End of Term Reflection - T1 2016

Well that's another term done and dusted. This year I have again started a class of Year 7 chromebook learners. It has challenged me with many of the same issues that I faced last year (see separate posts) around the huge range of ICT and collaboration skills that learners bring to the classroom. However this year  I have the advantage of experience and being more prepared and skilled myself!

Student blogs were established near the end of the term. (You can view them here - they'd love it if you left a comment!) I felt it takes that long to embed routines and expectations. Blogs will become a bigger focus for the students next term and I really hope that they develop a sense of pride in sharing their individual learning journeys.  I need to facilitate student sharing across wider curriculum areas - kids tend to focus mainly on sharing their writing. I'd like to see some maths learning being shared and more photographs of learning in action too! Perhaps this will lead to this blog of mine becoming a bit less neglected.

Below are some other reflections about the teaching and learning in my classroom for this term.

Reflection	Forward thinking
Literacy: Reading: Groups and rotations routines were established quickly. Students needed some scaffolding around expectations and using google tools including classroom. Shared novel ‘Hunter’ was a good choice. TePuawai readers established. Writing: Three pieces of poetic writing have been assessed. Routines of using feedback to create individual goals have been established. The class generally seem to have a very positive attitude towards writing. Surface features are a focus for some. Spelling:  Weekly spelling tests have established specific words which target spellers need to learn. Using google forms and marking with flubaroo has been successful.	Reading: Joining NZreadaloud is a possibility for next term - this will depend on the selected novel. Lower reading group must continue to focus on mileage and developing vocabulary as well as specific teaching of strategies ( Sheena Cameron resources) Will consider using a scrapbook for this group. TePuawai readers need to have more regular running records - will use seen texts from their reading group work. Higher groups will move into higher level strategies including inference and I will consider developing reciprocal reading. Writing: Will need some focus on non-fiction writing next term. This will integrate well with our  ‘Living World’ based unit studies. Will also establish firm ‘whanaungatanga writing groups’ for peer sharing and support. Students blogs were established at the end of the term and will be a greater focus throughout the rest of the year. Spelling: Will continue to use the essential word lists and commonly misspelled words as a focus. I expect to be ready to use an individual on line spelling programme in T3.
Numeracy: After testing and establishing routines most classroom teaching was based on whole class teaching with withdrawal target groups for extension and remedial focus. Grouping was fairly fluid and based on formative assessment. Maths talk moves was based on constantly changing randomly selected groups of 3. This was good for establishing expectations and practising maths talk.	Numeracy To establish more concrete ability groups and semi-permanent talk moves groups for problem solving. Will consider using scrapbooks with the lower group/s to record strategies.
Inquiry/Topic: Digital citizenship unit completed. Using an interactive slide show was successful and a good way to introduce some of the GAFE tools as well as padlet. Waitangi Inquiry - this unit was a really good introduction to inquiry. Questions and marking criteria were provided, thus scaffolding the students towards greater independence in their next inquiry. Also included a very successful EOTC experience.	‘The Living World’ Stream study will be the topic for early next term followed by student inquiry. WATER will be the focus for our inquiry next term. It will include more student voice as after initial motivation, children will select their own inquiry questions. Students will be encouraged to select different ways of sharing their learning - slideshow presentations were very popular in term 1.
PE: Swim for Life was the main focus for this term. The children really enjoyed this - engagement levels were high.	PE: Winter games / fitness focus next term with the possibility of ‘expert’ students preparing, submitting lesson plans and (with support) teaching some class lessons.
Te Reo: All students are familiar with the school tirohanga, karakia and waiata. This was the focus for our early lessons. Since then we have covered basic greetings and unit 1 “Taku Whanau’ Integrated where possible, including the choice of Literature study.	Will continue to integrate where possible and move on to subsequent units in ‘Te Reo Tupu, Te Reo Ora.’