ACfE In Action

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 –

• Jack-make the head smaller to fit in with the rest of its body
• Jenny-make the arms come out of the body at the same level,make the legs the same size
• Cameron W- cut it out  more carefully
• Teri-don’t make it so big it and it won’t be heavy
• Shaun-make moving arms next time

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

• I like working in a group because you get on better
• If you don’t work together you never get anywhere
• We all helped each other
• We did a better job
• I learned how to make a shadow puppet
• We learned how to make a moving part
• We worked as a team
• We learned how to make our puppets better
• Get more action
• I learned how to cooperate

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.  

A trip has been planned to take the children to the Museum of Flight on the 29^th October. The children will dress as evacuees and Jennifer and I as “old fashioned teachers” (I must look out my twin set and pearls)! We will be given a tour of the aircraft which will support the many groups in the class who chose to study aircraft and weapons. Many other activities will take place (top secret for now) and it will be a great way to round up the topic.

A decision was made by the children that they would like to hold a Learning Festival to showcase their learning and they each chose how they would like to “prove it”. Examples include creating a slide show on the computer, writing a report, making a book and giving a talk. The children have also been working on a “make it, prove it” to answer one of their key questions. This “make it, prove it” was planned to ensure that there were aspects of Art/Technology within their forward plans. The Learning Festival is to take place in the school on the 9^th November to coincide with Remembrance Day. It is sure to be a great event and work will take place during the first two weeks after the holidays to prepare for this. Good luck with this Primary 6 – I will be there on the day to support you.

The project will come to a final end on Monday 12^th November when I visit the class for the last time for an evaluation discussion. Who better to inform us of the positives/negatives of the project than the children themselves!

Thank you to Primary 6, Jennifer Daly and all at Cockenzie Primary for making me feel so welcome during my time in your school. A huge thank you also to Ann McLanachan for her invaluable support as my “mentor” and “sweetie provider” throughout the whole project, you truly know how to motivate your team:) A happy and much deserved October break to you all.

Jennifer Daly (Primary 6 teacher at Cockenzie) comments….

“As a self certified control freak I was apprehensive to say the least about transferring the control of the what, how and who to the children. Only after they all far exceeded my expectations did I have a pang of guilt that I had underestimated them so much! The children were able to identify what they wanted to learn, who they wanted to work with and how they could “prove it”. All were able to write their own forward plan with key questions and method of assessment. As if by magic, the children got into groups where there was a mix of personality, strengths and ability. At all times during our topic the children were on task and appeared highly motivated. It was almost that the topic became a liquid and seeped into all that we did, how we lined up, how they played and how they behaved.  The children responded well to developing their knowledge about World War 2 in Drama, Religious and Moral Education, Personal and Social Development , Language as well as Environmental Studies.

Working with Sheila was exciting and having a supporter to help with the facilitating of the learning taking place was invaluable. Ultimately however, the real planning, teaching and assessment came from the enthusiastic ten year olds themselves”.

Tuesday 9^th October 2007

At the beginning of this project the children chose the topics that they would like to study. When Jennifer and I compared their choices with the “original plan for the topic” we discovered that nobody had chosen to study rationing. There was therefore going to be a big gap in their learning if this was not covered. An afternoon of rationing activities was therefore planned for today and the children decided that to be successful they needed to find out what rationing was, why rationing took place, what was rationed and how much of each food and clothes people were allowed. Jennifer and I then shared the planning of 5 different activities and organised an “experiential learning” afternoon. The children learnt to sew in the “make do and mend” activity, they weighed out weekly rations for butter, jam, sugar and meat and discovered how much food you were allowed.  They learnt how to set the table in another activity, they played an interactive game on the computer discovering what rationing was, what was rationed and why.  Finally they took part in a shopping/problem solving game with clothing coupons to buy their annual allowance. They were using literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum, using technology for learning, working in teams and solving problems within a relevant context. These children have proved that they are successful learners and effective contributors, I just hope they return home tonight offering to set the table for dinner and offering to sew any buttons that are needing done! These are hopefully skills that will be with these children for life.

Monday 8^th October 2007

What a welcome I received when I walked into the Primary 6 classroom in Cockenzie this morning. “Hurray you are here, we thought you weren’t coming today, there is no Environmental Studies on our daily plan and we really need you! Our Anderson shelter has collapsed and we wondered if you could help us to make it stand up again”. I was met by an enthusiastic Casey who is clearly motivated by the project. Luckily I was there to help, however today we did not have Environmental Studies on the plan but Drama and Religious and Moral Education. The reason…..both Jennifer and I were keen to ensure that there was a clear balance between  discovery/ independent learning within the topic and actual teaching of the facts and skills. Jennifer and I were keen to make links and ensure that all of the children’s learning was relevant, enjoyable and challenging!

What followed was a fun day of active learning which began with a practical Drama session exploring what life would be like for a child during the War. The body language, facial expressions and thoughts expressed by the children showed that they were really engaging with the task. The children successfully worked in groups making decisions, listened to each others ideas and were able to make group still images which were then photographed. The language used during discussions showed real empathy and understanding. As we were returning to the class I heard one group comment on how they were going to take their Drama into the playground and continue “the game”. What motivation - I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall out in the playground!

Jennifer and I had planned to teach Religious and Moral Education after Drama. The topic was Christianity and the Ten Commandments and we had planned to split the class in half and teach the children in two different groups. We both taught this in a very active way with my group proving their learning using a song (http://garden of praise.com) and Jennifer’s proving their learning through Drama. We came back together and performed to each other, with all children showing a clear knowledge and understanding of Christian’s beliefs and their ten “main rules”. I was concerned that I had not had enough time during the lesson to relate back to the World War 2 topic so following the performances Jennifer asked the children to shut their eyes.  She explained that she was going to say something and they were then to shout out their first thoughts. As soon as she had finished saying “Hitler claimed to be a Christian” shouts came loud and clear throughout the class…”Aye right, no way, he didn’t treat people well, but he killed, he didn’t treat everyone as an equal etc”. They were clearly relating their morning’s lesson on the Holocaust with their current learning in Religious and Moral Education. At the end of the day the children commented on the fact that they had hardly picked up a pencil all day. “It was fun learning in different ways today, it was not like REAL work” was a comment that made me smile! Indeed it was “real work” and hopefully work the children will remember because they were actively involved.

Today was interesting! I spent the morning getting the children to tell me about what they have enjoyed learning, what they have learned and what else they would like to find out about. I recorded this so I could play it back and therefore be clearly involved in the conversation and not furiously taking notes.It was obvious that children really benefit and appreciate being out and about on trips. These are really valuable educational experiences. We should do our best to find ways round expense, parent helpers and risk assessment to get children out more! They love it!What they learned - summary This is where my evidence on the trips comment above came from. Even though Katie and I made every effort to ensure active learning within the classroom, which was personalised and involved choice, almost all the children reported back that the things they learned most about or enjoyed was during our visits. Luckily then they have a few more to go on after Oct hols that could not be arranged for before - a beach visit with an East Lothian ranger and a tour of Seton Collegiate Church.

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 1^st 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.

Monday 1^st /Tuesday 2^nd 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.