards in order with the least like us at the bottom through to the most like us being on the top. We then moved to a corner of the room to see who else was like us. He spoke about how one personality would frustrate another eg: the players who are impulsive might frustrate the safekeepers who are organised and need to have a plan and dislike surprises or risks.
SIDE NOTE-David mentioned that most teachers fall into the Safekeeper or Carer personality.
So in the second week back at school I decided I would like to get my class to value the differences in people through this personality game.
We first of all talked about how we are lucky because there is only one of us. No one is exactly like us we are unique and this is also what makes us special.
I spoke about the cards and I explained what traits you might find in each personality type and then gave the kids a chance to have a look at the cards for themselves and decide which one resonated with them. I was surprised to be honest at how well they managed this. I then asked them to get into certain corners of the room to show who were our carer's, safekeepers, analysers and players.
SIDE NOTE-Interestingly I had a lot of carer's and players in my class this year.
I then modelled what David did sparking discussion around how some personality types could potentially frustrate or annoy others.
We had a great discussion around it and then I posed the question to the class. What do you think was the purpose of doing this exercise? Why do you think I wanted us to find out more about our personalities?
The responses were very mature I thought coming from 7&8-year-olds and a I was very impressed.
It was also interesting at the end one of the girls in the class put her hand up and asked. "What personality are you Mrs Head?" I told the class that I had done this in Wellington and that I was a yellow but that I was a stronger (player-yellow) when I was younger and have become more of the green Safekeeper as I have got older. A few then sparked up and said yeah I think I was ....and now I am more ....
Below is a photo of what I recorded from these discussions.
NEXT STEPS:
Come Monday I would like to have a post on our class blog about our personalities including the photo above. But I would also like to get some video footage of kids talking about their own personality. Why did they place themselves in that personality type? How has it changed their thinking about people in their class that they may not have got on with in the past? What will they do differently next time someone in the class annoys them? Do you think it is a good or bad thing that we all have different personalities and why? Do you think your personality has changed at all and if so why do you think it might have changed?
I will also set up a classroom display with a copy of the cards, who falls into which type with a brief description of that personality and our thoughts around the purpose of the activity. Hopefully when kids become frustrated they may with practice look to our personality wall and see that they are not like me they think differently and may not have realised they upset me. This can become something the kids refer to throughout the year and it maybe that in time they set goals from it to become more of another type. eg: If they are too much of a player and need to have some order/organisation in their lives.
I knew that going into 2013 I had two particular boys that did not get on, in fact they have used very strong words, expressing how they feel about each other.
This got me thinking...
Is it that they are purposely going out of their way to annoy each other or is there a way to show them that sometimes that don't mean to annoy, it is just who they are? That message of all being different but because of this we are special and unique.
David Koutsoukis was a fantastic presenter at the conference and spoke about these different personality types.
Firstly he spoke about having 'Kefi'- a zest for life and that this will radiate out infecting those around you with a positive outlook. He had great messages about using the soft calm voice (which we all know gets the best results but sometimes I know I can be pushed past the soft calm voice) and the power of the pause. Don't just default as the teacher (or a parent) to outright 'No' as the reply to questions take the time to pause and make a more thought out response to children's requests.
Sitting at a table with some other ladies I really liked the saying one of them shared. "Catch children in the art of being good." It is something I am always trying to do, acknowledging the positive behaviour but I thought is was a nice quote to remind you of that when kids haven't had such a great day.
But the majority of David's talk was about how we all walk to a different tune and see the world through different coloured glasses. He gave us four cards; a blue one with a triangle for the analysers, a red heart for the carer's, a yellow circle for the players (the spontaneous ones) a a green square for the safekeepers.
He asked us to read the cards which gave examples of what these personalities are comfortable with and what they don't like as well the habits that are often noticed by others but sub conscious to the person. We had to stack the cards in order with the least like us at the bottom through to the most like us being on the top. We then moved to a corner of the room to see who else was like us. He spoke about how one personality would frustrate another eg: the players who are impulsive might frustrate the safekeepers who are organised and need to have a plan and dislike surprises or risks.
SIDE NOTE-David mentioned that most teachers fall into the Safekeeper or Carer personality.
So in the second week back at school I decided I would like to get my class to value the differences in people through this personality game.
We first of all talked about how we are lucky because there is only one of us. No one is exactly like us we are unique and this is also what makes us special.
I spoke about the cards and I explained what traits you might find in each personality type and then gave the kids a chance to have a look at the cards for themselves and decide which one resonated with them. I was surprised to be honest at how well they managed this. I then asked them to get into certain corners of the room to show who were our carer's, safekeepers, analysers and players.
SIDE NOTE-Interestingly I had a lot of carer's and players in my class this year.
I then modelled what David did sparking discussion around how some personality types could potentially frustrate or annoy others.
We had a great discussion around it and then I posed the question to the class. What do you think was the purpose of doing this exercise? Why do you think I wanted us to find out more about our personalities?
The responses were very mature I thought coming from 7&8-year-olds and a I was very impressed.
It was also interesting at the end one of the girls in the class put her hand up and asked. "What personality are you Mrs Head?" I told the class that I had done this in Wellington and that I was a yellow but that I was a stronger (player-yellow) when I was younger and have become more of the green Safekeeper as I have got older. A few then sparked up and said yeah I think I was ....and now I am more ....
Below is a photo of what I recorded from these discussions.
NEXT STEPS:
Come Monday I would like to have a post on our class blog about our personalities including the photo above. But I would also like to get some video footage of kids talking about their own personality. Why did they place themselves in that personality type? How has it changed their thinking about people in their class that they may not have got on with in the past? What will they do differently next time someone in the class annoys them? Do you think it is a good or bad thing that we all have different personalities and why? Do you think your personality has changed at all and if so why do you think it might have changed?
I will also set up a classroom display with a copy of the cards, who falls into which type with a brief description of that personality and our thoughts around the purpose of the activity. Hopefully when kids become frustrated they may with practice look to our personality wall and see that they are not like me they think differently and may not have realised they upset me. This can become something the kids refer to throughout the year and it maybe that in time they set goals from it to become more of another type. eg: If they are too much of a player and need to have some order/organisation in their lives.
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