ACfE In Action

I am thoroughly enjoying working with the Primary 6 class at Cockenzie on Monday mornings, it really is an exciting and motivating way to begin the week. This morning the children started off learning to write letters, they were adding a paragraph to a letter they had already begun. They were imagining they were evacuees and were writing home. The paragraph today was to include information on the Blitz and their learning intention was to create a detailed, accurate and convincing impression of events. The children planned using a mind map and the groups who have specifically chosen to study the Blitz were able to add information from their topic research. To be successful the children had to include questions to their “imagined parents” in order to seek out information about what was happening at home. Many well-written paragraphs were produced and the success criteria were well met. A great start to the morning!

Following break time the children worked in their “research groups” gathering evidence to answer their key questions on their chosen topics. I was able to stand back for a minute and observe what was happening. All children were fully engaged on the task, working mostly in teams and were using computers and books to find their answers. Children were constantly referring to the forward plans they had written and having two teachers in the room meant we could support and challenge the children. After twenty minutes we all stopped to share one thing we had learnt, I was taught a great deal during that time! Did you know that by September 1939 thirty eight million gas masks had been issued or that the undersides of fighter planes were painted using camouflage paint? The children were keen to share as it was information that really interested them. The evidence is clearly being gathered and the children have decided that they would like to hold a Learning Festival to showcase their learning. This is going to take place at the beginning of November.

The final activity of the morning was equally enjoyable. All groups were asked to take part in a “make it and prove it” task. This includes aspects of Art and Technology as the children had to decide what they would make and how they would make it to prove what they had learnt about their topics. One boy decided he would have a life sized cardboard cut out of Hitler and the face could be cut out. He explained that at the Learning Festival different people would put their faces through the hole and wet sponges would be thrown. When asked how this would show what he had learnt he responded confidently that he would label his life-sized model with all the facts he had learnt about Hitler and why he upset many people during the War! When setting about making the model he needed to know what height Hitler was so he went straight to the computer and found this out. Within seconds he found a metre stick and measured Hitler’s height, placing a piece of tape up the side of the board. Real and relevant Maths in Action! The same happened with the group I worked with, they had decided to make an Anderson Shelter and had researched its dimensions. One girl asked how tall 6 foot was and when I told her it was a bit bigger than me, I became the non standard unit to measure their shelter. Creativity, ingenuity and again cross-curricular learning at its best! What will tomorrow bring?

The excitment has begun! I am lucky enough to be working with Jennifer Daly and her lovely Primary 6 class. There is a real buzz in the classroom and everyone is keen and eager to go. The topic is World War 2 and we decided that the children should be given the choice about what they would like to learn. In order for this to be an informed choice the children were given a range of books on the War and asked to come up with no more than two aspects of the War that they would like to learn more about. Once the topics were chosen (the what), the children had to decide on the who, who were they going to work with. As we know all children have different learning styles and like to work in different ways. The result - some children are working individually, some in pairs, some in trios and there is one group of four. Interestingly Jennifer commented on how well the children chose the groups, characters who may not have worked well together have stayed apart - exactly what Jennifer would have done if she had chosen the groups! Motivation is already high as the children have chosen what they are learning and who they are learning with. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey

It’s the end of our first full and proper secondment week and I am beginning to feel like I know what I am doing and what my purpose is - well a little bit more!!
I am working with Katie Letchford the Primary 1/2 teacher at Cockenzie and her lovely class. Our topic is My Street/Cockenzie/Port Seton a mouthful I know. Katie sat with her class in small groups and spent time talking with them about what they knew about Cockenzie, what they wanted to know and what they could show me – the outsider! They were planning to be my tour guides!
It was very clear that the school and the beach/harbour were the main focuses.
When I arrived on Monday morning the children had decided they were going to show me around! One group had birds eye style drawings of the classroom to show me to help me find my way around the place! Apparently the teacher’s desk and the Star of the Week were the most important things to be able to find!
The next group had made a map of the school. This involved photographs stuck down on a scroll in a circular fashion with arrows showing me which way to go. The pupils were really motivated and we used the map to navigate our way round the school referring to it at all times!
The last group had photographed the enormous playground. We went round trying to find out where all the photographs had been taken. The children had again displayed these too and we took them out as a kind of map!

On Tuesday afternoon the pupils were showing me around the streets of Cockenzie they had a list of things they were to show me! Before we went out Katie had used a Claire Warden’s idea of a Talking Tub to stimulate thinking and discussion around what we would see on our walk. This helped to activate prior knowledge. The children loved the walk and there was a great deal of quality discussion going on during it.
When we got back to class we were unfortunately very short of time. Ideally the children would have recorded, in groups, what they could remember/enjoyed/learned/wanted to know more about however Katie and I split the class and did the writing ourselves. It was clear the childrens’ main focus was still the beach/harbour but also the Secret Garden. Find out where the children will lead us next?
Off to do some more professional reading – not done this much since uni!! Its very interesting and insightful!
Katherine

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!