Friday 17 February 2017


 
Hi All,
 
As you all know the beginning of the school year is extremely busy for all teachers from Prep to high school.  You would think that because Distance Ed is done through web-conferencing there would be less preparation but actually I have found that it's quite the opposite.  Although I myself don't have a physical classroom, to create and hang resources in, I do have to be super organised and have those resources ready to mail out in the first week of school to my students.
 
The items I include in my first mail out bag are mixed.  Some are simply to create a relationship between my students and I, some are to establish classroom expectations and others are physical resources that will be used in their lessons throughout the year. 
 

 For getting to know each other I create a craft glyph using the book 'Pete the Cat Rocking in my school shoes'.  After creating their glyph my students have been mailing them back in so I can use them in a display at the school as well as sharing them on our Class Dojo where they can discuss what they have learnt about each other.  I have shared this file on my TpT's store.


Because our time on-air is very limited (1hr/ day for English) I try to use a little of the Flipped Classroom model of having students view digital learning resources before class.  This year to establish classroom expectations for learning and behaviour my students listened to a reading of the book 'How do dinosaurs go to school?' at home and in class we created a Y chart of what we wanted our on-airs to sound like, look like and feel like.  At home they completed a writing task, so I would have a beginning of the year sample and dinosaur name plaque to show cutting skills.  You can find the dinosaur template and writing paper on my TpT store.



I also like to establish with my Home Tutors some communication and teaching norms that will make a their classroom run smoother and unsure continuity.  I send out a Home Tutor Guide and in it I include timetables of lessons, work returns and hints for the tracking of the assistance they gave during the units of work.  This Evidence Of Learning feedback guide is now being used by other teachers to unsure continuity across the school. 


 
Lastly, I include templates for maths resources that can be printed out by my time poor Home Tutors to use with my students during lessons or to assist my students with their rote learning.  After the Home Tutor establishes the routine my students are then expected to independently complete these activities which frees up time for the Home Tutor to do prep work or work with their other students.  I also provide links for where Home Tutors can download songs that will assist with the rote learning of skip counting patterns and number facts.
 

This year I have also added in a Number of the Day sheet.  This allows my students to be increasing their fluency with a range of number concepts and I'm expecting to be seeing improvements in their working time during Maths on-airs. 

  Number of the Day Book/ Board

Some students have received this as a booklet while others have it printed and laminated in A3 size and complete it with a white board pen, as per the Home Tutor's wishes.

As we all know accidents do happen and to ensure that each of my student always have access to the resources they need to ensure their learning success I provide all my Home Tutors with these resources on a USB which they return for updating every five weeks.  I also include additional resources on this USB that I feel may be of assistance to complete the units of learning in those five week.  I will have posts about some of those resources soon.

Another big post but hopefully well worth your time.  Chat to you all again soon.








































Sunday 1 January 2017

2016...Awesome or Not?

 
 
Hi all,
 
Well 2016 has come to an end and it has seemed to be a year where I couldn't find any forward momentum.  However on reflection, and after a few slaps to the head from some close teaching friends, there did seem to be a bit of gloss to the year that was!
 
I started the year with two beginning teacher mentees and that's were the learning curve began and never stopped!  I quickly learnt that mentoring is not about telling the empty vessel what to do and them enacting it verbatim.  Its actually about relationships!  Who would have thought that?  I have to admit that I had more of an impact on one of the mentees more than the other because 'Baby Minion', as she became known, had a similar teaching style and personality to my own.  We just clicked and we were able to feed off of each other's enthusiasm throughout the year.  With my other mentee it was more about being a listening post.  She was a deep thinker and analyser and needed support to take risks with her teaching.  Coming from a previous career she found the expectations and realities of teaching a challenge. I know my impact with this mentee was limited and I now truly understand how finding the right mentor is vital to the success of beginning teachers.
 
Teaching wise I took on the challenge of being the pilot teacher for the implementation of the program 'Back to Front Maths' for Year Three.  It is a problem-based approach to help children understand maths rather than just memorise it.  Firstly we had to identify their misconceptions before using the lessons created by Tierney Kennedy to fill the gaps before extending their thinking.  Let's just say teaching maths using web-conferencing, with limited internet connection, could be an absolute nightmare some days, and it didn't help that my own knowledge and teaching skills were also being stretched as I had never taught maths at this level before.  That said and done at the end of the year the Year Threes had shown growth with an effect size of 1.33 with highly effective intervention only needing to be between 0.7 and 1.0 for a year.  So 'Yay us'!
 
In the middle of the year I had a slight brain meltdown as this seems to be the only logical reason for why I would apply to be an assessor for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers.  I was one of twenty who were chosen to under go the training and then spent the next six months completing four modules of study through AITSL.  The pilot program will roll out in 2017 in the regions of North Coast and Far North Queensland so there seems to be a bit on travel in my future.
 
During 2016, I continued to work with iAIM to refine the school's physical activity program 'Kilometre Club'.  In 2017 there will be a few major changes with the race around Queensland expanding to include parents, Home Tutors and teachers while a trophy will be presented to the victorious house team.  I am also working towards simplifying the tracking sheets so the students can complete them independent of adult assistance which is vital on a busy cattle and sheep property.
 
I also dabbled with Growth Mindset, Whole Brain Teaching and ClassDojo in the later part of the year to support students who were having issues with staying on task and risk taking.  I saw enough success in my students' learning that they will be programs I will be implementing again in 2017.
 
Lastly 2016 had a few big bangs for me with the parents and Home Tutors of my students nominating me for the Office Works 'Exceptional Teacher Awards' and the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards.  These nominations along with the feedback I got back about my organisation and implementation of the annual 'Art and Craft Show' and the school's 'Speech and Awards Day' have reassured me that my dedication to my students and school are very much appreciated.
 
 
 
Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year!!