What an action packed week!
2 10 2007Monday 1st OctoberRight first on today’s agenda was a visit to the local church - Chalmers Memorial Church. The class were going there for 2 reasons. Firstly they wanted to show me the church and learn more about it, and secondly it was to see the harvest display.
There was so much to take and the children asked loads of great “fat” questions e.g. why were there people on the windows? I found this church really interesting as there were lots of links to the fishing community of Cockenzie/Port Seton.
When we got back to class we noted down everything we could remember and enjoyed learning about. The children were then asked how they would like to display this information for visitors to the class. Mark suggested they could make a map (building on his previous experience from the week before). The children drew pictures and wrote labels which were then stuck down in a church shape.
What came out of today was very interesting. Both Katie and I stood and looked at the overall outcome of the children sharing their learning. It was clearly the children’s work. Nothing like we had envisaged. No neat cutting and mounted borders! If the children are to take ownership of their work and how it is displayed do not expect it to look pretty. However it is the process that is important and the children were proud of their achievements. As teachers we will need to learn to take a step back and allow them to decide what they want to do.
Tuesday 2nd October
An early morning trip to the library was first on today’s agenda. The library is within the local community centre which a large proportion of the children visit weekly. Again this was one of the things the children thought I should see. The librarians - Irene and Doreen - did a great job explaining everything. Back in class we got the children to choose groups and for them to record what they had learned - wow! P1/2 doing their own mind maps - fantastic! The children were really grateful for the experience and wanted to write them thank you cards. We provided them with a choice when we went back to school - thank you cards, a book cover for their favourite book and to colour in and add to the sheet the librarians gave them. The children made their choices and were really motivated - some even went on to choose again! They were all on task and knew what to do. Interestingly enough the split between the 3 tasks was almost even!
In the afternoon Katie carried on with the maths. I took small groups to use the Beebots and taught them the basics - this certainly was problem solving in action - trying to get the robots from one shop to another on the special mats - a challenge.
The children had done a number of activities over the past week involving choice and personalisation - linked to their interests in the topic over the last few weeks. This had led Katie and I to a number of discussions round the topic of personalisation and choice. In fact we have discussed this as a group. As teachers we can not lose sight of the fact that there is still teaching to be done. The children need structure and need to learn the skills that they can then go on to use in independent work. We should not lose sight of the 5-14 curriculum and the structure it provides - particularly in maths and language. We need to take this formal structure and weave it in with the Curriculum for Excellence to provide learning activities and experiences for the children that are personalised, meaningful and allow choice but still allow the basic skills to be taught!
Kat
Am really enjoying reading about what you and the p1/2 class have been doing. What a worthwhile experience it must be and how fab to have the time to really focus on what’s happening during each session.
Your project sounds really exciting Katherine, looking forward to hearing more about it. Your comments in your final paragraph sum up exactly what I have been thinking too! I could not put it better myself and it is exactly what I am finding in my project as well.
Wow, we have been really busy over the past few weeks doing lots of exciting things! I agree with everything you have said and the children have really enjoyed the topic so far! We have covered a lot of ways to present back information - tape recorder, drawings, writing, maps, posters….oh the list is endless. I think taking part in this has made me think more carefully about the possible ways to present back information and the importance of giving the children a choice. I am not so quick to ask the children to write an account of their experiences after returning from a trip (mind you I did have a P3 last year and have never taught a P1!). Quality Active learning has been easier to achieve with 2 teachers in the class and I am not sure whether the children’s experiences would have been the same had it been only me in the class. Having 2 teachers ensured that the children worked in small groups and we were able to assess easily and ensure everyone was on task! Katie Letchford