Te Ara Tuhura Toolkit Session - E-AsTTle

Writing test - this is a cold test. No help - 5 minutes to describe the test and jot notes but when writing begins, it needs to be rubbed off.

Images as prompts - have them printed in colour and have it up on the data projector. We want to give the children the best chance when they are writing.

When marking writing tests - the R stands for Rubric. e.g. R1, R2, R3...

To move a child from R3 - R4 for organisation - if they have a paragraphs.

Using these rubrics as formative assessment for your teaching. E.g. organisation is poor so that is what I will focus on. Teach this for 6 weeks and then retest to see what next steps are again.

Feedback is important. Motivation and self-efficacy comes from your specific feedback and conferencing.

Individual Learning Pathway Interpretation Guide - Writing

Great tool for analysing student data. All colour coded with a graph. Shows where the national rating is (mean) and where they fall beside it. It also shows their strengths, what they have achieved, what they need to achieve and where their gaps lie. Beside each strength, gap etc the question number shows so that you can go back to the test to check how this data is shown.
You need to search under the student name to find this. Underneath the interpretation is a guide you can use to help you.

Create a Test
Create a test - write in genre (narrative, description, recount) - motivation (interest in writing) - Click on the prompt you want (keep in mind the age and ability of your students - view test.

Test shows image, template. It also shows glossary of key words and the rubric for marking.
If happy you can then accept the test.
Go to assign test on left hand side.
Add group
Due Date: Give your self time as you may have children that are sick - could be the end of the term.

Writing Buddies

Something I am finding is that teaching time goes so quickly! I find it so hard to meet with my writing groups and conference with them.

I have some very capable writers in my room and I have some children that find this such a challenge.

Something that I am trialing is a system called 'writing buddies.' I met with my more capable writers and we talked about how we could help our peers and what our goals could be. I formatted their ideas in an order and put this on a check list. The children keep this with them when they meet with their buddies and help guide their writing. I selected only a few children to see how this works.

So far it is working well. Some children are really embracing the leadership role this is giving them.

Next year I might simplify this but have the whole class working with a buddy to conference with.

Storytelling - The Little Red Hen

The Little Red Hen ·         Hear, map, step (acting it out.) ·         Read different versions of the story. ·         Deeping: Completed plot matrix and mood map. Children have acted out the story in groups. Sculpt characters from the story with playdough. ·         Imitation: Retold the story in Writing. Example of the map and the story sequence pictures: Children drawing their own story map: Children stepping out/acting out the story: Sculptures of the Little Red Hen:

Storytelling - Recount

I did not receive professional development about transferring the storytelling process over from a familiar story to a recount about a child's experience. I decided that after the holidays I would use the same process to help the children write their story in-depthly and in a good sequence.

I adopted the hear map step and then write:
Hear: children shared their stories with more that one buddy.
Map: Children had to draw a story map of their holiday with at least 5 pictures. This was a challenge for some as the children had to rely on their own memory, I could not model their stories for them.
Step: Children stepped out their stories. Again this was a challenge as every child had their own story they could not do it in buddies.
Write: Children had to write 2 ideas per picture.

My findings: the children's sequencing of their ideas was better as they followed their map for recall of their experience. The language was not as in depth as the other stories. The children found some parts of this process a bit more challenging as they could not work with their peers.

Storytelling - Maui and the Sun

Maui and the Sun For this story I found resources harder to find but there were some interesting ones I used.  ·         Deepening: Instead of stepping Room 7 acted out this story in groups. They loved acting out the story and this helped them to remember it for later.  Completed a picture dictionary. This was useful to help develop the understanding of the Maori language incorporated in the story.  ·         Story sequencing: Putting images in order. Discussed the movie 'Moana' and compared the character Maui from the movie with the one in the book.  Read other Maori legends with the character Maui in it to further explore this character.  ·         Imitation: Retold the story in writing. ·         Invention: Wrote the sun was dangerous and how to protect yourself from it. Story picture sequencing: My findings: The children found acting out this story a lot of fun. I found for 6/7 year olds acting out the story was easier to grasp that stepping out the story.  Once again the retell of the story was very well written even with my reluctant writers. as they knew the story well and they had multiple resources to help them remember the story, they were not as reliant on me or my modelling to help them remember the story.

Storytelling - Three Billy Goats Gruff

For this story again I continued with most of the process from the previous stories but I am still consolidating this new knowledge and adding more things as I go.  Three Billy Goats Gruff: New Things I tried:  Read Big Books and picture books that relate to the story. These followed the same storyline but the endings where different and sometimes the characters were different.   Deepening: Acted out the story in groups from a play.  Completed a picture dictionary.  Incorporated puppets and retell activities in Reading. Invention: Created out own character description of a troll. Picture Dictionary: Great for ESOL learners!  My findings:  The discussion after reading the different versions of story was great as the children could pick out all of the different things that did not match the version of the story that they were familiar with. At first I was worried that this would confuse them but instead it consolidated their knowledge of the story and it also provided them with more vocabulary to include in their own writing.  I also found that the detail of my writers retell of this story was fantastic! Most children included quotes from all three stories, including the play. Their writing had a clear sequence and I believe that the mapping process has helped this.

Storytelling - Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks and the Three Bears The next story I focused on was Goldilocks and the three bears. I used the same process as the previous story but this time I added some different deepening activities. This helps the children get the know the story in more detail and exposes them to more language features that they can use in their writing.  ·         Read different versions of the story and made comparisons. ·         Same process as above but this time we completed a Mood Map and discussed the feelings of the characters throughout the story. ·         Deepening: Created character descriptions with brainstorms of WOW words. Acted out the characters around the room and described how they looked, felt, liked, disliked.  ·         Imitation: Retold the story in writing. Character Description: Mood Map: My Findings: I found that the reluctant writers where more engaged as they were involved in acting out the characters and the discussions around the key words.  I also found that the writing produced had more rich language although it was still written in mainly simple sentences and there was not a very clear sequence of writing yet.

Storytelling - the gingerbread man

Story: The Gingerbread Man The school where I am working has a focus on Storytelling at the moment. This focuses on oral language and writing where children engage with one chosen story and pick apart in-depthly. The children learn more language features and this helps them to sequence their writing as well as add more detail to their writing. The first story I tried this with was the gingerbread man.  With storytelling you begin with the process of Hear, Map, Step, Speak.  Here are some things I did for this story:  ·         Acted out the story multiple times, sometimes used children to help. ·         Mapped out key parts of the story. ·         Went outside to step out the story. ·         Imitation: Retold the story in writing. ·         Invention: Missing posters for the gingerbread man.

Term 4 - Week 3

Soooo Orana Park was a success! I felt this was organised well and the children had a great day. Whooo!

I am thinking more and more about my practice and changes that I can make for next year.
Something I am really considering is setting a job chart for children. The state of the classroom and the shelves is not being looked after and this just adds an extra job.

I am also thinking about displaying the writing process in a fun and inviting way. I have seen this on line. I would love to adapt it so that it fits with the Belfast school writing process. I like how it clearly shows where the children are working. This similar to what some of the other teachers are doing at this school. It would fit in well with my programme as we spend more that 1 day on a piece of writing.

Term 4 - Week 2

It has been a great week so far. The children are working so well. I am seeing so much progress. It is great.

As I have said before, my goal is writing at this point. I feel I have a few great writing sessions this term. I am trying really hard to end Maths on time so I can start writing promptly. So far this has been great. The children are having at least 20 minutes of writing time and sometimes we even have time for sharing. I have felt that my conferencing has been stronger as I have more time. I have been able to teach some guided writing sessions and I have also been able to roam and conference with more students.

 I have organised the school trip this term to Orana park for the syndicate. This has involved me creating a newsletter, completing the RAMs, arranging for buses to be booked and booking the dates for Orana park. I had to organise the documentation for the teachers so that they were organised. I have found this quite stressful as I do feel responsible for the organisation of the trip and I wanted this to be run as smooth as possible. However I have really enjoyed taking on board extra responsibilities and contributing to the team. Our trip is not until Friday. I am looking forward to this tho my fingers are crossed for the weather to be good!

Term 4 - Week 1

Term 4 Ahhhhh! It has come round too fast!

I have thought a lot over the holidays about my practice and feedback from parents. Last week I posted about a parent's concerns relating to the reading log book. I have realised that this is something that has gone on the back burner a little bit. I am making more effort to check and sticker the books for each night read. I am making sure that the children are seeing me do this to provoke a bit more motivation.

My big focus this term is Writing. I want to get better at my time management during writing time. I find that some lessons run late and this runs into writing time. Therefore I need to cut my modelling time shorter otherwise there is not much time allocated for writing and then my conferencing time goes out the window! This week has been amazing for time management. Yesterday the children had a full modeled session as well as 20 minutes of silent writing time. We even had time to do a writing circle. This is where all children bring their writing to the mat and we have some children share their writing. As a writers circle the children show respect towards others and they provide feedback by saying 2 things they liked and one way that child could improve their writing. I am recording the children who have shared so that it is fair and all children will eventually get a turn.

I find it a challenge to assess writing and establish children's writing levels. My tutor and moderated all of our children's writing to check that our assessment is fair and consistent. I have found that this as made my assessment clearer and more fair.

I created a game for Mathematics called "I have...Who has..." This is game that targets number knowledge and place value. At the end of the holidays some of my children pulled out this game and played it independently. It was great to see the children do this.

Term 3 - Week 8

Wow! Stress levels are beginning to bubble.

It has been a mad week! So many extra jobs have jumped up. I am gradually ticking these off my list.

I had an observation from the Deputy Principal this week with writing. I had a really good lesson planned about poetry writing where the children could experiment with similes. This lesson begun really well. My lesson allowed for a lot of oral language opportunities. Sadly the modelling time ate through the time and the children were left with only 10 minutes to write. This is a problem that I need to address. The children need more time for writing. My goal is to keep fitness and maths on time and not to run late so that I have a solid 45 minutes for writing.

This week was a poetry competition for the Juniors and the New Entrants. All children had to choose a poem and learn it off by heart. They have an in class competition. Each teacher chooses two children to go through to the poetry finals. The teachers all got together to help set up the hall. My tutor teacher and myself decided to create a back drop on the stage covered in poems that our children had made. This looked really cool, bright and colourful. I think the children felt really proud to have their poetry writing displayed. I also created some medals for those children who won the competition.

Term 3 - Week 7

The term....where is it going! :0

This week has been fantastic! I am just so happy with how things are going at the moment.

Regarding the behaviour management - the boy who's behaviour was becoming challenging has become so much better. He is now on a note book. I write in this everyday after each school block and this is sent home to mum. This helps him to manage his behaviour better. We check over his notebook every morning and look at the previous day. We talk about what he was proud of and what he thinks his goals will be for the day. This notebook also limits the meetings with mum. This was taking up a lot of time. Yes it is important but it is an easier way for me to give her the information.

I am a very reflective practitioner. I am constantly thinking about my teaching and making changes as I go. This something that I feel is very important and it is something that I want to model to the children. Therefore I have created a reflection wall. This happens every Friday afternoon where the children have the opportunity to talk about the highs and the lows of the week. I have created starter bubbles and a visual prompt. I also record the children's names who have shared so that over time everyone will get at turn. The children have enjoyed this so far.

Star of the day: Everyday I have a star of the day. They get to sit on the special chair and they get to do any jobs that need doing for the day. They get to take Leo the lion home and they have a book where they can write what they get up to with Leo. I have been struggling to keep track of who has a turn. I had a list but I would forget to mark on it as it was on the other side of the room. I have created a new list with is more appealing. I mark the star with stickers and this is kept right beside the teacher. I find this much better as it keeps me and the children on track.

Maths- I have been trying to think of ideas to make Maths time more interactive for those children who are not with the teacher. I have also learnt how important it is to teach Place value so that children can consolidate this knowledge and apply it to knew learning. Therefore I made a wall where children have to build numbers and be thinking about the amount of tens and ones. This is great so far! It also allows the children to work in the shared space and this keeps the noise level down in the classroom. I am looking for a similar resource that involves hundreds. This will help to expose children to bigger numbers and to challenge those who want to give it a go.

At Belfast school, I am part of the cultural committee. Therefore part of my role is to congratulate those children who have participated in Kapa Haka and in Maori language week. This is fantastic as I can interact with other children at Belfast School and these children can get to know who I am.

Writing! As part of my teaching as inquiry I am focusing on Oral language and trying make writing and fun and exciting time of the day. This term we are focusing on Poetry writing. I am not very good at poetry writing myself, so I knew that this would be a challenge for me. I have been doing some reading from Gail Loan " I've Got Something to Say." This text mentions the importance of models and how the children should be exposed to other author's writing and to use this to draw from. Therefore I found short poems from other authors and the children used this to create their own poems. This has been great! Their focus is on changing the words to fit their own poem. I am very excited about these poems. 

Term 3 - Week 5

This week has been where things are things are becoming a little bit crazy.

I am still focusing on my writing. I am working had to see every child a week and conference with them one on one. This is time where we talk about their writing goal and work together to assess their work. I find that this can be very challenging because writing time can easily become limited for several reasons. Sometimes maths time can become too long and cut into writing time. I also find that I can talk too much in the mat and this cuts into their writing time again. The less time the children have for writing, the quality of the work isn't as good as it can be and the conferencing time is lessened.
This week so far I have felt really good about conferencing time. I trying very hard to watch the clock and hove more writing time. I am making sure that I am seeing a writing group every day. The children are getting to know that this day is their marking day with me. The other children are getting to know that if they finish they are to put their writing away and just do some free writing while others finish.

I am also working very hard on my behaviour management. I am still finding one particular child very challenging. He is still hitting others and not following instructions. He can sometimes argue when he is asked to do something in front of other children. He responds really well to one on one conversations. I have been talking to his mum still but I am concerned that his behaviour is regressing. At the start of the year he would become upset and leave when he did not win a game. He did not do this last term. He is doing it again now.
I am thinking of trialing a notebook that I can send home with him to mum. This will make it easier to communicate with mum. She can write notes to me to. I can write a comment for every break of the day about his behaviour. My fingers are crossed that this might help!

The Ferrymead trip was fantastic! It was organised very well and the children's behaviour was great. The only issue I saw arise was that some parents would only take one child of their group to the toilet and then the other children in the group couldn't find their parents and they needed to go to the toilet as well. I will try to make this more explicit for next time.

Writing Goals for myself

What am I working on currently?

• Links into oral language.
• Anecdotal notes on plans. 
• Conferencing - making this more meaningful. 
• Dating the goals when they have been achieved. 
• Trying to allow more time for sharing. 

What might I try?

• Introducing the writing session: video clips and music.
• Visual prompts for buddy conferencing. 
• Let the children have a go at highlighting their own work when conferencing. 
• Modelling books for writing. 
• Writing buddies. Higher level writer and a lower level writer. 

Term 3 - Week 4

The term is flying!

Last week was maths week and this was a really fun and fast week. The children had lots of activities all relating to maths. For writing the children could write about how they use maths in their every day lives. They could also write some word problems. They also could have had a maths challenge where they brainstorm as many words that they could think of and try to put them in a story.
The children completed a maths about me template which look really cool.
The children also completed a fruit burst challenge where they had to rip the rapper into the longest line they could.
The children had a question to answer every day which was a fun competition.
They also had some maths are to complete.
With the buddies the children did an activity called metric me. This involved them measuring themselves and their buddies. This was a lot of fun and was a good challenge for my class.

As mentioned previously, my focus is oral language and writing.
I trialed using the 'talking donut' for sharing time. This was great for the children as they got to share with their buddies the first time and then after that they had to share with other people. This is something I will do again.
We had a staff meeting yesterday which provided a lot of ideas that I could use to enhance my writing programme.

• For conferencing time, I should allow the children to look for their own errors and they do their own highlighter marking. 
• Spend 2 min conferencing a part of the child's writing, not the whole piece. As I'm talking to one child, the child beside them will hear my questioning and get themselves ready for their conferencing making this process faster. Ideally the children will be fixing their errors so that they are ready. 
• Use a card at the top of the books to write a writing goal onto. This could save time and the children will be able to see their goal everyday. 
• Introduce the term writing club instead of group.

Term 3 - Week 3

This week has been Maths week and man it has been crazy!
There has been lots of extra things happening this week. The children have had a canta maths competition. They have also had a maths trail. All week there has been things that relate to maths. They have been having lots of fun and some children have asked me if we could do more maths on a Friday.

I have been closely monitoring my writing programme and the progress of the children. One boy I have been concerned about as his handwriting hasn't been getting any better. I looked through his book and I haven't seen a lot of progress. I have found teaching this boy quite challenging because he is very quiet and he doesn't respond to my questions very often. I have let the school SENCO know about my concerns. It has now been arranged for him to have some extra support. A lady will work with him for 2 30 minute sessions each week. One session will be based on his writing and oral language. Another session will be focused on his handwriting.

As a whole the children are very well behaved when working independently. They remain focused and most get their work completed to a high standard. The mat manners still needs work. There are about 5 children that struggle to put up their hands and call out a lot (particularly the boys). It is these children that influence the others to cal out too. These is a point system. They have 5 seconds to be giving me 5. Id they do it, they get a point. If they don't, then I get a point. The incentive is 5 minutes of free time.

My organisation is improving. I am organised for the whole of each day and this makes me more flexible to accept change. I try to be fully planned for the next week the week before to limit my work load over the weekend. This does mean long days of work, but I enjoy having most of the weekend to get more sleep.

The Olypics inquiry topic is starting up now. The children have begun to create some olympic torches which look fantastic. This will be a lot of fun. My class will represent the Philippines. The children will have the opportunity to learn about this country and compare their results with New Zealand.

Term 3 - Week 1 - My Focus

I have thought a lot about what I want to focus on this term.
Writing is a whole school focus and this is something that I am taking seriously. I am trying to think of methods that I can use to improve my writing programme. Something I am beginning to implement after each lunch time is speed writing. This is where straight after lunch the children have 10 minutes of silent writing time. They can write about anything that they like. This is work that I do not mark. The purpose of this is to increase their time writing and school and trying to increase their mileage.

Another focus for me is behaviour. This, again, is a school wide focus.
One method that we are implementing is circle time. This will be done at least once a week. I have received some resources to help me implement this effectively. I have found a template that describes the rules of circle time. This will be used as a visual to help reinforce the rules. The first few sessions will focus on setting up the rules and the expectations. Other focuses I will use will be active listening, being a good friend, making mistakes is okay, using your WITS in the playground and seeing a duty teacher.

Term 2 - Week 10

So the term is over! I am now a 1/4 of the way to becoming a fully registered teacher in New Zealand. I can't believe it!

There are many things I have been thinking about for next term.

In regards to Numeracy, I have completed many I cans testing and it is amazing to see how much the children have improved this term. I need to compile all of this data and regroup my class ready for next term. This will help me to cater for their abilities much better.

Reading: Helen and I are both really happy with how our reading programme is going. We are happy with where we have place the children. My top groups are enjoying their contracts. I have a boy who loves space and I created a space contract for his group. It was exciting to see his face light up when he found out about his focus. I am debating about giving them some novel studies or incorporating some reciprocal teaching at some stage. I will research this over the holidays.

Writing: I am loving teaching writing at the moment. I have been trying to focus on incorporating oral language as much as I can. I have also been trying to select topics that the children would be excited about. This involves them getting outside of the classroom and writing about experiences.

This past week we have had appraisals. This involved having the children's books inspected and having an observation. My observation went very well. The syndicate leader was impressed with my modelling book and the displays in the room. She felt oral language was included well in the programme. The children were aware  of their writing goal and they understood what the green and orange highlighter meant.

My book inspection went well. I have made sure that all work was marked and that there was a WALT written in the book. I also made sure that the WALT was highlighted in green if it was achieved and in orange if it wasn't. Next steps for me were to write next step comments for the children. Also to ensure that the work has been dated.

Term 2 - Week 8

The whole class is going so well this past week. They are following instructions really well and are managing themselves. Some children are more focused on other children are are forgetting about what it is that they are supposed to be doing. I am trying to encourage the children to manage themselves and to mind their own business.

An issue that has been popping up is that some children are very competitive in Room 7. They have been laughing at other children when they make a mistake and have been fighting to yell out answers first.
I have started the first of many workshops relating to the school motto CARE, SHARE, LEARN and GROW. We talked about the importance of mistakes and how to be supportive of each other. We also talked about calling out on the mat and how important it is to take turns talking.

The children are not taking care of the classroom equipment. There are a lot of pens missing and whiteboard markers drying out because lids are not being out on them. My next circle time will focus on this.

I have been thinking about the importance of a reflective practice. I value reflection clearly as I reflect on my practice each week. I would like to allow more time for the children to reflect on their day at school. I am thinking of either recording this on the class blog weekly or creating a booklet that I can use at the end of some school days. It would make a great point of closure for the day or week.

My Teaching as Inquiry is all about oral language and trying to create opportunities for the children to talk about their writing with others. I tried something new last week that went really well. Sometimes the children struggle to look at their own work critically. They don't see or don't admit to their own errors. I am a person who struggles to proof read my own work so I can relate to this. At the end of a writing session I decided that the 8 children who had finished could participate in an editing circle. This is were they edit and proofread someones work and make some changes. We talked about having respect for other people's work and that they spent a lot of time on their writing and that they are proud of it. We talked about how important it was to ask before we made changes as it is not our writing we are changing. The children were aware of this. I modeled some writing and had some children offer ideas of how I can fix it to make it better. I accepted their feedback and I made the changes. I asked why they felt certain things needed to be changed. After the children had swapped books I sat back and watched. They were reading and actually making changed. Fantastic discussions were taking place as they were offering ideas as to why certain things needed to be changed. The children were accepting the feedback from their peers and would make the changes to their writing together. This is something I would definitely like to do again.