PD bite - Term 4 Week 8

Setting up for a positive 2010

It is a good time now to reflect on how things have gone in 2009 - the things you will continue to do next year because they worked well and the things you would like to change and improve on.

At TLN yesterday we talked about how we can effectively set the scene for learning in our classes right from the beginning of Term 1.
Some questions/ ideas that we thought about in terms of our own classes and then discussed were:
• What climate do you want in your classroom?
• How will you make it happen?
• What methods have you seen that you can use or modify to achieve the climate that you want?
• Plan for behaviour – be clear about your expectations and what your responses will be before you enter the classroom.

The next stage in planning is making a list of key to dos and notes on how you can make these things happen. See this handout created by Cathy Pole.

Other resources that may be useful:
• Some ideas for establishing class rules (from Bill Rogers)
• The Positive Classroom: Seven Strategies for Building Positive Classrooms
• Best Practice Behaviour Management: A View from the Literature

A fun activity idea from Renee about how to establish a Class Charter:
Put students in groups of 4. Give each group a piece of A3 paper and get them to do a see, hear, feel, think, do brainstorm. I.e. What would you see in your ideal classroom? What would you hear? What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? What would you be doing?
It doesn't have to take long and once you have done that you could get them to move groups again for the formal development of the class charter, so that each group has a person who has some different ideas for the class.

Thank you for reading the blog and all your positive responses (via email) to my postings. Have a lovely and safe holiday.

PD bites - Term 4 Week 7

This 2005 article "Engage Me or Enrage Me" by Marc Prensky (of the controversial "digital native" fame) challenges the education system to ensure student engagement not tuning out. A few years old but still extremely relevant.

There is also a podcast which covers this same topic in more detail from a key note speech by Marc Prensky at a conference in Shropshire. You can also watch his powerpoint presentation at the same time.

Blurb:
All educators are struggling to find ways to get today's kids more involved in their schoolwork. The key, says Prensky, is not curriculum, certification or testing, but rather ENGAGEMENT. He argues forcefully that this generation is NOT in need of better content, but of more engaging approaches, more understanding, and 21st century skills. In this talk, through numerous examples, Prensky shows specifically how games engage kids, and how educators can employ and benefit from not only existing games but also the powerful educational principles behind them.

I liked one of his closing statements. When we are planning our lessons we shouldn't think "What am I going to teach today?" BUT "How am I going to teach today?" ...

PD bite - Term 4 Week 6

Would you like to know more about how to engage our Gen Y students?

This address to the Australian Principals Association by Michael McQueen (uploaded onto our SMC PD wiki) is all about nexgen impact: engaging generation Y. The presentation is about an hour long and very interesting. You can watch the powerpoint pdf as you listen.

I have been listening to it as I complete mundane tasks such as sorting and filing. Helps the time pass more quickly.

PD bites - Term 4 Week 4 "Take a break"

Today's PD bite is about taking a bit of time out from the frenetic pace of Term 4.

This YouTube video of the winner of Ukraine's Got Talent 2009 - sand animation - was shown to me by Shawn. It helps you appreciate the beauty and importance of art in our lives. Make sure you have the sound on while you watch.





For those of you who like words, especially words you don't hear every day, click on this site and have some fun: http://savethewords.org/

Lastly, some cool digital poetry.

Enjoy ...

PD bites - Term 4 Week 3 REVISION

Some Revision ideas from Ang:

Make a poster of the key ideas. Pin it on the back of the toilet door or on the ceiling above your bed.
Act out the process you are learning
Visualise the process you are learning
Associate words with pictures in your head to trigger memories.
Make up chants to remember key facts

THis is my favourite I get the kids in Y13 Chem to pronouce with a yorkshire accent "ANO CPR". Translated = I know CPR. This basically stands for "Anode, Negative, Oxidation and Cathode Positive Reduction" By making them giggle they remember it forever!

More exam skills information from Lorraine O’Carroll:
Exam skills

Other revision ideas:
Students (even Y13) love Bingo and it is a good way for them to learn terms for your topics/ subject.

I use bus stop/ post box activities to engage students with revision. The idea is that there are a number of stations/ stops/ boxes around the room with activities/ questions for small groups to work on. Groups move around the stations and then finish at the station that they started at. They can then summarise the information added by each group and share with the class. Better instructions.

Paired reviews also work well. Students take turns reviewing with a partner what they have learned from a reading, a video, a class presentation, or a discussion. Instructions.

Revision ideas from Geoff Petty http://www.geoffpetty.com/:

Headings. Give students information with no headings or subheadings, but with space for these. Students read the information and decide on headings which summarise the information in the form of a statement.

Decisions-Decisions
Students, working in pairs are given a text or watch a video etc, along with:

‘Summary cards’ which purport to summarise key points from the text, some of which are true and some of which are false: e.g.
• The left ventricle feeds the lung
• Heart rate is measured in beats per minute, and if you are very fit your heart rate will probably be lower than average.

‘Consequences cards’ which state consequences of the facts given in the text. These consequences are not actually stated in the text itself. Again some are true and some false E.g.
• If you blocked the left ventricle no blood would get to the head
• Furring of the arteries would usually raise blood pressure.

The pairs of students must decide which cards are correct, and what is wrong with the incorrect ones. This is a greatly enjoyed activity with the atmosphere of a game.

Using group roles to maximise participation
Role card descriptors:

Teacher.
“Your role is to study the aspect or a section of the materials that the teacher gives you, and to explain this to the other students in your group/pair. You will be the only student in your group/pair to study your particular aspect of the topic, so make sure you understand it well and practice how to explain it! You can ask the teacher for help if you get stuck.”

Checker:
“The teacher will choose students at random from your group to report back on what your group has learned and decided. The teacher may ask questions of more than one student from your group. They may also set a quiz or test on the material. Your role is to check that all the students in your group understand your group’s findings, and can report it to the rest of the class clearly. Do this by preparing and asking questions of your group. You are allowed a full (five?) minutes to do this. If one of your group can’t answer the teacher’s questions - guess whose fault this will be!”

Scribe:
“Your role is to summarises the key points that your group is making, check that the whole group agrees with them, and then write them down. You may also be expected to explain your group’s findings to the rest of the class. There is much more to being a Scribe than just writing!”

Questioner.
“Your role is to ‘skim’ the resources and then decide on important questions that the resources should answer. For example “Who supported Cromwell and why?” The aim is to focus the group’s attention on the key points. You then give your questions to the group for it (including you!) to answer.
You can add to, or change your questions as you get more familiar with the materials.
You may also ask supportive and clarifying questions to help the group complete its task(s)”.

Vocabulary chief:
“There is some technical vocabulary in this material. Your role is to research and explain the meaning of all the technical terms. You could devise a ‘glossary’ for your group if you think this would help. You will need to run a quiz with your group to check everyone can explain each technical term.”

Leader:
“Your role is to lead and manage your group in a democratic way, to ensure that the group completes all its tasks in the time available. You can give other students in your group specific roles if you think this helps. You will need to share out the resources in a way that helps the group to work with maximum effectiveness.”

These roles work best if the teacher makes sure that s/he will test every student’s learning after the activity. This can be done during feedback or with a quiz or test warned of in advance. If they know that any member of their group might be asked questions on the material, they will work with their Checker to ensure that all members understand all the points.

You can spice this up (at some risk!) by saying that any student who gets one question wrong, will automatically get the next question and so on until they get one right. The risk of course is that you put humiliating pressure on a weak student, but if you have some easy questions up your sleeve this can be avoided if you judge it necessary.

The roles of questioner and checker etc help to show students good practice in reading text. Do point this out to students. For example, good readers formulate important questions that the text might answer; ask themselves ‘do I understand this?’ and ‘is this important?’ as they read. They also check they know the vocabulary and summarise key points etc. Hence the roles are not arbitary or purely managerial, but model good study practice.

Students can be given ‘role cards’ with all the roles described until they get used to it. Roles can rotate from lesson to lesson.

Useful combinations of roles for your groups: (Try to give every student in the group a role)

1. Two or more Teachers

2. A Scribe and a Checker

3. Two or more Teachers and a Checker (who is not also a teacher)

4. Two or more Teachers and a Checker and a Leader

5. Two or more Teachers, a Vocabulary chief and a Checker who checks material other than the vocabulary

6. A Leader who is also a Questioner, a Scribe and a Checker.

7. A Leader, a Questioner, a Scribe and a Checker.

8. etc! (Miss out the Checker at your own peril!)

PD bites - Term 4 Week 2 REVISION

Yesterday at Teacher Learning Network we discussed revision tips and strategies which work. I know many of us are still teaching content but it is a good idea to give students advice on how to study for your subject so that they can get started at home.

Lorraine O’Carroll started her revision tips with her form class by giving them a learning styles quiz to complete. You can find information about learning styles here and the test itself here. There are also online tests that you could encourage students to do at home – learning style self assessment/ a learning style survey for college/ educationplanner learning styles quiz.

She then went over how to set up a homework/ study area which suits your learning style and how to create a study space to make the most out of study time.

She has also used these handouts - how you can study most effectively for your learning style and setting up a study area.

As most of you know I am a great fan of mindmaps but Connie has found that some students find them unwieldy and would prefer something smaller. She has used mini books as revision tools. One book for each topic. Together the students can identify the best aspect of the topic to put on each page of the book. They can then carry them around in their pockets and look at them whenever they have a spare moment.
how to make a mini book with one sheet of paper
making online mini books

Connie has also used kinesthetic essay planning. Students write out ideas/ characters/ quotes etc for a text type on separate pieces of paper. Teacher gives students an essay topic and they have to choose which aspects of the text they would include in that particular essay and put up on the whiteboard. Concept can be used in subjects other than English too.

Other ideas which were discussed:

• Kristy uses mnemonics to remember things
• Lorraine Pound has the students make paper dice - one per topic. Students need to decide on what to put on each side of the dice. These can then be hung up around their rooms. Dice template
• Amy thinks using colour is key to making effective notes.

If you have any revision ideas that you would like to share please email them to me for next week's PD bite.

PD bites Term 4 Week 1

Teaching Strategy
Using a countdown for getting their attention

A good technique for getting the attention of the whole class is to use a 'countdown' from 5 or 10 to allow students the time to finish their conversations (or work) and listen to the next instruction. Explain to the class that you are using countdown to give them fair warning that they need to listen and that it is far more polite than calling for immediate silence. Embellish your countdown with clear instructions so that students know what is expected and be prepared to modify it for different groups:

'Five, you should be finishing the sentence that you are writing
Three, excellent Marcus, a merit for being the first to give me your full attention
Two, quickly back to your places
One, all pens and pencils down now
Half, all looking this way
Zero, thank you.'

Some students may join in the countdown with you at first, some will not be quiet by the time you get to zero at first but persevere, use praise and rewards to reinforce its importance and it can become an extremely efficient tool for those times when you need everyone's attention. You may already have a technique for getting everyone's attention, e.g. hands up. The countdown technique is more effective as it is time related and does not rely on students seeing you.

(Behaviour Management Tip from Pivotal Education)

Professional Reading
How to deal with teenage learning fatigue

Revision Bites

Revision bites to go over with your form class in the first two weeks of Term 4. Once you get to the wiki page, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can click on the link and print out the 4 Revision Bites for each week.

PD bite - Term 3 Week 8

Literacy Strategy

Concept circles

How to use concept circles
Draw circles divided into four sectors. Each sector stores information about a concept such as the term, the definition written out in full, the symbol, and the name of the unit OR in each section there is a word associated with the topic and connected in some way with the other words in the circle.
The teacher fills in two or three of the sectors and the students work independently to fill in the missing information AND work out and explain what the relationship is between the words/ information.
The students then work in pairs discussing answers using the language of the curriculum area. The students focus on the answers that are different and also on the reasoning behind the answers that are the same. This is followed by full class discussion if needed.

The benefits of concept circles
Concept circles can be used at the beginning of a unit to clarify to both students and teacher what is known and what needs to be learned. They can be used during and at the end of a unit for revision. A visual summary of concepts can be a useful memory prompt.

Example of concept circles
Year 11 Science (Physics: Forces, Motion and Energy)

Source: Barbara Mcgowan @ ESOL online

concept circles template
Examples of use in mathematics


Professional Reading

How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class

PD bite - Term 3 Week 7 2009

Teaching Strategy

Read while waiting

(a) Train students to take out a book and read if you are interrupted or delayed on your way to class. When you arrive, reward the ones who have remembered to do this.

(b) Fast Finishers
There are always a few fast finishers! IF their work is neat, correct, and well done, they should take out a book (novel/chapter book) to read. Train your classes to always take out a book to read whenever their work is completed. You can also have a pile of readings related to your subject, magazines for them or even the newspaper.

Provide time at first to train them in this. Give an in-class assignment and then allocate 30 minutes or so to do it, so that every student will have time to finish and then have time to read.

NEVER give more work as a reward/punishment? Reading will benefit all.

An inspirational story - without words

http://www.newsfromanacorn.com/2009/06/a-story-without-words.html

PD bite - Term 3 Week 6 2009

Literacy Strategy

Guardian of the word
At the start of a topic/ unit give each student a key word, of which s/he is the guardian. During the course of the topic, she has to test every other person in the class to make sure that she can spell the word and knows the meaning. You can allocate a couple of minutes each lesson for this testing process to occur. Each Guardian has to keep a list of the people she has tested. At the end of the topic, conduct a test, which can be a mixture of questions such as simple “spelling” or a question in the form of “what is the word which means …” or “what is the word which is opposite of …”

Taken from Helen Nicholls – Building Blocks.

Professional Reading

Creativity: A Guide - Guy Claxton

PD bite Term 3 Week 5 2009

Classroom Strategy

Stopwatch and countdown timer
(thanks to Jennie Moore for sharing this website)

Download the following Stopwatch and Countdown Timers for timed activities in the classroom:




Get a Stopwatch like this or make your own! At: Online Stopwatch

PD Bite Term 3 Week 4 2009

Literacy Strategy

Vocabulary Snowball
(From Building Blocks – Helen Nicholls)

You will need a rolled up ball of paper or a koosh ball for this activity OR Instead of throwing a ball, place students in teams and run as a competition – every member of the team must have a turn at contributing a word.

Purpose: To help students predict what words might be in a topic, or to help revise key words .

Instructions:

1. Name the topic to the students e.g. ‘Olympic Games Disciplines/ Events’
2. Appoint one recorder to write down each words as they are said.
3. Students stand in a circle. Teacher (or student) stands in middle and throws ball to a student.
4. Student says one word associated with the topic which the recorder writes down. [e.g. Shotput]
5. Student throws ball back to teacher etc.

Extension:
Students then come up with 3 or 4 categories and organise the words they’ve written down. [Track, Field, Aquatic, Needs equipment, uses mainly legs etc]

Professional Reading
Managing Challenging Behaviour - tips from Pivotal Consultants

PD bite Term 3 Week 3

Teaching Strategy - Any Questions
If you ask, "Does anyone have any questions?" and you get no questions- that means students probably don't know or understand enough to ask a question!!

So, ask questions that will tell you if there is understanding. Just remember though that just because one student gives the answer it does NOT mean anyone else knows the answer.

Ask more than one student to give the answer to the same question...
Tell me more.
Say it in a different way.
How would you say it?
Say it again.
Then ask the question in a different way and check for understanding.


Professional Readings

Are we over technology?
Jose Bowen, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, HAS DECIDED TO THROW ALL TECHNOLOGY OUT of the classroom (and he is not the only one) . His goal? To axe boring PowerPoints from the lives of students and reinvigorate their learning with engaging, human-to-human contact. http://chronicle.com/article/Teach-Naked-Effort-Strips/47398/

NCEA AND STUDENT MOTIVATION
Have you read the story on student motivation and NCEA in last week's Gazette?
http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleId=7885

PD bite Term 3 Week 2 2009

Literacy Strategy - Disappearing Definition

Write the definition on the white board. The teacher reads the definition to the students. The students chorus the definition back. The teacher rubs out every seventh word and a student reads out the text including the missing word. The teacher rubs out every seventh word and a student reads out the entire text. The teacher continues rubbing out until there is no text on the board. The students then write the definition into their books from memory.

Note:

• Always use an important piece of text or definition for this activity.


• The classroom context will determine how the teacher chooses the students who are to read. Even if the teacher chooses students systematically around the classroom, the students will all be focused with their answer ready.

Professional Reading

Teacher Magazine - "How to Use Left-over Class Time"

PD bite Term 3 Week 1 2009 - classroom management tips

Ways To Say "No"
That’s not an option
I am unwilling to allow you to…
Say it in a funny way, i.e. "Never in a million trillion years!"
That’s not appropriate.
I am not ready for you to do that yet.
Ask, "What do you think you would need to do before I would be willing to say yes to that?"
Ask, "What do you think? Is this a good choice for you?"
"What are your other options?"
No, but I would be willing to...
I appreciate your asking, however...
This is not negotiable

Managing Behaviour

• Use proximity control...be nearby....Keep talking and WALK up and down the rows, around the groups,. STAND next to the restless.
• Quietly finger tap the desk of any who are NOT paying attention....whisper their name.
• Use student names in discussion. Use student names and local paces in examples or problems... "Aroha went to the Warehouse with $40......"
• If waiting for silence, be sure to mention...
  Mary is ready to listen, Josie's group is ready to go on, Losa's row is listening....
  OR..
  one person is ready, 2 rows are listening, almost everyone is ready to go on
  OR
  please tell your neighbour to listen..