caitlinjankiewicz

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 10 6/11/20

What consideration do I need to give to risk management?

Both physical and emotional safety are important in the classroom.

1.     Plan for safety of students and yourself, taking a risk management approach to school activities

2.     Consider the learning outcomes against the hazards and inherent dangers of engaging in activities

3.     Develop class behavior rules and consequences

4.     Establish clear and workable routines for

a.     entering and leaving rooms

b.     moving around the classroom and school

c.     distributing/collecting materials/resources

d.     manual handling

e.     working independently or in groups

5.     assess and manage risks in specific subject areas e.g. English, Maths

6.     Avoid hazardous activities where your own level of skill or knowledge may be limited

7.     Use resources, including machinery and equipment, appropriate to the maturity and skill of students.

8.     Instruct students in safety issues prior to activity

9.     Ensure appropriate use is made of all safeguards, devices and PPE

10.  Ensure sufficient workspace is available for students to work safely

11.  Provide students with appropriate workplace health and safety info and training

12.  Implement the school’s student welfare and discipline code

13.  Adhere to sun protection guidelines during outdoor activities

14.  Follow sound behavior management practices

15.  Address the welfare and safety needs of special needs groups

16.  Strictly follow child protection guidelines

17.  Take reasonable care of yourself in the classroom

18.  Look after your voice

19.  Use appropriate ladders/approved devices if working above ground level, don’t work with feet at heights over 2m. only mature students should be allowed to work above ground level, with instruction and supervision.

Safety in English:

Most safety concerns in English are emotional. One way to manage this is freewriting. it’s important, when setting up the opportunity, that you be aware that kids write about some really sensitive things. If you promise to read what they have written you have a responsibility to read it, andlet them know that there is a legal requirement to report some things. if you read something in need of reporting it’s important to feedback to them and let them know that it will be passed on.

Some texts, such as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Lord of the Flies contain dark themes. Be aware that you as a teacher can be desensitized, and that your students may react negatively to some content. Regarding physical safety, don’t let kids stand on things to enact drama etc. because they will fall off.

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 9 30/10/20

How do I stay connected and Current?

Staying connected in a school environment can be visualized as a web, each spoke of which consists of one of the following:

1.    Relationships with students

Important to teachers to provide a sense of meaning and fulfillment

2.    Relationships with parents and areas in the community

Provide important resources, connections and understanding to support student learning

3.    Colleague relationships

A source of emotional and tangible support

4.    Governing bodies

Such as NESA or AITSL

5.    Current research

Important for learning new pedagogies and strategies

6.    Having a voice into the education landscape.

Gives teachers the ability to facilitate change.

How can we connect and use our voice?

1.    Work on your relationships

In all spheres relationships are a source of support and collaboration

2.    Professional organizations/associations

Ask your school to pay for memberships to various associations

3.    Educational authorities (NESA, AITSL etc.)

Are a good source of resources, example material and guidelines

4.    Subscribe to professional journals

Reading journal articles can count for self development hours

5.    Professional development providers

The Sydney opera house is one

Mathematics:

It is important not to reinvent the wheel. It is unnecessary and uses time that could be spent otherwise. Within schools, all documents and resources are available to students via software such as SharePoint. Stepping in as a new teacher you shouldn’t have to recreate too much material. For example, topic tests for maths should already be made up and available. Professional development is an important way of learning new strategies and connecting with other teachers in your area.

Some resources:

1.    YouCubed

2.    PD4Maths

3.    Teacher Training Australia

English:

English Teachers Association:

resources and membership are extremely valuable and really important. Ask school to subscribe if not already subscribed.

Metaphor — journal about teaching English,

However, their material sometimes is frustrating as it seems too advanced for the level the students are. Use with care.

NESA exam workbook: gives examples of the type of work that will be expected on the HSC

English Standard notebooks: as with NESA exam workbooks but specific to English Standard.

NESA Newsletters—these are periodically released and contain information and announcements regarding changes across all Key Learning Areas.

Maintaining relationships with previous colleagues (e.g. prac teachers and colleagues from previous workplaces) is a valuable way to get access to resources.

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 8 21/10/2020

How can I ensure all students have equal opportunities for success?

Mathematics:

·      In Stage 6, Glynis works one on one with the student in her class that struggles.

·      In younger grades, different students get different resources given to suit their individual needs.

·      Stage 4 students are relatively cooperative, questions are color coded:

o  Green: fundamental

o  Blue: standard

o  Red: extension

·      In year 9, students start to be more self-conscious. In these cases, you can get a separate program for them to work from. This needs to be reported and explained to parents.

·      Word problems are hard for some – help them figure them out, use other textbooks to provide other examples, help them break down the question and figure out what the question is asking.

Useful resources:

·      Teacherspayteachers.com

·      Mathisfun.com

·      Math-aids.com

It is very important to use resources and teaching aids in stage 4.

Strategies to support struggling students:

·      If students struggle with basic maths let them use a calculator

·      Learning logs – students can write down what they struggle with

·      Formula sheet: by creating a formula sheet they are revising.

·      When doing scope and sequence, put like topics together, make things visual. Vary hard/easy topics to give students a reprieve.

·      Give students a problem with scaffolding for the answer (see below)

English:

Strategies for differentiation:

-      Group Analysis: pair students together (model a skill then get them to shepherd each other). This is useful for practicing writing structure.

-      Learning goals:

o  Must do

o  Should do

o  Could do

-      Streaming: separates students into bands according to ability.

-      Differentiation of assessment tasks:

o  Various essay questions for different types of students

-      Life ring strategy:

o  Red: If you are drowning come see me

o  Yellow: If you’re treading water, work with the person next to you

o  Green: If you’re swimming just fine, work on your own

-      Use reverse psychology with the above “colors” , use positive colors/categories rather than negative

-      Make sure students have access to audiobooks for reading

-      Any opportunity to give student voice and student choice is good

-      Documentation is imperative for making adjustments for individual student needs.

-      Collaboration on student needs, i.e. connecting with learning support/counselors.

Strategies for getting to know the students:

-      Games

-      Writing about themselves

-      Informal assessment

-      Making time at the beginning of the year to build relationship and establish boundaries

-      Using days where many students are gone to connect

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 7 18/10/20

Mathematics:

In-class feedback strategies:

Exit Ticket: students write down things on sticky notes to be turned in before leaving the classroom. This could be 1 thing that has been learned, 3 questions, 2 main takeaways etc.

Mini-whiteboards: these are good especially for the younger grades. Students must solve a problem and hold up the answer.

Both of these strategies provide informal feedback to the teacher, showing where students are at in their learning.

In stage 6, there are 4 Assessment tasks per year. Trials make up the fourth, at 35%. By NESA standards, there needs to be 1 exam (formal), 1 investigate task and two topic tests. While these are NESA tasks, the teacher can set a topic test at the end of each chapter as informal assessments.

It is important to keep a marksbook so that if something goes wrong you can prove that you taught a topic on a given day.

If students miss a formal assessment topic test, a previous informal topic test can be used in its place. Teachers have the freedom to scale a student’s grade based on their previous performance.

Scope and sequence:

As a rule of thumb, plan on one lesson per section plus a day each for revision, test and discussion. It is important that scope and sequence section names match textbook names.

English:

·      Informal Summative feedback: fun activities to sum up what they’ve done.

·      It is important to act on feedback and make changes.

·      Team teaching: good for self-assessment and learning from each other

·      Feedback for students:

o   individual feedback for assessments

o  General feedback for entire class (e.g. favourite mistake, or something everyone did well)

o  Feedback sheets

o  Self assessment

·      As a general rule, the process of feedback should go as such:

o  General feedback àexpected mark àfeedback/marks àcompare expected with actual

·      Unfortunately the education system focuses on marks rather than learning. As teachers we need to combat that

·      When marking an assessment put it at the end of the assessment so that students go through and engage with the feedback

·      Feedback should be active: students should have the opportunity to redo  and correct their mistakes once feedback has been given

·      In writing reports: sandwich positive—constructive criticism—positive. Condense feedback into around 100 words, focusing on most important

·      Meeting with parents: ask if there’s anything specific they want to raise. This saves time. Also, develop positive euphemisms for behavior (e.g. animated vs. chatty)

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 6 02/10/20

Professional Conversations as well as Stage 6 Requirements

Mathematics:

Professional conversations taking place in the field of mathematics at the moment:

At Avondale college: the streaming of year 7. Students are streamed up to year 6, then starting again in year 8. This means that in year 7, students of various abilities are in the classroom together. This presents a challenge to the teacher as there are students who excel in maths and are way ahead while other students who are barely grasping the ideas. This problem would be solved if year 7 was streamed like other classes.

General:

PBL implementation and assessment: PBL is difficult to incorporate into maths as it is such a practice-driven subject. Teachers find it difficult to use PBL effectively, and struggle to meet NESA requirements in doing so.

Relevance: students struggle to find relevance to their life in the maths that they are doing. Teachers need to give students context for their learning and help them see the value in what they are doing.

Stage 6: Within year 12 there are two paths:

Standard 1: focuses on building confidence in students. New to this program is the topic of networks and paths.

Standard 2: Expansion of stage 5 but without the indepth level reached by calculus.

Other levels: advanced, extension.

The NESA website discusses these differences in depth.

English:

English is mandatory in years k-12. In stage 6 students can choose which class they take:

EALD – Teachers meet students where they are at, more flexibility

Standard – for students on track for vocational work but more confident in their ability

Life Skills –when standard is out of reach for students despite adjustments made.

Studies – Vocational students usually take this

Advanced – starts to move students toward explicitly academic and more complex texts

Extension – high academic level for students who want to push themselves

Rationale focuses on supporting students’ effective and confident creative and critical communication, as well as synthesizing and developing literacy by expressing ideas and learning how to interpret texts and apply them in society.

The NESA website provides valuable resources

·      Sample exam materials (HSC)

·      Performance band descriptions (bands change every year)

·      Prescription documents

There are no prescribed texts for year 11.

Stage 6 is broken into modules. Year 11 must start with the common module. Across stage 6 the requirements are outlined.

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 5 25/09/20

What resources can help support quality teaching and learning?

Choosing resources to support education is like holding a hoop and choosing which of the paper planes flying at you you’re going to let through it. The world that we live in is replete with technology and ICT resources, and as educators we have to be discerning about which we let through our ‘hoop’ and incorporate into our teaching and which we let fly by us. According to recent studies, classrooms have become exponentially more complex. Students are using much more technology, and with that tech come benefits and challenges. The key response is not banning tech but rather teaching students to use it responsibly. Children’s interaction with technology is dynamic and educators must take a flexible approach in understanding the way technology shapes education. Many resources detract rather than enhance traditional learning. The key is to strike a balance between traditional and technological learning. In choosing resources there are 5 key points to consider

1.     Challenge at appropriate level

2.     Knowledge growing, skill building

3.     Literacy strengthening

4.     Creativity stimulating

5.     Value adding – relevance and transferability.

A few valuable resources:

1.     Coolaustralia.com

2.     InclusionEd

3.     Progressive Achievement – PAT teaching resources center

4.     Scootle

5.     Program builder (NESA)

Mathematics:

Year 7-9 students are generally less mature than year 10-12 students, and thus tend to value education less. They are less responsible with technology, so it should be used sparingly. ICT can provide visualization for mathematics in a way not normally possible. Students can see why math follows certain rules and how those rules fit together.

A few resources:

Educationperfect.com –a resource for tracking student progress

EdModern – a platform that supports quick marking

Geogebra.com – an online graphing calculator that also allows students to play games, go through tutorials, graph and measure shapes and other activities.

Excel – valuable for creating graphs, quantifying data, calculating standard deviation and other functions.

English:

The SAMR definition provides a framework for reworking assessments within the context of ICT:

Substitution

Augmentation

Modification

Redefinition.

The point is to use ICT to enhance learning rather than commandeer it.

Teachers use ICT in the form of digital daybooks, often through a learning management system such as Schoolbox or landscape.

Email is invaluable as a way to communicate with both students and parents, avoiding phone calls and keeping a paper trail as proof of previous communication.

Students use ICT through learning management systems as well, posting to forums, tracking their grades and accessing textbooks. They also can collaborate on documents via google classroom.

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 4 18/09/20

how do I deepen student learning through the use of PBL and other engaging strategies?

A key theme of PBL is authentic learning, i.e. students don’t simply do projects for the class’s sake but also take their work to a real audience and do something with it. This increases student motivation as their work will have a real as opposed to theoretical result.

Mathematics:

PBL requires a driving question that students must answer. Students need a certain amount of intrinsic motivation to compete investigative tasks. It is important to differentiate for standard maths and advanced maths. PBL is useful because as a NESA assignment you can only have one exam per semester. Maths is a tough subject for PBL and often years are skipped. Ideas done in past years (with Glynis) have been financial plans, measuring objects around campus with Trigonometry etc. and have included researching potential future careers.

Project Ideas:

·      Building things

·      Amazing race type activities

·      Number crunch

·      For more ideas visit pblworks.org/my.pblworks.org

Classroom student  engagement strategies:

·      Have students “help you teach”

·      Mini whiteboards

·      “favorite mistake” (have students answer a question and talk about the most common mistake)

·      Plickers (game)

·      Names in a hat for answering questions

·      Make a deliberate mistake and have students correct you

·      Kahoot! (can compete with another class)

·      Stay away from bookwork as much as possible (although in maths bookwork is unavoidable as maths requires practice)

English:

A really awesome project is to have students create a picture book, which they then share with Kindy students.

Project structure:

·      Proposal

·      Outline

·      Feedback

·      Creation

·      Sharing

·      Reflection

Students really enjoy this project because they get to create something and share it, and the sharing gives them valuable feedback.

For English projects,  biancahewes.wordpress.com.

Deep Learning:

The six components:

·      Character

·      Collaboration

·      Communication

·      Creativity

·      Citizenship

·      Critical thinking

The four things students will develop through deep learning:

·      Grit

·      Tenacity

·      Perseverance

·      Resilience

To incorporate deep learning, you take a unit and look at how you can add in activities and experiences that engage with the 6 C’s and grow tenacity, grit, perseverance and resilience.

A large part of deep learning is student self evaluation, where they rate themselves on a scale:  limited evidence, emerging, developing, accelerating, proficient.

The four areas that contribute to deep learning:

·      Learning partnerships (students with teachers, parents, experts, industry, community)

·      New pedagogies

·      Leveraging digital

·      Learning environment

English PBL’s engage students at a critical thinking and creative level conventional study of English simply can’t achieve.

A few of my own ideas for English:

·      A renaissance fair

·      Food fair

·      Recipe book

·      Creating a journal for a character being studied.

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 3 - 11/09/20

How do I create wholistic and relevant learning?

English:

Cross-Curricula Priorities:

·      Aboriginal/Torres Strait interactions

o  The Story of Adam Goods Documentary

o  Ally Cobby Eckerman Poetry

o  Coolaustralia.com

·      Australia’s engagement with Asia

o  Alice Pung poetry

o  Mamosa Poetry

o  “Trash” (this also touches on sustainability)

·      Sustainability

o  “Into the wild” unit

o  “Scat”

o  Blackfish documentary

Strategies for improving students’ literacy:

·      Give students time to read/write at beginning of class

·      Make intentional mistakes and have students catch them

·      Grammar cop – slab of text on the board, say how many mistakes there are and kids have to rewrite correct

·      Summarizing: “reading logs”

·      Spelling/vocab tests

·      Reading to kids aloud/audiobooks

·      Make kids write a full page in 8 minutes

·      Peer reviewing (also helps with marking)

·      Sticky note/tangible activities

Numeracy is a difficult area to engage with in English. The few things you can do is have kids create timelines for the novels they are studying, working with page numbers and researching statistics etc.

Holistic learning is the fun stuff, it’s the engaging with kids at the emotional level and teaching them life stuff. It’s branching the content out and connecting it with the rest of learning and growning. Most important is heart and empathy. Teachers can have a huge impact on students’ emotional wellbeing and growth.

Maths:

·      Praying with students is hugely impactful to creating a culture of spirituality.

·      Taking prayer requests before the start of class.

·      Have clear modes: e.g. focused mode, conversation mode etc. etc.

·      Incorporate Christian worldview by pointing out mathematics and patterns in nature.

General Capabilities:

·      Literacy:

o  Showing work is more important than the final answer

o  Terminology (can use crossword puzzles)

o  Writing out answers in words

o  Mnemonic devices

·      Numeracy is very much a part of maths, it’s hard when kids are behind on basic numeracy because then they can’t understand what you’re teaching them. Basic exercises and tutoring are possible solutions.

·      ICT Tools:

o  Excel is super powerful/useful for maths stuff

§  Taught in yr. 8 Elective technology

§  Equips students to use maths in real life

§  Make sure students know how to use it

o  Geogebra:

§  Graphing, measuring, tutorials etc.

o  Desmos

o  Grapher (mac)

·      Eddy Woo videos—for when you have to teach a topic that you yourself are unfamiliar with

It’s important to create a holistic learning culture around maths as many students don’t feel like it is relevant to them or what they want to do.

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 2 - 04/09/20

How can I approach this thing called a unit plan?

Maths:

Units are best planned backwards, starting with the outcomes and fitting learning activities to best fulfill those outcomes. Planning units begins with the scope and sequence, where the material to be covered is described and put into a logical sequence. Mathematics is a very problem-solving based subject. Thus, it is particularly important to plan scope and sequences in a logical order, with units building on top of each other. In Stage 4, students start by learning about basic operations with numbers, both positive and negative. These skills are vital to being able to perform algebraic operations, which are in turn needed to solve geometrical problems. Gifted and talented students present a problem to teachers, even in streamed classes. The best thing to do with such a student is extend the material but not into the next year (as years build on themselves). The problems in the textbook are color-coded according to ability level. Curriculum is vital to unit planning. Coordinating with other teachers is vital to building this skillset, as not all stage 4 content is covered in one year, and ensuring that all teachers are working from the same curriculum ensures consistency across classrooms. In General, CambridgeMaths tends to target a higher level than other curriculums.

English:

Across stages 4 and 5 of English, students are expected to receive 400 hours of classes. The content studied cannot simply be printed text, but also spoken, visual, multimedia and digital texts. NESA specifies a list of texts students must study across these years. Between stages 4 and 5 students are expected to listen/read/view increasingly sophisticated texts and begin actively analyzing and interpreting what they study. Every stage builds upon the previous stage, adding complexity and independence. Resources collected from other teachers and from the web add richness to units and lessons that working alone can’t achieve. Ask the school to give you access to an English teaching subscription for such resources. Units should consist of various learning activities. Unlike maths, which is easy to plan as the activities are fairly consistent, English teaching requires a variety of skills learned in different ways, consisting of reading, interpreting, writing, and applying the ideas encountered. Students cannot just be assessed based on tests, but must have several forms of assessment, including a multi-media presentation. The syllabus is your best friend in unit planning because everything is there, the outcomes, the requirements, the texts to be studied etc.

[caitlinjankiewicz]

Week 1- 28/02/20

What can I learn about meeting student and governing authority needs in my teaching? What does assessment compliance look like?

Maths:

The nice thing about all this is that everything is clearly laid out in the syllabus. The expectations and outcomes are clearly stated with tangible and accessible goals. For maths in particular, I think meeting standards is fairly straightforward. Teachers are expected to teach students to do XYZ, and teachers expect students to be able to do XYZ. There is not very much room for individual interpretation of these outcomes. Assessments must be scheduled and ready at the start of each year, with samples prepared and outlines made for students. Something that is somewhat challenging in mathematics is that assignments can’t just be tests, they have to be project based learning, practical approaches and other things like that. However, some really good ideas were shared, including assessments that ask students to create budgets, balance income vs expenses etc. this is quite different from my own experience learning maths as I did high school in America, where the only assignments we had were tests and homework. I think that in some ways it’s beneficial to students to see how maths can be used in real life, but in other ways it’s frustrating because many maths project learning can be quite tedious.

English:

English can be a challenge as some kids love it while some kids hate it. It is important to have assessments beyond essays, especially paying attention to keeping essays from being back to back. Attention should be payed to the scheduling of units, as it isn’t good to have just a little bit of a unit on either side of a break. Before reporting periods, it is important to have had two assessments so as to get a good picture of where the student is at. In order to remain accountable to governing authorities it is important to be organized and keep track of unit plans and assessments.   Starting the year off with a novel study isn’t necessarily the best idea as students haven’t had time to read the novel yet and won’t follow along in class well. Instead, starting the year off with a project-based unit can get them excited about English and then transition well into a novel study. Having a scope and sequence is essential for every unit, and must be ready at the beginning of the year. This in addition to having the units of work made up, keeping a daybook, and planning assessments.