With the overhaul of the Junior curriculum to be context based and student-led it is necessary to develop a coherent framework for teachers. Especially those who require aid in planning a unit for their students.
After thinking through the logistics of how to run a unit I put together a flowchart on how to make it happen. When a major change like this is undertaken it can be very easy to slip back into old habits of teaching content not skills in context. A major driver in this revamp is to allow more student direction. In this manner it is imperitive to allow students to do a general plan of what they want to get out of a unit BEFORE we fill them with content. The flowchart allows for teaching content and for teaching skills, both within the flow of student investigation. The hope is that using this format will increase engagement of the student.
The final stage is for students to present their work, then reflect on it. Communication is a vital part of scientific investigation and students need to be prepared for that. Reflection links the inquiry circuit back up to start over again.
The flowchart
Showing posts with label RTC07. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RTC07. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Making the Junior curriculum concept driven and student-led
LEM and I have been chatting about how we could make the junior curriculum more relevant to the students and the world they live in. We started thinking about all the ways climate change could be used to hook into the science junior curriculum. How it could be used as a context for multiple content needs in science.
We threw around some ideas at morning tea time, then while my class were doing an assessment I started to pull them into a mindmap using Coggle to link the ideas of climate change, to the Science content, and on to the type of assessments or investigations that could be done.
The goal would be for students to investigate their own interests within a larger framework. When I started to link the content that is essential to Year 9 and 10 it turned out the whole two years could be investigated within the context of Climate Change in Year 9 or Sustainability in Year 10.
The intention is to allow teachers some fluidity in what and how they teach allowing them to follow the students interests. The assessments can be chosen by the teacher to be either a research investigation, using secondary sources; or a practical investigation collating primary data.
Each class would be constrained by having to do at least 6 assessments to report back on, at least 3 research and 3 practical investigations, and for each content strand in the Science curriculum to be assessed at least once. Students who are really into biology can do 3 Living World themed projects, as long as they still do once each for Physical World, Material World, and Planet Earth and Beyond.
The teacher can follow the students enthusiasms anywhere on the mind map, or beyond if the students are so inclined. As the assessments are Nature of Science based they are comparable.
SNC has developed some good assessment tools, assessing skills not content, so they can be used across different assessment contexts, but still be comparable. The repeated use of these assessment rubrics, coupled with their explicit teaching in class will allow students to both identify what they need to do within an assessment, and identify what their next goals will be to attain the next level in their progression.
We threw around some ideas at morning tea time, then while my class were doing an assessment I started to pull them into a mindmap using Coggle to link the ideas of climate change, to the Science content, and on to the type of assessments or investigations that could be done.
The goal would be for students to investigate their own interests within a larger framework. When I started to link the content that is essential to Year 9 and 10 it turned out the whole two years could be investigated within the context of Climate Change in Year 9 or Sustainability in Year 10.
The intention is to allow teachers some fluidity in what and how they teach allowing them to follow the students interests. The assessments can be chosen by the teacher to be either a research investigation, using secondary sources; or a practical investigation collating primary data.
Each class would be constrained by having to do at least 6 assessments to report back on, at least 3 research and 3 practical investigations, and for each content strand in the Science curriculum to be assessed at least once. Students who are really into biology can do 3 Living World themed projects, as long as they still do once each for Physical World, Material World, and Planet Earth and Beyond.
The teacher can follow the students enthusiasms anywhere on the mind map, or beyond if the students are so inclined. As the assessments are Nature of Science based they are comparable.
SNC has developed some good assessment tools, assessing skills not content, so they can be used across different assessment contexts, but still be comparable. The repeated use of these assessment rubrics, coupled with their explicit teaching in class will allow students to both identify what they need to do within an assessment, and identify what their next goals will be to attain the next level in their progression.
Friday, 25 August 2017
Appraisal - Thinking issues
For this terms observation for my appraisal MTH observed a year 9 lesson where we were looking at thinking skills and applying knowledge they had learnt to real world applications. In this particular instance "real world" was a rather broad concept. The framework for this was from the Issues Presentations that I had seen at the ChemEd Conference and presented to the department.
This particular lesson was within the unit of work dealing with waves and energy and the class had just completed learning about sound and sound waves. The presentation dealt with the movement of waves in a vacuum, particularly in space, using the explosion of the Death Star from Star Wars as the initial image.
The class in question was a lower ability class with many students having literacy at Level 2 or Low Level 3 on the curriculum. Many of them do not display critical thinking skills and show little to no desire to learn them.
The students were engaged by the gif of the Death Star exploding with the Millenium Falcon flying away from the blast zone. Some could very clearly tell the class what had led up to that point and what came after, and could debate the plot points. When challenged some problems or falsities in the presentation of the explosion were identified which led us into the text reading.
Five students participated in reading out loud to the class, a selection of text from MovieTropes.com detailing how movie explosions in space defy laws of physics. Due to their previous learning on sound waves and wave behaviour some of this made sense to the students. I was still having to lead the discussion, positing questions for them to respond to, but most students were engaged, especially the low achieving boys.
The final step was to watch a video on the physics of sound explosions which explained with diagrams, pictures and animation in more detail.
There was very little writing in this lesson which helps get engagement from those students who struggle with literacy. I am trying to develop analytical and critical thinking skills in my students and to get them to see how what they are learning in class can help them to be better at interacting with the world and less likely to be taken advantage of.
This particular lesson was within the unit of work dealing with waves and energy and the class had just completed learning about sound and sound waves. The presentation dealt with the movement of waves in a vacuum, particularly in space, using the explosion of the Death Star from Star Wars as the initial image.
The class in question was a lower ability class with many students having literacy at Level 2 or Low Level 3 on the curriculum. Many of them do not display critical thinking skills and show little to no desire to learn them.
The students were engaged by the gif of the Death Star exploding with the Millenium Falcon flying away from the blast zone. Some could very clearly tell the class what had led up to that point and what came after, and could debate the plot points. When challenged some problems or falsities in the presentation of the explosion were identified which led us into the text reading.
Five students participated in reading out loud to the class, a selection of text from MovieTropes.com detailing how movie explosions in space defy laws of physics. Due to their previous learning on sound waves and wave behaviour some of this made sense to the students. I was still having to lead the discussion, positing questions for them to respond to, but most students were engaged, especially the low achieving boys.
The final step was to watch a video on the physics of sound explosions which explained with diagrams, pictures and animation in more detail.
There was very little writing in this lesson which helps get engagement from those students who struggle with literacy. I am trying to develop analytical and critical thinking skills in my students and to get them to see how what they are learning in class can help them to be better at interacting with the world and less likely to be taken advantage of.
Monday, 24 July 2017
Class differentiation in Level 2 Chemistry
For Term 3 I have split each Chemistry class into two groups. One group of the academically focussed students, and another of the students who are happy to just get their 14 credits. The academic kids are going to work on both remaining externals, and the others on one external.
Parents have been contacted to ensure that it is clear what their child is doing, and have been asked to respond to me to acknowledge that they are in agreement with the choice that they are making.
<Date>
<Parents>
<Postal Address>
Dear <Salutation>
Re : <First Name> <Last Name> <Class>
From this term in Chemistry, and for the remainder of the year the classes within the course has been split into two working groups. One group comprises the students who are planning to take Level 3 Chemistry in 2018, and may be planning a career or further study in which they may use Chemistry ("The L3/Career" group). The second group are students who have decided that Chemistry does not feature in their future plans, and are aiming to get enough credits at Level 2 to pass the course, but do not plan to take their study of Chemistry any further (dubbed the "I just want my credits" group). So far the students are self-selecting the group they want to be in.
The L3/Career group will be working at a quick pace through two Externally assessed Achievement Standards, 2.6 Chemical Reactivity, and 2.5 Organic Chemistry. It is necessary that this group is diligent about keeping up with the work, and this will require regular homework.
The "I just want my credits" group will be spending their time learning Organic Chemistry and revising the 2.4 Atomic Structure and Bonding standard we covered last term.
All learning for externals should be completed in time for the school exams in Week 9 of Term 3. After the school exams we will tackle the final internally assessed standard 2.7 Oxidation and Reduction.
<First> has yet to choose a group. Please discuss with <First Name> which group <he> will select to be in to ensure that you and <he> are comfortable with his choice. I also ask that you confirm that you are aware of <his> choice in a response to this email.
Yours faithfully,
<Teacher>
<TeacherEmail>
Parents have been contacted to ensure that it is clear what their child is doing, and have been asked to respond to me to acknowledge that they are in agreement with the choice that they are making.
<Date>
<Parents>
<Postal Address>
Dear <Salutation>
Re : <First Name> <Last Name> <Class>
From this term in Chemistry, and for the remainder of the year the classes within the course has been split into two working groups. One group comprises the students who are planning to take Level 3 Chemistry in 2018, and may be planning a career or further study in which they may use Chemistry ("The L3/Career" group). The second group are students who have decided that Chemistry does not feature in their future plans, and are aiming to get enough credits at Level 2 to pass the course, but do not plan to take their study of Chemistry any further (dubbed the "I just want my credits" group). So far the students are self-selecting the group they want to be in.
The L3/Career group will be working at a quick pace through two Externally assessed Achievement Standards, 2.6 Chemical Reactivity, and 2.5 Organic Chemistry. It is necessary that this group is diligent about keeping up with the work, and this will require regular homework.
The "I just want my credits" group will be spending their time learning Organic Chemistry and revising the 2.4 Atomic Structure and Bonding standard we covered last term.
All learning for externals should be completed in time for the school exams in Week 9 of Term 3. After the school exams we will tackle the final internally assessed standard 2.7 Oxidation and Reduction.
<First> has yet to choose a group. Please discuss with <First Name> which group <he> will select to be in to ensure that you and <he> are comfortable with his choice. I also ask that you confirm that you are aware of <his> choice in a response to this email.
Yours faithfully,
<Teacher>
<TeacherEmail>
Friday, 9 June 2017
Year 10 Geology Assessment
I have been reevaluating the assessment for the Year 10 Geology Unit. Although the assessment task itself is a good one, it needed more scaffolding to help the students to understand what is required.
I have spent some time putting together scaffolding resources to support students in this process.
I decided to give the students an exemplar of what was required to get to excellence standard, and along the way I also made a resource showing how I thought through the requirements, and another on how I recorded my information prior to putting my final document together.
When introducing the assessment task I showed the students all of these things, and talked through them with the students, before giving them access to them on Google Classroom.
The exemplar was also highlighted to identify which parts satisfied Level 4, and which Level 5. The student were informed that the expectation is that at Year 10, they need to be working at Level 5 or "Merit", but many students are aiming for the Level 6 assessment grade.
This is a continuation of the revised assessment task I created in 2016 in response to the absence of a reliable assessment task.
I have spent some time putting together scaffolding resources to support students in this process.
I decided to give the students an exemplar of what was required to get to excellence standard, and along the way I also made a resource showing how I thought through the requirements, and another on how I recorded my information prior to putting my final document together.
When introducing the assessment task I showed the students all of these things, and talked through them with the students, before giving them access to them on Google Classroom.
The exemplar was also highlighted to identify which parts satisfied Level 4, and which Level 5. The student were informed that the expectation is that at Year 10, they need to be working at Level 5 or "Merit", but many students are aiming for the Level 6 assessment grade.
This is a continuation of the revised assessment task I created in 2016 in response to the absence of a reliable assessment task.
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Kapa Haka Seamstress
Whaia Awa asked for anyone who could help with the Kapa Haka performance costumes, I like to sew so I volunteered, as did Hazel. We decided to split the effort by task, so I put together the outfit for Whaiora, the lead female, and Hazel extended the pre-existing junior.
Monday, 27 March 2017
Solubility
Teaching solubility to L2Chem a student asked to see an example of an experiment I was telling them about. With consultation with SGSS we found an example of a non-polar substance requiring a non-polar solute to dissolve it.
The students were happy to be able to see all the range of polar and non-polar subtances acting as solvents and solutes as it rounded out their learning experience.
The students were happy to be able to see all the range of polar and non-polar subtances acting as solvents and solutes as it rounded out their learning experience.
Friday, 17 March 2017
Student Wellbeing and
The Year 10's did a test last period. Through a concerted push I managed to get the test scripts marked and returned the next lesson and took the time to go through each question explaining how to approach that question and what the answer was.
Afterwards each student was asked to write on the paper their immediate thoughts on the test and the unit it assessed, focussing on how they had worked and how they approached the test. This was then extended with guided reflection set for them on Google Classroom.
Think about the topic so far and write a reflection. Include in your reflection
- How well you worked in the unit ( Did you try your best every lesson or were you goofing off, DId you persevere when it was hard, or give up?)
- How seriously you took the test? Did you persevere and try to figure stuff out
- How well did you do compared to how well you felt about the test when you did it.
- What your goal for the next unit is. Your goal should be challenging but achieveable
- What are you going to do to achieve this goal.
The majority of the class took the task seriously and there were some very good responses. At the end of the unit we will refer back to this to see how they got along and I intend to repeat it each unit to guide them through self-review and improvement cycles. Hopefully it will help them to learn skills in planning and reflection which are vital to self-management.
As a consequence of this I had an interesting conversation with a student who had received distressing news on the day of the test. On confiding to me what the upset was, I reassured her and she seemed fine. I am concerned for her longer term though, so I have let the counsellor who the student is, asking her to keep an eye out.
Afterwards each student was asked to write on the paper their immediate thoughts on the test and the unit it assessed, focussing on how they had worked and how they approached the test. This was then extended with guided reflection set for them on Google Classroom.
Think about the topic so far and write a reflection. Include in your reflection
- How well you worked in the unit ( Did you try your best every lesson or were you goofing off, DId you persevere when it was hard, or give up?)
- How seriously you took the test? Did you persevere and try to figure stuff out
- How well did you do compared to how well you felt about the test when you did it.
- What your goal for the next unit is. Your goal should be challenging but achieveable
- What are you going to do to achieve this goal.
The majority of the class took the task seriously and there were some very good responses. At the end of the unit we will refer back to this to see how they got along and I intend to repeat it each unit to guide them through self-review and improvement cycles. Hopefully it will help them to learn skills in planning and reflection which are vital to self-management.
As a consequence of this I had an interesting conversation with a student who had received distressing news on the day of the test. On confiding to me what the upset was, I reassured her and she seemed fine. I am concerned for her longer term though, so I have let the counsellor who the student is, asking her to keep an eye out.
Friday, 10 March 2017
Student Led learning
During the topic on Acids and Bases one of the content pieces to focus on was Acid Rain. One student was curious about the topic. He did some research on his own, and found a practical to do. He sent me the details and asked if we could do it in class.
The practical was straightforward and was a good illustration of the point. The colour changes using indicators reinforced the idea of indicators while it showed how gases can make neutral solutions acidic.
The rest of the class had greater engagement for this lesson. I had seen this practical before and dismissed it as not very interesting, so it was a timely reminder that our life experiences shape what we think is interesting .
Hi Miss Trewin
I was looking up acid rain recipes because i was bored and found one
that my class could possibly do?
Bromothymol blue
Small clear bowl with a lid
Big glass bowl
Water (10 ml)
Matches (that have a high sulfur content?)
1. Pour around about 10ml of water into the big glass bowl. Add
Bromothymol blue until it makes a light blueish colour.
2. Burn matches and put them into the small glass bowl with lid. Cover
the bowl and let the matches burn out. Collect their emissions and
leave the lid sealed tightly shut.
3. Open the jar and quickly pour in the water/Bromothymol blue
solution. Quickly shut the lid to stop any more of the Carbon dioxide
from getting out. Shake the jar and watch the solution turn a beer
colour!
So yeah. A possible acid rain recipe. I also found some more that
involved spraying plants with acid but that isn't environmentally
friendly and I like my garden so my plants aren't going to die today!
The practical was straightforward and was a good illustration of the point. The colour changes using indicators reinforced the idea of indicators while it showed how gases can make neutral solutions acidic.
The rest of the class had greater engagement for this lesson. I had seen this practical before and dismissed it as not very interesting, so it was a timely reminder that our life experiences shape what we think is interesting .
Hi Miss Trewin
I was looking up acid rain recipes because i was bored and found one
that my class could possibly do?
Bromothymol blue
Small clear bowl with a lid
Big glass bowl
Water (10 ml)
Matches (that have a high sulfur content?)
1. Pour around about 10ml of water into the big glass bowl. Add
Bromothymol blue until it makes a light blueish colour.
2. Burn matches and put them into the small glass bowl with lid. Cover
the bowl and let the matches burn out. Collect their emissions and
leave the lid sealed tightly shut.
3. Open the jar and quickly pour in the water/Bromothymol blue
solution. Quickly shut the lid to stop any more of the Carbon dioxide
from getting out. Shake the jar and watch the solution turn a beer
colour!
So yeah. A possible acid rain recipe. I also found some more that
involved spraying plants with acid but that isn't environmentally
friendly and I like my garden so my plants aren't going to die today!
Thursday, 2 March 2017
L2Chem start to year
I spent the first three weeks of the L2 Chemistry course reteaching ideas from L1 Science. It was brought home to me last year how unprepared some of the students are for L2, and how loose the entry criteria are to get into the class. I pretested and then re-tested the students. There was an improvement, but even so many students are still going to need a lot of extra support.
I have started the year with a letter home to all parents introducing myself and ensuring that they are aware that their student will have to work consistently all year to have a successful year in Chemistry. I also sent the letter by post to a few parents to ensure equity.
A big part of the homework this year is online revision and testing using the website BestChoice. I explained the point of this to parents and asked to be informed if this would be an issue so that I could make alternative arrangements for their child. I have at least one student for whom this will be an issue and have already discussed it with them. They are happy to come in to the tutorial time and have access to laptops then so they don't miss out on the learning opportunity.
I have started the year with a letter home to all parents introducing myself and ensuring that they are aware that their student will have to work consistently all year to have a successful year in Chemistry. I also sent the letter by post to a few parents to ensure equity.
A big part of the homework this year is online revision and testing using the website BestChoice. I explained the point of this to parents and asked to be informed if this would be an issue so that I could make alternative arrangements for their child. I have at least one student for whom this will be an issue and have already discussed it with them. They are happy to come in to the tutorial time and have access to laptops then so they don't miss out on the learning opportunity.
Monday, 12 December 2016
Assessing interest in Science and diagnosing thinking skills.
Given that 9BY have completed the course set for the year, but we still have a couple of lessons to go I am trialling an activity with them.
I have provided them with some links to reputable providers of news and asked them to find a science article that interests them. They then need to post the link to a shared document, summarise it, and explain why they found it interesting.
Once they have found their article of interest, they were instructed to read other's articles and comment on them. I am using this as a diagnostic to see the areas of interest in the class, but also the depth of thinking skills that they are willing to apply.
Once I refine the process, as a spreadsheet is not a tool with finesse, I would like to use this as a homework task, but I still need to figure out how to manage the data that will be produced in a way that I can use. Particularly how to track who has been reading, thinking, and commenting without it taking up so much time as to make it unwieldy.
This will also be a task that can be extended for assessing student abilities at discerning fake news.
I have provided them with some links to reputable providers of news and asked them to find a science article that interests them. They then need to post the link to a shared document, summarise it, and explain why they found it interesting.
Once they have found their article of interest, they were instructed to read other's articles and comment on them. I am using this as a diagnostic to see the areas of interest in the class, but also the depth of thinking skills that they are willing to apply.
Once I refine the process, as a spreadsheet is not a tool with finesse, I would like to use this as a homework task, but I still need to figure out how to manage the data that will be produced in a way that I can use. Particularly how to track who has been reading, thinking, and commenting without it taking up so much time as to make it unwieldy.
This will also be a task that can be extended for assessing student abilities at discerning fake news.
Wednesday, 7 December 2016
The new Junior Curriculum - Research
The new junior curriculum is taking shape. The science department have worked on an outline for the year and for the units. We have decided how to structure the changes, and now we are working on a small section of the first unit each.
I am using my experience from teaching Social Studies for a year, specifically research skills, to plan the research component of the unit.
The research component will have basic research skills, and will include a research project. The initial project will be into a scientist. I have compiled a list of scientists they could research, and I have included a wide range of fields and cultures, with a focus on women and Maori. In addition I looked for ethnic minority scientists from Australia, Canada, and the US as these are cultures that some of our Maori students identify as being in a similary position to Maori, as exemplified by the support in the community for the Standing Rock native americans protesting the North Dakota pipeline.The intention is to make the students aware that science is for everyone not just old white men.
To encourage the students to be more introspective and thoughtful about the learning process, the will receive two grades for their piece of research. They will have one for the content of the research, and another for the process of research. What did they look for, what was successful. In addition they will be expected to do a reflection/evaluation of how they performed. I have set this up as a google form in order to make it manageable for staff to implement, but also to differentiate the questions the students are answering
Part of what we are trying to do is develop students into critical thinkers. The students are expected to compile a reference list, but for the higher level thinker I'm implementing a system to encourage them to think about the perspective of the source as an introduction to bias and to be wary of who they are listening to.
I am using my experience from teaching Social Studies for a year, specifically research skills, to plan the research component of the unit.
The research component will have basic research skills, and will include a research project. The initial project will be into a scientist. I have compiled a list of scientists they could research, and I have included a wide range of fields and cultures, with a focus on women and Maori. In addition I looked for ethnic minority scientists from Australia, Canada, and the US as these are cultures that some of our Maori students identify as being in a similary position to Maori, as exemplified by the support in the community for the Standing Rock native americans protesting the North Dakota pipeline.The intention is to make the students aware that science is for everyone not just old white men.
To encourage the students to be more introspective and thoughtful about the learning process, the will receive two grades for their piece of research. They will have one for the content of the research, and another for the process of research. What did they look for, what was successful. In addition they will be expected to do a reflection/evaluation of how they performed. I have set this up as a google form in order to make it manageable for staff to implement, but also to differentiate the questions the students are answering
Part of what we are trying to do is develop students into critical thinkers. The students are expected to compile a reference list, but for the higher level thinker I'm implementing a system to encourage them to think about the perspective of the source as an introduction to bias and to be wary of who they are listening to.
Friday, 11 November 2016
Success on resubs
I have been working with some of the chemistry students who failed achievement standards earlier in the year. All those who stayed in the class for the full year have managed to achieve all the credits they were entered into, which means they are entering exams with 10 Chemistry credits under their belt.
They are also all intending to do Chemistry next year. I am quite pleased with that even though I still don't know who is teaching the Level 3 next year.
The last students to get their assessments needed more practice time. For the repeats I gave them lots and lots of practice questions until they felt ready. Part of it has been the maturing of the students.
This year I have identified the weaknesses that have come through from the Level 1 classes and I am planning how to ameliorate those at the start of the year to make the classes confident in their abilities from the start. Hopefully this will also address the relatively high attrition rate. Some of the attrition was due to bad course selection, but a few I think were because they felt discouraged when they didn't pass the first Achievement Standard.
They are also all intending to do Chemistry next year. I am quite pleased with that even though I still don't know who is teaching the Level 3 next year.
The last students to get their assessments needed more practice time. For the repeats I gave them lots and lots of practice questions until they felt ready. Part of it has been the maturing of the students.
This year I have identified the weaknesses that have come through from the Level 1 classes and I am planning how to ameliorate those at the start of the year to make the classes confident in their abilities from the start. Hopefully this will also address the relatively high attrition rate. Some of the attrition was due to bad course selection, but a few I think were because they felt discouraged when they didn't pass the first Achievement Standard.
Thursday, 3 November 2016
Peer Assessment
I tried a new style of assessment and marking with my Year 9 class.
For the end of astronomy unit they had to research astronomical cycles and their effects on the earth. There was a limited scope for personal choice, as there was a number of cycles they could choose from. The real difference was for them to do the marking of each others assignments.
For this I gave the students copies of the marking rubric and explained how to use it. The students worked in groups to mark each other and to feedback and feedforward to each other. The purpose of this exercise was to get the students to link the intructions of an assessment with the marking of it, to start showing them how the two are together so that in the future they can better tailor their efforts to where it will make the most difference.
Students took to the exercise and were very positive in their feedback to each other. The marking was accurate.
Some students didn't submit their work, but the exercise will have shown them the work that goes into marking regardless and hopefully will encourage them to respect deadlines.
For the end of astronomy unit they had to research astronomical cycles and their effects on the earth. There was a limited scope for personal choice, as there was a number of cycles they could choose from. The real difference was for them to do the marking of each others assignments.
For this I gave the students copies of the marking rubric and explained how to use it. The students worked in groups to mark each other and to feedback and feedforward to each other. The purpose of this exercise was to get the students to link the intructions of an assessment with the marking of it, to start showing them how the two are together so that in the future they can better tailor their efforts to where it will make the most difference.
Students took to the exercise and were very positive in their feedback to each other. The marking was accurate.
Some students didn't submit their work, but the exercise will have shown them the work that goes into marking regardless and hopefully will encourage them to respect deadlines.
Thursday, 25 August 2016
Rethinking the programme
The formative for the Redox assessment has come back showing the students are not ready for the summative. I think I will need to reteach aspects, and give a lot more practice before many of the students are ready.
Coupled with the need for a number of them to repeat the other internals I am doubting if I will be able to get through the high number of credits that were initially planned. I have already removed a number of students from the final external assessment but now I am wondering if there will be enough time for the students who have been planning to do that assessment to complete it.
Coupled with the need for a number of them to repeat the other internals I am doubting if I will be able to get through the high number of credits that were initially planned. I have already removed a number of students from the final external assessment but now I am wondering if there will be enough time for the students who have been planning to do that assessment to complete it.
Monday, 22 August 2016
The PTC's for reference
PTC’s
1. … establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all akonga
2. … demonstrate commitment to promoting the well-being of all akonga
3. … demonstrate commitment to bicultural partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand
4. … demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice
5. … show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning
6. … conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme
7. … promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment
8. … demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how akonga learn
9. … respond effectively to the diverse language and cultural experiences, and the varied strengths, interests and needs of individuals and groups of akonga
10. … work effectively within the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand
11. … analyse and appropriately use assessment information, which has been gathered formally and informally
12. … use critical inquiry and problem solving effectively in their professional practice
Friday, 19 August 2016
Science as a junior option/ Science Fair Prep
I had a brainwave while talking to students about their options subject in the midst of an experiment into starch and photosynthesis.
Students enjoy practical work. Not enough have the resources to do their own experiments. We struggle to find the time to properly do Science Fair. Some students can't get enough of Science.
Solution: Add a Science Extension Option to the Options list that students can do for a semester which will include time to do Science Fair work.
Term 1 for Year10's -
Start with a grounding in planning experiments and data processing. Writing methods, drawing graphs, using proper language in writing reports.
Then support the students in independent research and experiments to prepare for Science Fair.
Students enjoy practical work. Not enough have the resources to do their own experiments. We struggle to find the time to properly do Science Fair. Some students can't get enough of Science.
Solution: Add a Science Extension Option to the Options list that students can do for a semester which will include time to do Science Fair work.
Term 1 for Year10's -
Start with a grounding in planning experiments and data processing. Writing methods, drawing graphs, using proper language in writing reports.
Then support the students in independent research and experiments to prepare for Science Fair.
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