The Education Perfect Software we have bought the use of for the school included diagnostic tests at Curriculum Level.
The past two weeks we have done testing at Level 4 for Year 9's and Level 5 for Year 10's. the marks are returned as a percentage score, which we will need to translate into Grade Scores for the academic report being sent home.
Thursday, 21 June 2018
SCICON
This year the SciCon conference is in Christchurch. I have registered to attend and I have also had an application to present accepted.
The presentation is on the redevelopment of the junior curriculum from a content based model to a thematic and skills based curriculum.
The presentation is on the redevelopment of the junior curriculum from a content based model to a thematic and skills based curriculum.
Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Literacy
We have had a new initiative in the school focusing on Literacy. Initially we have had observations done to assess the standard of literacy teaching in the school, starting with the Science department.
I have started to outline the literacy learning alongside the Success Criteria and the Science skills that we are working each day, colour coded to make it clear that the Success Criteria in Black is the Literacy in Red, and the skills on the posters above the board.
I have started to outline the literacy learning alongside the Success Criteria and the Science skills that we are working each day, colour coded to make it clear that the Success Criteria in Black is the Literacy in Red, and the skills on the posters above the board.
Friday, 2 March 2018
Te Reo Maori
One of my goals for the year is to improve my use of Te Reo and my understanding of Te Ao Maori.
I have already started to increase my use of simple Te Reo in the classroom with some surprise from my students. One student in particular has been impressed with my commitment to learning Maori and it has shortcutted out relationship development as she has opened up to me.
I have already started to increase my use of simple Te Reo in the classroom with some surprise from my students. One student in particular has been impressed with my commitment to learning Maori and it has shortcutted out relationship development as she has opened up to me.
Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Unit progression within the Junior Curriculum
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
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
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.
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Senior revision time
Aftert the school exams it was apparent that the L2 Chemistry students are not yet anywhere near ready for their end of year external exams.
In repsonse to this I decided to drop the final internal that was slated, Oxidation and Reduction, in favour of spending the remaining class time on revision of the content of the external standards.
In class time students are allowed to choose their own specific area of the course to concentrate their revision. To aid and focus them at the start of each lesson I circulate in the class and ask them to give me their personal topic or success criteria for the hour they have in the classroom. Making them choose one specific thing to master in the hour seems to improve their focus for their learning and help break down the seemingly impossible task into smaller bits that are possible.
In repsonse to this I decided to drop the final internal that was slated, Oxidation and Reduction, in favour of spending the remaining class time on revision of the content of the external standards.
In class time students are allowed to choose their own specific area of the course to concentrate their revision. To aid and focus them at the start of each lesson I circulate in the class and ask them to give me their personal topic or success criteria for the hour they have in the classroom. Making them choose one specific thing to master in the hour seems to improve their focus for their learning and help break down the seemingly impossible task into smaller bits that are possible.
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