‘We were EFFECTIVE CONTRIBUTORS because we thought of our own ideas to create our display’ Chloe,Amelia,Brooke
‘I was a CONFIDENT INDIVIDUAL because I listened and tried to understand myself.’Jessica
I was an EFFECTIVE CONTRIBUTOR because I thought of questions for our topic@ Billy
Just some of the comments from 5G Read the rest of this entry »
I had a very interesting morning with 5G .This was the first REAL attempt at working on their own,following their plans and ideas. I thought (how presumtious of me !) they would be full of enthusiasm and raring to go.Don’t get me wrong,many of the children were but 2 or 3 struggled to get started.
* What do I have to do ?
* I don’t know what to do ?
were a few of the comments I got. I encouraged them to go back to their key questions and look at what they had decided to do . These children still wanted support to ensure they were doing the right thing. So, this was an example of direct teacher input to move their learning on. One or two others needed ‘encouragement’ to stay on task and to take responsibility for their own learning.After this discussion they seemed more confident to work more independently.
A lot of children carried out surveys asking questions about bullying and constructing bar graphs to show results.The main question being asked was ‘Do you think Bullying is fun?’ Lee asked this question to P6 and no one said they thought it was fun! Once he had drawn his graph he added a speech bubble with the question ‘ Were they all telling the truth?’ Other children were working on posters to present their work. We had a class discussion about standards of presentation and drew up a list of requirements that would present their work in the best light.They compiled a list of success criteria and stuck by it .They took a pride in their work and wanted it to look good.By the end of the morning progress had been made ! The work this morning made me think about the individual needs of children and how they can be met.Certainly one or two children still required a lot of teacher input to get started and stay on task but with this support and encouragement they too can become successful learners and confident individuals.It is all about finding the balance.
For the last few weeks my class has been involved in a project for the Curriculum for Excellence. http://www.curriculumforexcellencescotla…) We’ve been particularly thinking about Active Learning—this is trying to move away from ‘chalk-and-talk’ teaching and towards, where possible, the children discovering things for themselves. A colleague suggests that it means the teacher not being the sage on the stage but a guide on the side.
We’ve been investigating Light and Sound, which we did through making Shadow Puppets. This began to spread through other subject areas—we found ourselves covering Drama, Technology and lots of Language work in addition to the Science outcomes we’d expected. We realised we’d need a reason to use the puppets - an occasion - so we wrote plays to perform for our Nursery Children.
As a teacher, it’s been very much a learning experience for me. I’ve seen children show unexpected strengths, as we’ve worked in different ways. I’ve found it quite powerful to watch the children learning from each other. It’s been interesting to watch the P4 children making decisions about what would be appropriate for Nursery Children; their judgments were surprisingly realistic.
There have been strengths and issues that need further development: working in this way has meant a cross-curricular approach is essential - we certainly haven’t been limited by subject constraints. It’s also kept the children very motivated and engaged in their own learning. It has taken over our classroom - a good thing when it generates this much interest - but I know we’ve done less work than normal on some areas, which I’ll have to make up. Also, it’s making the children think about their own learning much more; not just what facts they’ve learned, but about how the way they’ve been working has been a good thing for them as growing individuals.
The day of reckoning arrived! Had we succeeded in our aim of offering the children real personalisation ,choice ,relevance and challenge?We started the afternoon by asking the children to evaluate their shadow puppets using the success criteria which was *does my puppet have a clear outline?*does my puppet have a moving part?We also asked the children if they could improve their puppet in any way.They were reminded to be specific and we had a lot of clear and concise ideas –
The children then worked in groups of their choice to make a poster of everything they had learned over the past few weeks. This for me was one of the highlights .This was ACTIVE LEARNING in action !!!! They were engaged in discussion with each other and recording their learning .The comments were of a practical nature as well as a PSD nature. For example
These are only a few of the comments but it was clear to us how much the children enjoyed and learned from it. If children can work in this way and engage with each other it makes for a much more dynamic and interactive learning environment.So did all this tie in with the four capacities of the Curriculum for Excellence?We used a child friendly version and asked the children to link the statements to what we had done. Many of them were covered and the children could clearly see the connections. When the children are given some real choice it makes a real difference. What next? Well I am very excited about going back to work in my own school with my class and another class .I hope to use all I have learned at Cockenzie and continue to develop and extend my knowledge and understanding of the Curriculum for Excellence.
This morning Primary 4W performed their shadow puppet plays to the nursery children.To begin with they put the finishing touches to their puppets,collected scripts and headed to the music room.They were all very excited about performing.They had obviously been rehearsing since last week and were keen to show off their skills.
They decided to put down cushions for the nursery to sit on.The screen was set up and the first group prepared to perform.It was fantastic to see each group perform with confidence and enjoyment.Team work was evident in that they helped each other with lines,sorted their positions behind the screen and listened carefully as each of them spoke. The audience laughed and clapped!(And sat beautifully too!)
After the children got back to the class they were asked to evaluate their performances using ‘2 stars and a wish’ ( self assessment) .The results were amazing.Having expected lots of vague comments such as ‘It was good’ or ‘I did well’ there were 38 specific ’stars’ (we were very expressive, spoke clearly,our puppets were really clear,our timing was great,Shaun tried his best). The 15 specific wishes related to how they could improve next time(speak louder, we could have learned our lines better,I wish I had said mermaid instead of dolphin)
They definitely had given their comments some thought.We should never underestimate children’s capacity to think and learn for themselves.The children displayed enthusiasm, creativity and confidence. The children took ownership of this project and proved they could carry it off- a truly enterprising project from beginning to end! Tomorrow we evaluate the whole project so it will be interesting to see what the children have to say.
Monday 1st /Tuesday 2nd October Learning Intention- to produce a play script Context- shadow puppets
Success Criteria- play must have a narrator,each character has a part,play must have a beginning, middle ,end, must last no longer than 5 mins.
To begin with we looked at ORT play scripts to let the children see the layout of a play and to introduce key vocab. - scene, narrator, characters. We then modelled the beginning of Little Red Riding Hood. The children came up with the script. Having looked at the ORT scripts they kept the sentences short. They then went into their groups to begin their plays. As this was the first time they had done this we directed them along somewhat as they were struggling to begin with. By the end of Monday they only managed scene 1 or part of it. However they were working collaboratively and trying to come up with their own ideas. So all hope was not lost. There was a mountain to climb on Tuesday! Today (Tuesday 2nnd) was a revelation!!!! The class have turned this activity around. Given the challenge of finishing by 2.30pm spurred them into action. Group work is not always easy but in one group it was favouring a girl who would not normally have been so proactive. She actually was using her initiative and leading the group with her ideas. Another girl was working with 3 boys who worked well as a team and were able to make joint decisions without making a fuss!
There was a definite buzz in the classroom as each group worked on their scripts and all but 2 completed their scripts. The other 2 only had a couple of lines to do. This meant we could practise the plays with the scripts. Excitement grew as the projector and screen were set up. 3 groups managed to perform. We were able to tease out teething problems and offer ideas on how to improve. The children were so pleased to be able to perform and they were able to see the end product. All their hard work was starting to pay off. Successful Learners and Effective Contributors in action!!!!!
Apologies for the change in style but being new to blogging I lost my work this morning so I have copied and pasted this from word!!!! Once bitten and all that…….
This is already week 2 and so much has been done ! I am working with Mark Woods and his very friendly class.They have been enthusiastic and open to new thinking and ideas-Successful learners!In Primary 4 they are looking at light.
Monday 24th September-As in introduction we carried out an Engine Room with the class.When asked what an engine room was one boy said it was where the engine on the train was! Another said it would be full of steam !After an explanation was given lollipop sticks were used to pick pairs.(formative assessment tecnique).The children said this would be the fairest way and no-one would be left out.In pairs they had to record sources of light and then join up with another pair and so on.The groups of four were a challenge to some children as they all wanted to talk first or record ‘their’ idea.One group worked very well and appointed a recorder and another member of the group read out the information on the sheets.At this stage one or two children began to get restless and took a back seat.When the 2 groups of 4 joined together to make an 8 it became very noisy and some became frustrated as the group was too big to be heard. For a first time the class did very well to maintain it to the end.We had a great discussion to collate their ideas and all children were actively engaged sharing results.
As our main idea is shadow puppets we wanted to get the children to look at what makes a good clear shape.They collected leaves at palytime and we discussed their shapes, some being very clear and sharp ,others not so clear.We explained that they were going to create a simple basic photograph using photo paper and light and that the outline was the most important part as no detail would be seen.It was interesting that a lot of the children actually added detail. After the shapes were cut out and stuck onto the photo paper we went outside and held them up to the light for 2 minutes.The results were good and the children then realised that it was pointless adding detail !
Tuesday 25th September- The afternoon kicked of with an excellent discussion about what makes an effective team.Again we set high expectations of the children and used a ‘no hands’policy,expecting and answer from every child.We used lollipop sticks to ask.The answers the children gave were brilliant so it is obvious the children know how to work like this .They only need a chance to show it ! I think we are often reluctant to’ let go ‘ and lose some control but the results can be amazing. Here are some of the answers they gave- working together,talking and listening,helping each other,being a good example to your team mates,concentrating,cooperation(no arguing),sharing ideas,working hard,generating ideas,being active,making decisions(vote)
Now to put all these ideas into practise!
After looking on the internet at shadow puppets they went into groups of four.The learning intention was to plan and design a shadow puppet suitable for nursery children.(RELEVANCE)
Success criteria- everyone must be involved,decide on a theme,complete planning sheet,elect a team leader(CHALLENGE)
At the beginning the children all started to talk at once but after they had settled the noise level dropped quite dramatically as each group discussed ideas and came up with an idea .(PERSONALISATION AND CHOICE))All children were actively engaged in their group planning session.All ideas were suitable for the audience. A very successful afternoon.At the end of the session we talked with the children about the four capacities and some of the children could offer suggestions as to how they fit into their learning.
Hi there, welcome to our blog! We are three Primary Teachers from East Lothian who are seconded for two days a week to promote A Curriculum For Excellence within East Lothian.
All About Us…..We are:
Sheila Howat - Acting Principal Teacher at Ormiston Primary School. I currently share a Primary 3 class with our probationer. I was seconded for one day a week last year to work on Mathematics within East Lothian and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with different schools, classes and teachers. When the opportunity for this secondment arose I was excited by the challenge and keen to learn. I was eager to explore how we could offer more personalisation, choice, relevance, challenge and enjoyment to the children in our classes. Watch this space to find out more!
Jackie Hunter - Class Teacher at Prestonpans Primary School. This year I am teaching Primary 4 with a probationer. This is the first time I have ventured out on a secondment and I am looking forward to developing my own teaching and learning skills as well as working with the children in a different way which will hopefully give them more opportunities to personalise their learning in a relevant and challenging way.
Katherine Macnaughton - Class Teacher at Campie Primary School. I am the third secondee and I am currently sharing a Primary 2 class with a probationer. I put myself forward for this secondment as I wanted to discover and develop good practice within the authority in relation to the Curriculum for Excellence. I am hoping this will benefit my own professional development and in particular my teaching which in turn should really benefit the pupils. I think it is an exciting time where the children are personalising their learning which should not only motivate them to succeed but raise their self esteem.
Our First Project
Our first challenge is to undertake a piece of work in Cockenzie Primary School for one planning block (September-October) in three classes; early, middle and upper. Katherine is working in Primary 1/2, Jackie in Primary 4 and Sheila in Primary 6. We are exploring the current plans with class teachers, finding more opportunities for choice and looking for meaningful cross curricular opportunities within them. We are particularly interested in working on three principles from A Curriculum For Excellence; Challenge and Enjoyment, Relevance and Personalisation and Choice. As we are all working within different classes and studying different topics the project is set to be exciting!
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