PRT and Inquiry

Today's session was very similar to a digital course I went on in Nelson in June. However, I found how things were presented today, to be a lot easier to follow. This morning we started with 'share'. I enjoyed Dorothy's chat with us this morning about how we've been sharing for years. The importance of sharing was revisited with the reminder that we've been doing it right via scrolls, prints on caves, projects, assemblies, displays etc. All of these are fantastic ways to share our learning, and it's very important that these ways continue too. However, I found it fascinating to see the difference between the compulsory audience and the authentic audience. This image is from Hattie's research showing the importance sharing has to learning. This slide demonstrated the different ways learners share. I can relate to using each and every one of these ways being a lifelong learner. The coding part of today was very interesting! The way it was p...

I believe that one of the most important traits (if not the most important trait) a teacher needs to have is flexibility. As teachers we cannot control many things in our classroom: whether children have had breakfast or a goodnight sleep, staff absence, the weather, the moods of children, friendships, arguments, what's in children's lunchboxes, staff personal struggles and personal life, the family life children. And another important thing I regularly remind myself is that children will not always tell you either. They may not tell you about the depression at home, or the empty cupboards, or the big argument they had with their bestie yesterday, or mum hitting their sister that morning just before school. Just like they will not tell you about their Aunty throwing them up in the air at the swimming pool and them laughing so hard they cried, they may not tell you about their brand new matchbox car or how they got to watch a lamb being born. As teachers, we not have control...

Well, what a great day of learning! I have a classroom website that I have not been using as I haven't known where to start. A lot of today was addressed at solving this problem. Today, with a colleague, I created a multi modal site for my learners. This was based on next term's topic: Celebrations! Having the time to put in the effort into something that could easily be used has left me feeling a lot more confident than I thought I would be. I think a lot of time will be taken to get the classroom website up and running the way I want it to be, especially the visual aspect. At this stage it will only be used for homework purposes and communications with parents as I do not have a digital classroom. However, it's very exciting to learn how it can be used when that changes. Knowing how to make and use such an interactive tool automatically increases my confidence to use other people's creations too. Even at college we were always taught that the 'h...

Term 2 Reflections - Abby Johnstone Te Tiriti o Waitangi Professional Learning During my PRT days, I have had the opportunity to read about things I’d like to improve in my class and how I can implement what I have read. Maths has been a focus for me this term, and I started with regular ‘Number Talks’ lessons each day after researching the benefits of DCIM (Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities). Because I started it towards the end of the term, I haven’t seen the academic benefits of Number Talks, but I’ve definitely noticed an increase in participation of the children due to the excitement of understanding different ways to look at things. This term I’ve also written reflective notes across my planning. This enables me to reflect on my practice to see what worked and what didn’t.   I have had two observations during this term, one from the principal and one from my mentor teacher. There were similarities between these observations and the feedback given...