Chip Classification

Hi… so school has just finished and phew what a day!! We have just finished completing an awesome activity: Chip Classification! I have a grade 6/7 class and the 6’s are learning about living things and the grade 7’s are learning about classification among other things. So, usually I would teach the two grades separate content but I figured it overlapped enough and I thought it would be a valuable learning experience for all my students. Here are the science ACARA links for 6 and 7 if you’re interested.

i was introduced to this chip classification idea about a year ago by a teacher at the Paradise Campus of our school located in Adelaide. It sounded like a great idea and I wish I had taught this sooner!

My students loved it! I began planning last night… let me walk you through it!

1. I researched chip classification online and came across some great instructions here and here and here.
2. I then made a sheet with the various brands of chips on them.
3. I bought LOADS of chips… as many different varieties as possible!
4. I made bags of chips with a few chips of each kind in it!! One bag for each group!
5. I grouped my students and made my grade 7’s leaders of the 5 groups.
6. We handed out the bags and explained that the first step is to classify them into 2 groups of chips according to likeness!
7. Then… they were off! Some got a little confused as they classified the chips according to broken chips and unbroken haha oops!!
8. We got there in the end!!
9. Each group wrote out their classifications. It was interesting because each group was slightly different but all showed the various pathways they had taken to classify their chips together!

It was definitely a memorable lesson and a good experience upon which I can teach living things (grade 6) and classification (grade 7)

Awesome activity!! Give it a go!!

Facebook: A Community of Learners

So…. it’s a Saturday night, 10.07pm and here I am siting on the couch trying to wrap my brain around ACARA for my class of gorgeous and handsome grade 6/7’s!! I was becoming a tad overwhelmed and so naturally I headed to Facebook for a well deserved break. Actually, it wasn’t a well deserved break but a break never-the-less! Whilst scrolling down my newsfeed full of friends babies, delcious dinners, recipes to try and articles to read, I came across a post from the group What a Great Teaching idea. I posted a cry for help…. I needed some ideas for my grade 6/7 science curriculum. I love the new curriculum but I also need more resources and ideas to help me along at this stage! I was totally taken aback by the generosity of others teachers who jump in and help out. Ideas, resources, books, websites and even unit plans were offered to me!! WOW… I am continually amazed at how Facebook and other social media sites can be repurposed for education!! I am one very thankful teacher… thankful for Facebook groups and thankful for generous teachers who are willing to share their experiences and resources!! 🙂

So…. how have you repurposed technology or social networking recently? Share your thoughts… and if you’re not part of What a Great Teacher Idea…. definitely join… it’s a fab group full of experiences and passionate teachers!!

Good night all…. heading to bed… enough planning done for the night!

Conversations and Connecting!

So… last night, I was up very late with my brain whizzing around thinking about school stuff. The night ended up being very productive and another example of the power of the connections and learning we can develop through social media!

A friend and fellow teacher Jess Ottewell was part of this crazy night and blogged about it. Jess is the guest blogger for today and below is her blog entry.

CONVERSATIONS & CONNECTING

A late night blog post from me tonight.
Was scrolling through my FB news feed when a fellow educator posed a questions on a group: What a great teaching idea!! (It is a closed group but you can request if you want to help share and learn with other educators)
Anyway the questions revolved around asking for ideas using Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences as a guide.

… and just like at the races … we were off!

Ideas started flying out, a few educators were throwing ideas left right and centre. ALL great ideas!!

Just made me realise how important conversations with colleagues really are! We help INSPIRE each other!
My brain is now ticking over a million miles an hour with inspiration, ideas and enthusiasm!

I think we can get caught up in our class’ we forget to talk to people about the GOOD we are doing and sharing your ideas with your colleagues, whether this is in your schools staff room, on FB, on twitter, on TPT or on your blog.

Keep talking, keep connecting and keep inspiring each other!

Jess

 

As you can see sharing resources and ideas is such  great thing to do! We all benefit from the connections and conversations we have!

If you want to connect with Jess here is a link to her digital footprint.

She is an amazing teacher – connect with her today!

Thanks Jess for letting me share your blog entry here!! 🙂

Angry Birds and Angles

Recently I’ve been teaching angles to my Grade 7 students. I was on the hunt for some engaging ideas and stumbled upon this blog by Mr Avery and his class. This blog was really inspiring and I used Mr Avery’s ideas to introduce angles.

Our first lesson consisted of revision touching on acute angles, obtuse, right, straight and reflex angles, then we moved onto more complex aspects including complementary, supplementary and finding the unknown angle.

As a fun project to finish up the unit of work the students were asked to create an angry birds poster showing the types of angles needed to get the pigs. Each angel was the  measured using a protractor!

It was super fun and connected to the students’ learning and their interests!

Check out Mr. Avery’s blog and have a go at this task!! The students will LOVE IT!!

Here are some pictures from my classes attempts at this fun task!

Essential Tips for Beginning Teachers

So… I’m about to enter into my 3rd year of full time teaching. After spending 7 years in the field of education researching, doing relief teaching, lecturing and tutoring at Flinders Uni… I was suddenly thrown into a full time teaching position in a country setting in South Australia. It’s embarrassing to admit this but….I felt the pressure to be an awesome teacher but there were many things I still needed to learn and…. learn quickly!! I still feel like I’m continually learning!! I think it is a journey that will never end!! I hope it’s a journey that will never end!

I recently caught up with a very experienced teacher, who is also a dear friend of mine called Jayne Howell. Jayne is AMAZING!! Yes, I use this word a lot but it’s completely the truth she is AMAZING!! She is a born teacher who is relational, thoughtful and is a genius when it comes to sorting out student issues and dealing with emotional situations! I have learnt SOOOO much from this incredible woman! I have dragged her into this blog today to co-author this entry (and some more entries to come 😉 )… about sharing some tips for beginning teachers!

We recently went to TGI’s for lunch and we had a chat about what beginning teachers should know…. and so…. we have compiled a list of tips for beginning teachers! It began as 10 top tips but the list kept growing haha…. So… Here they are!! Also.. keep an eye out in the near future for out the audio to go along with this blog… hilarious!! 🙂

Hi this is Jayne! Here are some tips that I’ve learnt throughout my 16 years of primary teaching!

1. Pray
   1. Religious or not… praying is essential! Pray for the kids in your class, families, for teachable moments, for knowing the right words to say, for a love and enthusiasm for what you’re doing!!

2. Teaching is all about relationship NOT friendship
   1. Your job is not to be their friend but to lead them and guide them within set boundaries.
   2. Be prepared for “I hate you!”, “YOU’RE MEAN” and “You’re the BEST TEACHER EVER”….. You’ll probably get them all!! 🙂

3. Be consistent and be fair!!
   1. Explain the decisions you make and why…  Kids are smart and the students will know when you’re not being fair or if you’re playing favourites!! And… they’re bound to act out if favouritism is occurring!!

4. Don’t compare yourself to other teachers (especially more experienced ones!)
   1. You are your own teacher and it will take time to develop your style and what works for others may not work for you! Be kind to yourself!!

5. Don’t be afraid to be the authority in your classroom
   1. Remember you are the expert. Be confident in who you are and your role as the teacher!
   2. Say no. It’s okay! It’s okay to say not now, later and don’t be afraid of the kids’ reactions!!

And some other tips lol ……

6. Allow take up time for behavior!! Ignore secondary behavior.
7. Look to the heart of the matter and beyond the behaviour!
8. Don’t be afraid to get it wrong!!
9. Listen, listen, listen and ask questions!
10. Ask for and share resources
11. Put in the hard work in term 1 to set up your classroom and you will reap the rewards in term 4
12. Work hard and life balance
13. Ask for help and be vulnerable
14. Watch and observe other teachers
    1. Uni doesn’t prepare you for the day to day teaching in the classroom
    2. What do experienced teachers do that work!! Give it a go!
15. Take time to find out what style and pedagogies work for you / your style
    1. You can only be the best teacher you can be!!
16. It’s okay to say you don’t know to the kids
    1. Set an example of being a learner and model how to find things out and model vulnerability in saying it’s okay to say I don’t know!
17. Get sleep and rest!!
    1. Take care of yourself, sleep and exercise and do something fun non-school related!!!
18. Get to know the kids yourself, don’t just rely on their past history!!
19. Have a thick skin and don’t take things personally!
20. Be Organised, not just for classroom but for the endless admin tasks!!
21. Be confident during staff meetings and pull your weight, but don’t be a “know it all”, we are all still learning!

WOW… thanks Jayne!!

Our plan is to expand this list and continue co-authoring blog entries about specific tips!

What tips do you want to hear more about?

What tips would you add to this list!?

We would LOVE to hear your feedback, so leave a comment below! 🙂

 

Surveys to maintain a Supportive Environment

This post originates from a very difficult day in my classroom. The behaviour of my students was not great and I was struggling to teach well within this difficult social environment I had some how allowed to happen!

After talking with a much more experienced teacher (Jayne), she recommended doing an anonymous survey to ask the students what they were enjoying about the class and their learning, as well as what they were struggling with. The most confronting part of this survey related to their perceptions about me…. their teacher. I asked questions like: what do you need in a teacher, what do teachers do that make you feel safe or unsafe and even what consequences do you think should be given for certain behaviours.

The responses were confronting!! I realised that although the students were indeed responsible for their actions, I had contributed somewhat by being inconsistent with following through with the consequences… I also discovered some positive things about my teaching too.

So….. the main point I want to get across is…. if you’re struggling with some behaviours in the classroom, why not empower your students, and value their voices in this process! Have a go at giving them a survey… you may be surprised at what you find out about the inner working of your students and what they are needing from you as their teacher!

Here is an example of a survey I have used both in 2013 and 2014.  It works!! 🙂

 

Survey:

I want you to be 100% honest in this survey! I want to know how you feel so we can make this learning environment a happy and safe place! J

 

1. What are three things you need in a teacher?

 

1. ____________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________

 

2. What are two things teachers do or have done in the past to make you feel safe?

1. __________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________

 

3. What are two things teachers do or have done in the past to make you feel unsafe?

1. __________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________

 

4. When you feel unsafe who are two people you could talk to?

 

1. __________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________

 

5. What’s important for you in a classroom? What does a good classroom look like? And feel like?
   1. __________________________________________________
   2. __________________________________________________

 

6. What are two things that you are looking forward to about being in grade 7?

1. __________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________

 

7. What are two things that are concerning or worrying you about being in grade 7?

1. __________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________

 

8. Should all behavior have the same consequences? Yes or No (circle one)

 

9. What about these behaviours….. What should be consequences be?

 

Behaviour	Consequence
Calling out	______________________________________________________
Swearing	______________________________________________________
Not completing homework	______________________________________________________
Talking back	______________________________________________________
Hurting someone	______________________________________________________
Refusing to do work	______________________________________________________
Late to class	______________________________________________________
Threatening someone	______________________________________________________
Not listening to teacher	______________________________________________________

 

10. What can YOU change? We can’t change the school, teacher or class …. But what’s ONE thing you can change to make this classroom a happy and safe place?

 

______________________________________________________

 

11. Seating arrangements. Name two people you could work well next to

 

1. ______________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________

 

Thank you for completing this survey!!

I care about you very much and I look forward to working with you to make this classroom a fun and happy place where we can love, lead and learn together!

 

Love Miss Page

 

It’s all about conversations!

Today has marked my first peer observation! I don’t know about you but I LOVE being observed and the feedback … well I love that even more! I love learning and investigating how I can improve and be a better teacher! My colleague Jayne came in today during a History lesson and during our debrief after with the principal I had a major light bulb moment! Jayne was discussing how she goes about disciplining and you know what… it’s a bit different to my approach!!

I, at times, feel pressured to get through the curriculum so up until this point I give out consequences (I’m also quick to hand out rewards and the same idea to be discussed applies here too.) without having a dialogue about why or ask the student to think about what they did and what that means! I am very quick to hand out warnings and minutes but only rarely do I take to time to discuss and have an actual conversation with the child to empower them to think through their actions and to think about how they can fix the mess they’ve created!! I keep forgetting that it’s about empowerment of the child!! How much will they learn from me oppressing them with “minutes”, “minutes”, “minutes”. What if I actually do what my colleagues do and talk through these issues with them…. questions like “what did you you do?” “what should you have been doing” THEN discuss the consequences!! I can’t believe I had missed a whole step in this whole relational discipline thing!!

I am beginning this new approach tomorrow … im a bit worried about the time this may take…. BUT in the end, it’s all about relationships, relationships, relationships…… this beautiful (and sometimes messy) relationship between student and teacher IS THE UTMOST important thing and we can establish this through conversations!! Conversation is the key!! WOW….

I must say, I feel a bit silly that the whole “conversation” thing is my light bulb moment but…. hey I am learning…. bring on the next peer review and the next light bulb!! Loving life!!

How to set up a classroom

As a lecturer in Primary Teaching, I often get asked “How do I set up a classroom?”.

Well, I’m back in the classroom setting it up from scratch so, I thought this would be a great time to document and explain how I actually do this!! I know term 2 is about to begin but I stumbled upon this draft …. so here it is… published at last!

1. Before you arrive at the school, go through and sort out what resources you already have, box up the ones you want to keep and ditch the rest!
2. Begin thinking about the curriculum – what units will you teach and begin thinking about behaviour management. (This does not mean begin writing lesson plans and laminating stuff for your BM plan but simply begin to consider these things!)
3. Make lists!!! Seriously write everything down that you need to do, make, buy, laminate, file, sort etc….
4. When you arrive at the school and you step into your classroom look at how the previous teacher has placed the teacher desk, other desks, technology and any other resources (take photos) and begin thinking about how you might like to set up the room. What worked for one teacher may not work for you…. but if it worked for them it just might be the best thing – so consider all options related to desk positioning.
5. Get a class list and pictures if possible and begin learning your students names and please, please check how to prounounce names if you are unsure!! From this list make up some “check off” lists and an assessment list! I am in the process of switching all my assessment to online but I feel more comfortable using the paper system still make up lists so you can write down grades for spelling, maths, mental, science, history, geography, written language, oral langauge, reading comprehension etc….
6. Make desk tags with names and write out a seating plan.
7. Begin thinking about and writing out routines and how you want to check diaries, homework and tasks throughout the day. I use a clip board with a class list and I keep track of all these things using that!
8. Set the desks out – I began with a U shape but hated it and have now gone back to rows. I know it’s traditional but it works for me and my students!
9. Go through the stationary order and double check everything! Begin to place it on students desks (try and rope in some friends to help you with this, one of our fabulous SSO’s and a good friend of mine helped do this task for me and it was the biggest blessing ever!
10. Place posters, decorate with washi tape, posters and maybe poms around the classroom to start setting the atmosphere and of course the all important door sign! I used Vistaprint and ordered a large window decal as my whole door is glass! It looks great! Check out pinterest for some fabulous ideas in relation to setting up, decorating or organising your classroom!
    1. Here is my pinterest page… do yourself a favour and also check out Hannah Overton’s and Jess Ottewell’s!
11. Now that the classroom is physcially set up now it’s time to get to the nitty gritty planning! Plan in as much detail as you can and try and photocopy and prepare as much as you can too. In saying that, my first term was literally a day to day organisation thing – I wanted to be super prepared but it just wasn’t working! Just do what you can do! Always begin with outcomes and work back from there! What do you want students to know, understand or be able to do and how will you know they have achieved all they should have? Also begin to think about differentiating the content for those students who need some extra help and those who need extending!
12. Write a welcome letter to the families to give out on the first day. Make sure you outline what units of work you will be covering, what is expected, any projects happening and anything that the children need to bring in (for my Gr. 6/7 this included glue stick, tissue box and USB). It’s essential you also introduce yourself and who you are!
13. Now that you are all set up make sure you rest and get a good night’s sleep before your first day!

It can be overwhelming to set up a room from beginning to end so make a list of things to do, buy and make! And allocate what tasks your friends (if they are wonderful and willing – thanks to my friends Sophie, Jayne, Michelle and Karen who are helping me and keeping me calm haha) and SSO’s can do for you! Don’t be afraid to ask for help!

Good luck and I will add to this post as I think of more things and pics will be coming soon! 🙂

“It doesn’t make bad teaching better” My reflections on IWB

From 2007 to 2012 I was a teacher of pre-service teachers. Some of my work involved teaching pre-service teachers about how to use IWBs. Some of the common complaints include:

• “We don’t have access to enough PD”
• “We just want to know how to use them better”
• “We think the cost of them isn’t worth it when we can’t use them effectively”
• “Using them doesn’t make made teaching better”

I was stunned at the negativity so openly shared about the use of the lack there of of IWBs. I turned to my PLN and the same answers began to appear from teachers too.

I had a conversation with George Couros just this week about IWBs. I was telling him how I have been using them and teaching pre-service teachers about them in an ICT course I teach and how we use TPACK to guide our integration of them into the teaching and learning. Anyway…. I went on and on and on about how they help us teach when George asked me two profound questions:

George: “How many times did you just talk about teaching?”

Me: “Umm…. lots….”

George ” How many times did you menion learning?”

Me: *Gasp* “I never mentioned learning?!!?”

This was an absolute light bulb moment! IWBs indeed do not make bad teaching better but it should NEVER be about the teaching but about the learning! The interaction between students and the content!! OH MY GOODNESS!

I shared this thought with my pre-service teachers and we suddenly became aware of our langauge and thinking surrounding teaching and learning! Whenever I or another student mentioned the technology in terms of teaching and NOT learning – our thinking was highlighted by 25 others haha….. it made for a very interesting lesson where our thinking began to shift! There were many awkward giggles throughout this lesson as we realised how much we didn’t talk about student learning but rather our teacher! How profound yet scary!

You see, using technology should be about the learning. More and more we are hearing about schools tearing down IWBs or they have made a decision to not replace them in the future instead wanting to go in the direction of one-to-one laptops or more commonly Ipads. This is because the interaction is far greater with these devices because each student can interact as opposed to one or two interacting with the IWB.

We have access to some great resources and research about the use of IWBs. One example is an article written by Dr. Trudy-Ann Sweeney, an academic at Flinders University. Also Selena Woodward’s blog is a gold mine and the authors knowledge is incredible and advocates for an emphasis on learning rather than teaching….. BUT

I question how much of this knowledge is actually getting through(some of it obviously is but it still astounds me how much of our focus in on teaching not learning) and what factors are hindering teachers and pre-service teachers alike from using this tool, pedagogically, in the best way possible?

How do you use your IWB? Is your thinking focused on teaching or learning?

Lasting Impact

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I was procrastinating a little last year and Googled myself just to see how my web presence was going! I found the usual stuff about my academic work and blah, blah, blah but I was blown away when I came across this beautiful blog post from one of my students that I taught in semester one, 2012, at Flinders Uni. Thanks Rachael for the lovely, lovely words!

Rachael’s post has got me thinking! It’s incredible the impact we have on students…. we change their lives in unknown ways! Teaching is so rewarding and being an integral part of students’ journey of learning is the greatest gift! So often we don’t know how we are influencing our students’ lives and in many cases we will never know but I love and deeply appreciate those moments where we get an insight into the lasting impact we have! I love teaching.