Week 18 - Future-orientated Learning and Teaching
This week I have focused on a specific elelment of my practice and how effective it may have been or is in my class. I have chosen the Gibb's model for reflection. (as it was recommended)
Focusing on theme 6
New kinds of partnerships and relationships: Schools no longer
siloed from the community
I chose this with several examples in mind from the activities of Room 3 this term. This idea of ubiquitous knowledge - generating activities appeals as these activities engage the children and inspire them to build and retain knowledge. This theme puts an emphasis on myself as the classroom teacher to connect with community resources and relate them to the intentions for learning in the classroom. Building these collaborative relationships with accessible experts calls on knowledge of what makes up our school community and local resources. This also builds buy-in from the community and connects them with the school, building strong links.
As I suggested above there were several examples of this partnership and relationship building through the term. On camp the children were inspired by an archery activity. Through internet research I found we were neighbours with an Archery club and I reached out to them to create a link and feed into the new found connection with the activity. We were afforded a visit later in the term with an expert from the club who shared his in depth knowledge of the activity and allowed us to see the more experienced archer in action. The children used independent activities to build questions and the majority were fully engaged with the presentation. From these questions I intend to extend children by having them create a kahoot.
This Kahoot idea was used to show children how they had built knowledge in our procedure work and tied in with my writing initiative from previous Mindlab assignments. I found a recipe for ANZAC biscuits and video to show the reason these were a good treat for soldiers in WW1. I approached parents to support in making biscuits and, after a few dead-ends, found 2 who were happy to help. The children were tasked to make 2 questions each relating to our ANZAC learning and these were compiled into a kahoot to extend fast finishing children who were adept at manipulating images and information.
Initially this activity felt like I had bitten off more than I could chew. Having parents to help was a relief as this part of the learning, I felt, was the pivotal engagement tool - hands on with a concrete product the children could enjoy. I was worried with the fast approaching term break that I wouldn't fit things in. At the end hearing a student say the Kahoot was easy allowed me to respond with would it have been easy 2 weeks ago and seeing his realisation that this was knew knowledge was very satisfying.
Ensuring I was doing this to meet learning intentions was another challenge. Trying not to cover too much and focusing on writing with procedures. Letting children have ownership through the range of activities ensured they were engaged.
Using parents was the only link to the community here. There expertise was with managing small groups and baking, not a large stretch but an experience many of my pupils may not have had and one that showed they were all engaged.
This change showed how I could use a range of resources to engage the children in my class. The success of the learning showed the children they had learnt and the kahoot tool engaged them with gameification. Using this tool regularly will show the children the benefit of storing information they are taught and it gave the majority of the children success. The students were also able to show virtues when working with parents and build relationships. To use this tool more effectively in the future I may expose the children to their next learning steps.
References:
Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306
Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. Practice-based Professional Learning Centre, Open University. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Great to see you creating positive and powerful relationships with your community. I too have used Kahoot successfully this term, I’m looking forward to seeing how I develop this more in my practice. Sammy
ReplyDeleteKia ora. Brigg's reading about Agile Based Learning might resonate with you. Heres the link. Briggs, S. (2014). Agile Based Learning: What Is It and How Can It Change Education? InformED. Retrieved from http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/agile-based-learning-what-is-it-and-how-can-it-change-education/
ReplyDeleteEnjoy
I really like the approach you have taken about partnerships and relationships in your/our community as a focus and then relating this to your own practice. When we take a step back and reflect, I think we will realise it is only natural to engage our community and include them in what we are doing. I think the Home Learning Challenges we have been doing (especially researching children’s whakapapa), goes a long way to building these relationships and making our learners realise what is of value. Perhaps the trick to making engagement with our community really work is to lead/guide the members to a point where they feel as though they are holding the reins and running the show, that they are the main stakeholders. At times I think we take too much control and this can almost encourage them to take a backseat and be led by the experienced teacher.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post, keep it going!
Bernard