Planning, Planning, Planning

Wow what a relief that is over, are the first few words to spring to mind. Never before have I ever had to plan so much in my entire life and that is saying something.

Organising a staff rota, deciding who is going to play where on a football team, what directions to take when visiting a new place for the first time, even planning my own wedding – nothing can compare to 3 completely different Primary Subjects with two of them being the most important ones of the week.

My week started really well and I had the Year 4’s going rehearsing play scripts based on well-known fairy tales and adding their own adverbs and stage directions. The Pirate Points board was finally completed with all of their faces on Scuba Divers rising up to the top of the sea after finding treasure.  I team taught a guided reading session with the class TA in which we had 10 children using their Reading, Speaking and Listening skills to discuss a funny story about aliens who came to earth after accidentally receiving an invite to watch a film about aliens. This was useful because I can now gauge what comprehension lessons to plan and how to differentiate the learning.

The class behaviour for learning is dependent on incentives and although a lot of it is intrinsic, most of it is still extrinsic. They want to please and know that I am not an easy target- I have been using an App called ClassDojo that is a whole school approach and am not afraid to award negative feedback (which goes straight to parents), but at the same time reward with positive as well. I even brought some prizes for the class Treasure Chest and this has gone down well already.

It is now half way through the course with merely 3 half terms left and even I feel more composed than I did after last half term. My mentor has guided me through the start of my 60% teaching and we have been addressing the standards that I need to meet.

The lesson planning days at University were extremely useful and I took a lot away from each of them. The Maths and English in particular especially as I needed to improve my bibliography to include some extra columns for why and when I would use the books. The tutorial was very useful towards the end of the term and I had a lot to say given a recent CPD training I had only just attended on ‘Closing the Gap’.

I had planned a series of lessons on how to write an adventure story and originally wanted to use the Alex Rider series as a hook especially as the 23^rd February sees the start of a Literacy competition surrounding the character. I am not familiar with the stories and don’t think I could have done it justice- however it is always something to think about for the future. I did decided to use a booklet I found on TES which enables the class to follow a series of tasks that lead up to them writing a story. I adapted it for this year group and added in a twist in which TOP TRUMP’s cards can be made as well based on the hero and villain of the story.

Maths planning was based around the programme Abacus which the school follows and although I had a lot of the planning set for me, I still had to adapt it and find some extra resources to make it my own.

PE was the final subject I planned and I used knowledge from last year whilst I was based as a TA but took the learning of rounders with my class teacher observing. It was in the last Summer term so gave me confidence in teaching a whole class. I have picked out the main learning points of the sport and broken them down into weeks. An assessment will be made at the beginning and will form part of the ongoing progress each child makes. This will give them ownership of their own learning and something to improve on week by week.

Now with only 5 weeks to teach until the next holidays, I am relishing the fact that I am going to be the main class teacher most of the time and will really be able to see how much my time and effort goes into developing individual and class progress.  

That's A Wrap - Film making in Year 6

Normally my blog reflects on many things in my trainee teaching process however today I want to shout out about how impressed I am yet again with my Yr 6's. 

As most of you who read this blog will know, last week I taught the two classes how to make a storyboard for a suspense film,, delegate tasks in their groups of 6 and then film footage in their chosen locations across the school. This week the editing teams have been hard at work learning how to use the ULead Video editing software, and from what I have seen so far has proven that despite any ability in the so-called academic subjects, there are a lot of children who have the technical and creative minds to use a computer and assemble a 2-3 min film that all professional film makers would be chuffed with.

The lesson was very different from the usual IT learning because it is a new programme for the pupils to use. I hadn’t used it before so had to research into it and ensure I was confident in my own learning.

This work was done in small groups and based around Suspense story films. At the end of the lesson they could edit film footage by selecting scenes to crop or cut, crop and paste scenes to make it flow chronologically,

I asked a series of questions based around the technical vocab used in the lesson starter. Most were able to respond accordingly whilst the others gave vague responses which were improved on during the lesson. All children were completely on task and engaged in their work.

This was an overall good lesson and one that I will remember for many reasons. I used lots of vocabulary and ensured it was only relevant to that particular lesson. The children used the terms appropriately and this is key because cut and crop are used for ‘delete and keep only the parts needed’.

I linked to other subjects and made links clear to the children so that they were able to see they were learning transferable skills. This is important because otherwise some children may feel – why bother.

Modelling was essential in this lesson because of the new programme being used although rather than patronise the children by showing them how to do it, I gave them a set of instructions that were easy to follow. Previous IT subject knowledge was used with the simple command keys.

For the next lesson I would refer to the LO at least 3x in the lesson and teach against the SC. Although I could tick off which ones the pupils has achieved, I didn’t explicitly talk about it and check with the children that they could do what was listed.

An assessment opportunity is to use more of the key vocabulary knowledge.

I can't wait to be invited back to the school (whilst on my second placement) to come and watch the final products at the Oscar's event. There is still some minor adjustments to do including the need to add sound effects but I am confident that even if this doesn't get completed until I leave the school, the children in each group can use their skills to finish the job.

2nd Term passed and a lot to look forward to next year

This week is memorable for many reasons. Firstly the Choir sang at the local conference centre alongside many other schools who use the School Music Service, I finished a science project I had been working on for the past two weeks, my tutor has noticed an improvement in my teaching, and it was my last day at University until we all go back in January.

Last week’s reflection was focused on achieving Standard 8, and in particular 8.1, which for some people can be difficult especially as it often requires juggling work and study with something to attend at lunch and after school. Luckily for me I have always been a busy person both in childhood and as an adult by joining the local Scout Organisation, coaching a football team whilst studying my degree, and running with a local running club during the past two years (proudly won their club championship and am also men’s captain).

I had to swap my break duty with a colleague on Tuesday due to a final rehearsal at the centre and this shows interpersonal skills because I need to strike a chord with those I work with and not expect someone to simply cover me because I need it. During the event I assisted the Music Teacher in making sure our students were kept both safe and on task- we were the best behaved in my opinion. If you know me I am all for making friends and did just that by introducing myself to all the other teachers from the other schools. You never know who you could meet at a job interview or on a course and teaching is a small community. One of the schools had a problem with a song that I knew and the teacher was thankful for me briefly singing along.The evening was a huge success and many parents and school friends attended to watch the performance. I felt extremely proud of the students and can’t wait until I am able to organise a choir to go to such an event.

Finishing my circuit game for a Science Evening that took place during the week was one of my mini-projects althoughI kept experiencing problems with certain parts of the circuit. However, when I added a second battery, it allowed the bulb to become brighter and despite originally wanting to use a buzzer (it’s a game in which you slowly and carefully manoeuvre a looped piece of wire around a windy path from one end to the other). Some of my class helped to put it together and a few were chosen to be Science Ambassadors as well for the event.

2nd Half Term University Observation

Wednesday loomed and I was nervous about teaching in front of my tutor but prepared myself as well as I could. The last Math’s lesson I was observed in, gave me a few things to progress and improve on including; Subject Knowledge, use of assessment, praising appropriately and explaining why, and giving a plenary. I managed to do all of these however didn't give a good plenary and this is something I need to work on. I rushed it and forgot to include the LO although during the lesson I did point out to the class that they had managed to achieve each of the Success Criterion and explained why I moved them around the classroom (recent assessment and also to get year groups working together). With the starter I assessed quickly who grasped the concept of the lesson and didn't move onto the main task until I was confident everyone was ready to do so.

During my last two days at University I helped to deliver a SEND presentation on Down Syndrome and learnt a lot from other presentations who focused on Autism (4 groups), another Down Syndrome, and how Support staff are used in the classroom. Ours was 2^nd to last due to the majority of the group coming from Group C. In hindsight I wish the course would have given the list of topics and said all needed covering so first come first serve. The actual result was a few similar presentations and a lot of us felt it could have been more useful with a group looking at ADHD for example or even someone with Speech and Listening Difficulties.

Two ladies from the a local LEA came to discuss life after training and how to apply for our first teaching job. It is scary to think that in a few months we will be searching for jobs, whether it be our training school, second placement or other. I have been in many interviews although this is going to be one of the most important ones in my life ranking alongside both my University interview and the one I did to get on this course.

I am yet to start thinking about 2015-16 especially with January to come. 

What's needed in the classroom and a test..,

With various lessons being taught and tests taking place throughout the year I thought - what exactly is needed in terms of equipment etc?

Below I've added an equipment list made previously plus an extra bit for tests. 

Is there anything missing?

Maths Test

Tracing paper

Protractor

Mirror

Sharp pencils

To write with

Pencils - HB

Pens - Berol Handwriting (only to students with a pen licence). Name these because they will go AWOL.

Bic/Staedtler and other brands do Black/Blue/Red and Green-  depending on what your school prefer

Felt tips

Crayons

Coloured Pencils

Whiteboard markers plus spray and cloths to wipe it clean

Craft Pens

Whiteboard pens for individual use - Staedtler are the ones I have used and are pretty good

For general use

Handheld whiteboard

Rulers - plastic

1m measuring sticks

Scissors - orange ones for adults and the red or yellow/green ones for students

Blu-Tac (plenty of it will get used and possibly taken by other classes so be careful)

Folders

Plastic Wallets

Card for backing work

Display borders

Labels for folders

Files for each student

Paper Stapler and plenty of staples

Wall stapler for displays and plenty of staples

Cellotape

Drawing pins

Butterfly clips

Pencil sharpeners (metal not plastic are better)

A4 paper

Scrap paper

English Kit

Dictionaries - varied for age and level

Thesaurus

English terms and skills (spelling rhymes, what a simile,metaphor or personification is)

Laminated help cards for Punctuation and Grammar

Laminated list of prefixes and suffixes

Suitable reading books for the year group both fiction and non-fiction

Maths Equipment

Essential

Protractors

Tracing paper

Mirrors

Compasses

Number lines

Number grids

Dice

Coins

Place value cards

Graph Paper

Calculators

Desirable for classroom but should be in school

2D and 3D shapes

Graph Paper

Calculators

Trundle Wheel

Tape measures

Playing cards

Fraction cards

Dominoes

Clocks

Is anyone reading this a Maths Specialist because I could also do with some Math's websites or resources to use in class. 

From Year 6 to Reception

Reception Duty

I was asked to assist in Reception and this was great because being all the way up in Year 6, I am unaware of the daily routines further down the school. 

I have lots of cousins this age and friends who have children this age and it struck me that one day I will be having my own children and this will become an everyday occurrence to me so I had better make the most of it.

PE was very interesting; the children got changed into their PE Kit (with a lot of assistance) and back again, in more time than they actually did any PE. I am sure that the main classroom teacher has a lot more success than I did. During the second half of the day I spent most of it outside,helping the children learn some numbers on a dice, balance whilst walking on a route of tyres and encouraged them all to tidy up at the end. 

Would I do it again? I would like to see how the year group have developed in a year and it was a good chance to see how 'play' and learning works hand in hand.

I have observed some excellent behaviour management skills and where LO’s and SC’s matched the pupils well, as did the increase in difficulty throughout the unit. Rather than just working with the G&T or Low Attaining students, classroom teachers manage to effectively get around all of the groups throughout the course of the week and made all of them value the work they did.

Lead School Meeting

On Tuesday I was able to speak to my link teacher from the lead school about my 2^nd school placement and we discussed that I would need to spend 7 weeks there due to it being my 60% teaching school. 

Focus children for Maths and Reading

Tuesday I also selected my Math’s and Reading ‘focus’ pupils to boost their skill’s I chose them both from my tutor group because I get to see them quite often and believe they will both benefit from my teaching not just the skills but also as a chance to take a break out of the class/group routine. I am making some initial assessments but will make more formative ones next week and then use that plus last year’s assessments to use as a starting point. My aim is to increase confidence in their work, boost self-esteem and mainly attainment.

Maths Lesson Observation of me

Wednesday I had my second class observation to date and in this one I took the whole of a Math’s lesson. It was well planned and I used a starter that I’d only just been shown in one of the centralised training at University. The children responded well and have since asked when I am teaching again.I was given plenty of feedback which I will use to best ability.

During the day I met both of my focus pupils to see how they were doing. My reader had his mum read with him and she signed the reading record, and my mathematician had improved on her multiples. This was also something we covered in my lesson so I was doubly pleased.

Future planning

I have added some new tasks from my PLP. 

On Thursday I started to plan my guided reading session with advice from both my class tutor and Deputy Head. It's based on a picture book and will be a good tool to use.

University

Finally, on Friday with University, it was a chance to see how the Teaching Standards are used and how I can monitor my ability in each of them I have to remember that as a trainee I may be working towards Excellent in all Standards but as soon as I hopefully become an NQT, the expectation is greater and I will need to show I am progressing further into the career of a teacher.

Next was how to work with TA’s and support the great work that they do. The group discussion was really useful and I have many notes on that. Afterwards was a chance to see how Play, Active Learning, and the Outdoor Environment all work hand in hand to give the children a greater experience in their education.

Summary of the week
This week I learnt that being a teacher is not just about the teaching. It is about nurturing and getting the best out of the children. Now that I have two focus pupils to see each day, I can track progress and also have a good idea of whether or not my teaching has been successful or not.
After surviving my first full lesson and in a Core subject, I feel more confident to move on and teach English, which is something I am dreading. Next week I will be looking at how the Year 3 class teacher operates and also how the Lower School children are doing.

A week at University and being a model student again !!

Being a model student! I am not sure if that implies my work ethic or that I am studying the art of making models. Hopefully the first one.

Being an ex-Reading citizen, (I lived there from age of 6-11 and also went to two of the local primary schools) and now studying at the University, it felt as though the great circle of life had ascended down on me - cue Disney's 'The Lion King'.

I had to think back to 2005 at Coventry University when I last did any real student work, although in a lot of my jobs there seemed to have been an element of studying that took place. My 2:2 was not purely coincidental, I did indeed not enjoy a lot of my time at Uni, I am sad to say. Growing up, I was destined to end up at a University of some sort. My parents didn't mind what I did as long as I had something to fall back on should my dreams of becoming a TV/film/stage star didn't materialise. I am fortunate to say that since leaving 'The Midland's', I amassed a huge wealth of experience not only in the performing industry but many other working sectors, and all of these have helped shape the person I am today.

So why didn't I enjoy my time at Uni, you might ask? Well I thought it would be just as easy as my previous BTEC Performing Arts course at college and that I would be a social butterfly and make 'friends' quicker than I could sing the theme tune. I was an open book and should have kept myself to myself, or at least slowly allowed my fellow students to get to know me rather than be 'hey look at me'. This wasn't the only reason but it certainly didn't help; friendship groups were made quickly, this impacted on who people chose to work with, collaborative work was harder due to less choice of colleagues, tutors were not always supportive (apart from Micheal Fry), many drank way too much and smoked a lot as well. 
I also had a part-time job working at many places including: the Golden Arches ,a nightclub, B&Q, and a pub, to help support my student loan. Yes my fees were not high compared to what they are today but accommodation didn't leave a lot in the bank balance. These two jobs plus taking on the coaching role at a junior Sunday League football team, to give something back to the local community, all hindered my relationship with my fellow students.

Of course I can't just blame it all on that, I should have taken control of my studies and said to myself 'Yes you need to earn and enjoy football, but you came here to learn and leave with a degree'. This is exactly what I am now having to say to myself. I don't have any extra jobs apart from the teaching one, but I am an avid runner and I need to balance the schedule so that it doesn't impact on my work life. Saying that if I don't keep some part of my active social life 'alive', I won't be doing my life any favours. So I need to strike the right balance.


Right, where was I? Oh yes, I was meant to be focusing on the future and not the past. Last week I enrolled at the University of Reading, at their Whiteknights Campus, met all of the other trainee teachers, and spent the 5 days looking at what being a teacher is all about.

In a recent blog I mentioned some of the things we covered and I shall now go into a little bit more detail and mention what I got out of it.

Monday
Mentorship - this was a chance for my mentor to hear about the basics of School Direct training, reflective practice, responsibilities and expectations. A lot of interesting information arose from this session and I will need to apply this into my weekly mentor meetings.

Registration: - sounds obvious but this also includes a meeting with the Union rep's. I am now officially a student again. Still need my NUS card though to get a freebie at McD's.

Tuesday 

Behaviour Management- does exactly what it says on the tin, except more, and I wish I had seen this session before entering a school environment because the guest lecturer was brill. There is another session on this later on so will be good to see how I cope in my classroom up until then.

The role of the teacher- management and organisation. What we think being a teacher is all about and what the children might come to expect of us. I had a great analogy about teachers being gardeners because; the children are like seeds we sow and not only do we watch them grow but we nurture and feed them knowledge and even prop them up when they grow up too fast or start to droop.

Wednesday

Tutorial: A chance to see what was expected from a reflective journal. This blog is not going to contain some of the more sensitive issues. Also on the agenda was: how to keep track of files and what to store in each one, weekly mentor meetings, being observed and half termly reviews. I am usually an organised person but this is going to require some forward planning.

Learning Hub: This is an impressive place that any school would be proud of to call their library. I was amazed at the resources and glad that it's close where I live and teach.

The structure of a lesson: How to consider planning and evaluating. This included a lovely YouTube clip of a Yr 3 Geography class out on a field trip in the woods. Being in a Yr 6 class, I will adapt some of the ways in which the teacher interacted with the class. She clearly knows each of her pupils well and had planned her lesson meticulously.

Thursday

How children learn: It was about exploring the ways in which we as trainee teachers define learning. Behaviourism, Constructivism, Social Constructivism, the Zone of Proximal Development,  and the Bruner Scaffolding Theory, were all mentioned and discussed. I still need to read up on these theories but at least I can think about why children learn and what makes them want to learn.

English activities: This was led by Liz Howe and we were asked to work in small groups to create 3 sentences to open a story. We had to agree on what our 3 sentences would be.
The stimulus we had to use was a hiding place among the University grounds. My group found an location that was covered in ivy, contained wheelie bin and a plastic spatula. We based our story on some children who were playing and came across a newspaper article.

'Ben, Ben, come and have a look at this'

Ben ran over to Emily and Vicki who were in the enclosed space, entwined in ivy, containing a wheelie-bin, spatula and a piece of newspaper. It read 'ESCAPED'

Suddenly, they hear a creak and turn around to see the bin-lid slowly opening....

Liz asked the groups to reflect on this session and below are some comments.
Literacy Skills Used: Speaking and listening, imagination, description, punctuation, WOW words, editing work, using suspense and creative writing.

Aspects of Tasks Facilitated:Teamwork, negotiation, discussion and collaboration.

The effect Joint Writing have in the thinking process: Child initiated learning, expanding on ideas, power of persuasion, its also non level dependent and improves and develops vocab.

Scaffolding Differently (what we could have done differently): storyboard, props, pictures as well of or instead of writing, use of a camera, swap groups to come up with different sentence after the first 3

This was an excellent session in which I can adapt in a lot of different lesson plans.

Science activities: We were told its OK not to know everything about Science. A few of my fellow trainees are very despondent when it comes to teaching this lesson. Our main role is to guide the class and adapt to the children's needs.

• Science should be hands on, a lot of listening, lots of looking and a bit of talking.
• Always TEST before TEACH. There is nothing worse than doing an experiment in class that looks great on YouTube but fails in front of the children. 
• Teaching Science is like a magic show. It should provide an element of suprise.
• Science is the study of nature. Nature is full of suprises.

We were asked to think back to our childhood memories of science lessons. Mine were of the hydrogen/oxygen bottle experiment, putting a finger over a flame without it burning, and watching chemical reactions when placed in water. 

It was time to do an experiment and it included the 'ooo' factor. Placing water in a tray, cutting small pieces of paper to float on top, dip finger in washing up liquid and then into the water. This disrupts the 'water tension' and causes the boats to pull to the other side. 

After some more things to consider when  teaching science and how to plan effectively, the lecturer gave us the following to remember:

Science is a body of existing knowledge.

Science is something you do whether it be to explore, model. theorise or create an experiment.

Maths activities: This was similar to Science, in which that some of the group don't feel at ease with teaching it. We were given a group activity to complete all about averages and asked to describe how we came to the logical outcome.
'How many apples are eaten each week in the UK?'
'A traffic jam is a mile long- how many cars are stuck in the jam?'
Now this required an element of investigating and asking each other for opinions. We based answers on who ate apples on our table, how many a week and how many people live in the UK.
For the other question we looked at the average length of a car and imagined they were quite close to each other in traffic.

Yet again Math's is going to be one of those subjects that will get easier to teach with practice. The more you  teach, the more you learn.

Friday

Use of voice: This was a brilliant session in how to use or even not use your voice. Simple warm up exercises, knowing which level use in class depending on the situation, how to prevent sore throat and possible risk of injuring vocal chords, were all covered.
It was less of a written session and more of a practical one. Taking a couple of deep breaths before teaching is recommended as it stimulates the brain. I will be doing this no doubt more often.

Observing teachers and children: This session covered; Why is observation so important?, Why is observation so difficult?, Classroom arrangement and classroom Management, Classroom Talk and Teacher Talk.

Not all of the time will we be observing teachers, some of the time we need to focus on the class and how they respond to learning. 

The National Curriculum: Finally, a session on why we have the National Curriculum (NC) and why it has recently changed. We have it because in 1976 it was decided that there should be a centralised approach to teaching.

The NC does not apply to Academies, Free Schools or Independents. They do however have to follow a school curriculum.

In the session we spoke about what we remembered at school. With such a big age gap between the youngest and oldest of us, the results varied but mine included: Sports Day, PE, varied curriculum, incentives for doing well, school plays and being able to use a computer for the first time.

The children of today may have a different outlook and could say: Sports, assemblies, going to 11+ tutoring, Levels drummed into them. 

Our role is to improve maths and literacy but also respond to the needs of those we teach. 
More foundation subjects are being considered or revamped, adults need the courage to teach unknown subjects and not to be afraid to ask for help from peers. 

Of course that's just a small slither of what our job is but you get the gist. After a full mind-boggling week at University I have come away feeling challenged but not lost. I have fellow trainee students to call on for help and there is a social network page to use as well. 

Being a 'mature' student, I hope I will learn from past mistakes and inject a new lease of life into my learning. After all it's not just about me now, it's about the lives of the next generation

.

Random Acts of Kindness

Random acts of kindness: 

I went into a shop to get a key cut and the the guy behind the counter saw a keyring linking me to school. He said 'oh my daughter is starting a teaching position this month' to which I replied 'I wish her best of luck'. Started to hand over my card to pay and he said 'have it for free, teachers do a lot for this country'. 

Now I'm not saying that if I mention that I'm in teaching, to everyone, it will get free stuff, but it does show that people out there do appreciate what teachers do.

Back at University but am aiming to do better than last time.

As the title suggests, I am back at University (Reading) and my aim is to finish the year with a Good if not Outstanding. 

My last experience in this environment came in 2002-5 when I studied Theatre and Professional Practice at Coventry University. Needless to say, I left with a Desmond (2:2) and thought to myself what could I have done better. I didn't let it deter me, managed to forge a career in drama and have 9 years work-experience to look back on. 

My aim is to pursue this wonderful goal of becoming a Qualified Teacher and ensure that no matter what happens, no matter the time, effort, and months of hard-work, I will reach July 3rd and receive my QTS. This doesn't mean it's going to be a piece of cake or that I am a much more mature person given my 30 years, but I truly feel as if this is my second calling and I have been given a chance to not only enrich my life but many of the next generation of learners.

READING UNIVERSITY

So back to the purpose of this post. For this week (and a lot of Friday's over the next few months), I am based at the London Road Campus and enduring - sorry enjoying - lectures about the life of a teacher, behaviour management and so on and so forth.

Under the gentle but firm guidance of the Course Director and Assistant Director, who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Primary Schools Direct Course, I am busy listening, taking notes and being an active member of the group.

On Friday I will recapitulate (a new word I learnt recently) my research and give a brief breakdown of what I have learnt and how I will implement my findings whilst being at school. 

Topics are as follows:

Monday 

Mentorship - this was a chance for my mentor to hear about the basics of School Direct training, reflective practice, responsibilities and expectations.

Registration: - sounds obvious but this also includes a meeting with the Union rep's.

Tuesday 

Behaviour Management- does exactly what it says on the tin, except more, and I wish I had seen this session before entering a school environment because the guest lecturer was brill.

The role of the teacher- management and organisation. What we think being a teacher is all about and what the children might come to expect of us.

Wednesday

Tutorial: A chance to see what was expected from a reflective journal.  Also on the agenda was: how to keep track of files and what to store in each one, weekly mentor meetings, being observed and half termly reviews.

Learning Hub: This is an impressive place that any school would be proud of to call their library. I was amazed at the resources and glad that it's close where I live and teach.

The structure of a lesson: How to consider planning and evaluating. This included a lovely YouTube clip of a Yr 3 Geography class out on a field trip in the woods.

Thursday

How children learn: Not Scooby Doo what this will entail...

English activities: Could be anything.

Mathematics activities: Could be anything.

Science activities: Yet again, could be anything.

Friday

Use of voice: From what I can see, its going to include tone, clarity and volume.

Observing teachers and children: Hopefully notes on how to be effective and efficient.

The National Curriculum: How it informs practice.

So that ends today's blog post and it shall be nice to see what happens later on in the week.

Round up of week one

Firstly, I would like to start with quickly going through what happened on Friday.

Friday afternoon is the scheduled PPA time for my phase (Year's 5/6) and although on Friday's I'm normally at Reading University for Centralised Training, I was able to the an active role in the following weeks planning.

In the morning, all was similar to the previous 4 days. The class teachergave the class a 15-letter Countdown style game. In which they had to make up as any words as possible from the letters and also put them into a sentence. 

             ICMPLESSRAIDT

Impossible

Leaders

Tied

Diet

Scrap

Paris

Said

Palm

The World's Leaders were tied up in Paris after it was said they had a scrap after disagreeing over an impossible diet. 

MATHS

The lesson started with a mental maths test in which I read out 5,10 and 15 second questions - with them getting more difficult with the longer time. 

This is to help replicate part of the SAT's papers and allow the children a chance to learn new techniques in jotting down notes and also adapting to how they work out the answers. 

Building on from yesterday, the teacher decided to focus on Decimal Ordering and Comparing. The questions were differentiated 3 ways depending on ability. 

LITERACY

The class teacher introduced the class into the way she marks work.

G-check the sense of the grammar

P- check punctuation

S- check spelling

U- uplevelling is possible

They then looked at an Assessment Focus target sheet and each student had to highlight their literacy skills:

GREEN- anything the individual can do comfortably and all the time

PINK- anything they are not showing enough of, or feel comfortable doing 

These looked at Levels 4-6 although two of the students (who are currently at a level 3) were given a slightly different sheet.  

Focus points included:

Sentence Structure and Punctuation

Text Structure and Organisation

Composition and Effect

Behaviour Management 

I played some music for the first time and says that should I hear too much chatter, it would be switched off. Needless to say the class actually worked a lot quieter than they have done all week. 

Afterwards, the teacher read through some of the Grand Writing work and selected a line from someone's report of their table partners summer holiday.

X voyaged to the funfair and went on an ecstatic ride.

She explained to the class that whilst using a thesaurus is great, the use of the word in context, is more important. 

Asking the class what 'voyaged' would normally link to, one answered - 'a ship at sea'. Voyaged was changed to travelled.

Ecstatic was also investigated and decided by the class to sound good but not the best word to chose. A student said that  'Ecstatic is something you would say when you are really pleased about something happening/about to take place'.

Thrilling was the amended word because it described how exciting the ride was and even the phrase 'white-knuckle' was added to it.

PPA 

After lunch a lot was discussed about Guided Reading groups, Literacy planning and a few other items. However all I can say now is wait and see. 

To recapitulate (meaning to summarise and state the main points) I would like to say that the week has been a success. 

My class seem to respond well to question and answering. All of them are willing to talk (some more than others) and no-one is afraid to ask for help.

The new team I am working with is huge and will take a lot of getting used to. Being a 2/3 form entry with a lot of classes having shared teaching, this equates to a lot of names and personalities. 

Training as a teacher is something totally new to me and it will require a lot of patience, time and energy. Old clichés, but I will honour them. Not only is my mentor an important cog in my learning process but the entire school network plus my fiancee, family and fellow Schools Direct trainees. 

Observing is going to be much easier after Centralised Training. I will notice more things in lessons and develop my own teaching style to include best practice.

Roll on next week and see how it all pans out at Reading University. 

Sept 12th: Day 4 of teaching

I am almost at the end of the week and what a week it has been. Learning not only the students names but those of my fellow colleagues, how to use the photocopier, which area of the playground to supervise whilst on duty, handling a classroom full of pubescent students, and realising that the end of the school day does not mean the end of the working day.

RISE AND SHINE

The class teacher began  with a Rise and Shine question. Write down one sentence to explain where you would like to be in ten years time. 
Most included becoming footballers or actors, although a few decided they would be scientists or doctors. Destinations were also included by some, with the USA being a prime target.

I did something similar in my Primary School and will dig it out from my archives and add it as a picture to this blog over the weekend.  

MATHS

The was the LO: I can read, write and order decimal numbers.
SC: Explain what a decimal means

SC: Look at a number and say what the tenth, hundredth or thousandth digit is

SC:Order decimal numbers up to the thousandths in order of size

Starter
Firstly, the teacher read out a number and asked the class to round to the nearest 10,100 or 1000. 
Common mistakes : 
157 was rounded down to 150, not up to 160 - misunderstanding of process
415 was rounded down to 410, not up to 420 - misunderstanding of process 
665 to nearest 100 was rounded to nearest 10 by a few - misinterpretation of value

The following were to be rounded to the nearest 10,100 and 1000. 
Common mistakes for these were:
1171 became 1180, 1100 and 2000 - misunderstanding of process
2214 became 2220, 2200 and 3000 - misunderstanding of process for two of answers

I noticed more mistakes as the challenge got harder and harder, with students often rounding the wrong digit.

Main
The class what Dienes Blocks can be used for when working out decimal places. They could see it can be used to represented in different ways. With a whole number to be the 100 square, a tenth of a number to be the 10 squared shape, and finally a hundredth was show by a single square. This was a unique way to portray how decimals worked.

I floated across a few tables during this part of the lesson, although concentrated on a lower ability group. Similar problems cropped up when the students could not recognise decimals with less decimal places shown. For example:  1.18 to be smaller than 1.2. This is because all they see is .18 and .2, and think that 2 is smaller than 18. Which if not appearing as a decimal it would be. 

To help, I put the list of numbers on a whiteboard and made sure each had the same amount of numbers after the decimal point. 

1.2 and 1.3 became 1.20 and 1.30. This then changed their perspectives completely because in whole numbers 20 is smaller than 30, so 1.20 must be smaller than 1.30

My aim was to ensure the students looked at the whole number first, decide which was the smallest and put that first. Should two or more whole numbers be the same, they then had to look at the first decimal place (tenth). The smallest of which is next in order. However should these then be the same, the students had to move to the second decimal place (hundredth). They then repeated this until all were ranked smallest to largest.

For the more able students, the numbers went all the way to 3 decimal places 

COLLECTIVE WORSHIP
On a Wednesday morning, the whole of Upper School have Collective Worship instead of Assembly. This is mainly due to the increase in student numbers and also a chance to reflect as a class, on the value of the week, which was FRIENDSHIP.
My class were showed a video of a man and his dog performing tricks with each other in a local skate park. They were asked what was required for this relationship to work. 
Answers included: They are best friends and know each other well, so can trust one another; they are both dedicated to hard work and ensuring practice makes perfect ; their is a commitment to their friendship.

LITERACY - An observed lesson
LO: To identify grammatical features in a text.
SC: To identify nouns, verbs, adjectives and prepositions in a sentence
SC: To identify a range of sentence types
SC: To identify writing strategies

Teacher talk - explanations, questioning, dialogue
The teacher explained that she wanted the class to highlight the grammatical features in a text by using felt tips to underline the words. She asked what a key was and why it would be needed: to describe what colour highlighted which feature. The text chosen was from Tom's Midnight Garden, which is the classroom reading book. 

Tools used in class
Miss G held up one of the writing strategy descriptions, that are placed underneath the whiteboard, and explained to one of the students what imagery was. 

How the teacher gains the attention of the learners
After 10 minutes, the teacher asked the class to clap once if they can hear her, then clap twice if they can hear her, and finally clap three times. Those not talking too loudly, and paying attention, all began to clap early. The rest of the class who were too noisy and not paying attention, didn't begin to clap until the 2nd or 3rd time. 

Teacher talk - explanations, questioning, dialogue
At the end of the task, the teacher went through one of the sentences in the text, which had been pre-typed onto the computer. Using a different colour for each grammatical feature, she underlined certain words and asked the class to point out what each colour represented. 
Adverbials were mistaken for adjectives by quite a few because they mistook the description of something, for the way something happened or moved. 

How the learners respond
The class responded well and I was able to see progress made from the start to the end of the lesson. The Gifted & Talented  students were also able to recognise personification, simile and metaphors.

SUMMARY
The class discussed the effects, writing style, and types of language used, in Tom's Midnight Garden, and have a better understanding of how this might impact on their own speaking and writing.

SPANISH - Both classes across the afternoon
LO: To understand the value of learning a language
LO: To learn the Spanish Alphabet
SC: Meet and greet and provide personal information (weeks 1 and 2)
SC: Understand, ask and answer basic questions and follow instructions in Spanish
SC: Use and apply new vocabulary in a range of contexts.

How the lesson starts and ends

The teacher spoke purely in Spanish to greet the class, with some responding back accordingly. She asked what a sentence on the interactive whiteboard in Spanish 'Bienvenido a tu primera lección de español en el año 6' translated as.

Some knew that Bienvenido meant welcome, but the rest of it required translating  'Welcome to your first Spanish lesson in Year 6' 

Behaviour managament strategies
Ground rules were established for the lesson and these included - silencio/silence or a finger to ask for the class to stop talking, and repita/please repeat or a hand to ear meaning I'm listening to you.
I think its good to have some different class rules for Spanish because listening is a big part of learning a new language. 

Teacher talk - explanations, questioning, dialogue
The class were asked what they already knew and it was explained that they will need to re-cap certain things. 

Resources used
Mirrors to look at when forming words helped the students to see what their mouth does to create certain sounds.
A YouTube clip showed someone speaking 11 different languages and the sub-titles translated what he was saying. It included the reasons behind learning such an impressive amount of languages including: moving to another country, having friends who converse in another language, travelling the world. needing it for a job.

SUMMARY
One thing I did notice, was that the teacher recognised that pretty much all of the class could speak more than one language. This will be beneficial in learning another language because they already have the required skills to do so.
The use of mirrors and Youtube will prove invaluable to the class learning.