Graduation Day and what happened in June

No I haven't been under a rock since May 24th (the date of my last blog post). So much has been happening since half term and getting through my final assessment was the top priority as most of you if not all will agree.

My 80% teaching had been progressing nicely up until the break and I used that momentum to keep going until the assessment. My living room was like a bomb had hit it, with folders, files and paper all strewn across the floor. My life was sleep, wake up, eat, go to school, teach, home, paperwork, eat (possibly watch Netflix) and sleep. This was pretty much for 8 days straight and only left the house to go to Frankie and Benny's and the cinema. This had led me to the conclusion of not leaving it all to the last minute. Not that I did exactly that but there was still a lot to organise, to ensure everything was covered in my standards and that the final claim was written to highlight my best teaching aspects.

Looking back on the past 5 weeks, a lot was achieved. The teaching was constant, I purchased a stamp to aid with marking, was observed by both the Head and Deputy and someone who interviewed me all those months ago. Things are looking positive heading into my NQT year and I am looking forward to being an NQT who already knows the school layout, ethos, most of the children, who to go to for specific advice and just about anything that comes with working at the same place for a 2nd year.

Week Commencing June 1st
I taught my Year 5 class how to hold a debate. The subject in question was 'Should children be able to choose their own lunch menu?'

I put the children into pairs and then grouped them either FOR or AGAINST this argument and in doing so this enabled me to place stronger children with those who are not so confident in their writing or putting an argument together. What I did notice was those who are confident at writing may not always be the most talkative so it gave their partner a chance to open up a conversation and collaborate together. 

On the second day I gave the class time to write some counter arguments, as this would give both sides of the argument a chance to strike up a really interesting debate. 

Consequently, when it did come down to the class being opposite each other with myself as chair in the middle, the children took to debating quite quickly and were able to use evidence from the UN Children's Right's Charter to show both why it should and shouldn’t be voted for. This to me showed that the children were engaged in the learning of how to debate, had taken on board how to counter argue, and that you can’t just make a point, you have to have proof to back it up.

I was also busy bringing the children up one at a time or in groups to discuss their work and the need for them to respond to marking as well as reflecting on the progress made. I believe it is essential children not only acknowledge mistakes made and where they need to improve but they need to act on it sooner rather than later.

Midweek, our Year 5 and 6 cricket team attended a tournament alongside 16 other teams from the area and finished a respectable 2^nd in their group. Losing only their 1^st match and winning the rest. Once was by 1 run and that was because the children had realised that the fielding and batting need to work well together to ensure runs are made but at the same time the opposition need to be bowled or caught out as many times as possible.

I am proud of the team's spirit and had the winners of our group lost any of their remaining matches it would have gone down to wickets taken and then runs scored. More practice is needed to help both the main coach and myself select players who will work well together and understand the rules better. The beauty of the tournament was that everyone played at least 4 matches and the team rallied round to ensure all felt great during and afterwards.

Week Commencing June 8th

On Monday the link from my lead school and main placement came into see how I was doing and I am glad she did because it meant I received feedback that wasn’t bias towards me becoming a teacher at St Mary’s next year. She said I had planned the lesson well, the starter was appropriate and ensured prior learning was assessed, getting the children to model the Roman numerals for the class to visualise was a good idea because it helped them to remember and my behaviour management was also good.

 

On Tuesday was Sports Day and it was a fun event. My class had a couple of children away so one of the teams had to do everything twice and still won more points.  In the teachers race I lost out again to someone with longer legs. I had been running a lot better recently and am planning for the Abingdon Marathon in October but Sam (a Year 5 teacher and only other male teacher) beat me by merely a second. 

Introducing a new Science topic was fun because I used a presentation created by another teacher but changed their pictures to show ones of me growing up. This gave the children a chance to work out how old I was at each stage and why they thought it. Using a carousel task in which the children had to write what they thought certain stages of human life meant (and other key vocab), was a good way to assess how much they know already.

Week Commencing June 15th

With it being assessment week it gave me a chance to bring my files to school, select and print children work to add to them plus include any other documents.

Maths took place on Monday and Tuesday and used the NFER test papers and it gave both the teacher I share the class with and I to choose which areas of learning need to be worked on and form the basis of our teaching until the end of the term. Ratio, prime/square/cube numbers, measurements, and the use of estimation, have all been highlighted and I will be using square and cube numbers as part of my final assessment next week.

In my mentor meeting I spoke to about my placing in Year 2 next year and we discussed the things I would like to do in preparation for it. I have not had much experience in this age group but am looking forward to a new challenge and one in which I will get to know a different key stage, be even more familiar with assessing children both formative and summative, work alongside a different set of teachers, and hopefully seem more lucrative and experienced for future employees. Not many men teach in Key Stage 1 and with moderation being a bit part of this crucial year group, I will become well adept at keeping records of everything to give evidence at the end of next year.

Week Commencing June 22nd

It finally arrived and was over in a flash. My files were carefully poured over, notes made, questions asked and discussions made. The final assessment was tiring and hopefully the last time anything like that takes place again. Thankfully I had organised my files in such a way with tabs referencing each standard and included a contents page at the front. This made it easier for the assessor to use and for me to talk about when required.

I was given some good advice about next steps and this helped to form the basis of my NQT needs for next year. Being in a different key stage means I do have to adapt quickly but the school are very supportive and had created a 3 week plan starting on the 29th for me to start with observing Year 2 and seeing the end result of that year group, then for last two weeks will be in Year 1 classes to see where the cohort I am to teach are currently at. My class includes some children I taught in Phonics back in autumn and I always get a nice smile or comment from them. 

Week Commencing June 29th

Year 2 are going to be 3 form entry for the first time and I will be one of 2 NQTs. The other teacher is a highly experienced and skilled practitioner and I magpied as much as I could in the 4 days I was in her class. 

To begin with I was observing her teach and then began to work with small groups and get to known the children and their abilities. In KS1 Topic covers quite a lot of subjects and whilst this will be interesting to see how it all fits in, I am a big believer in cross curricular teaching and this is something that many of my observers have noted I like to do in my lessons. Seaside is the Summer topic and this year they went to Littlehampton where my grandparents live, so hopefully it will be the same next year as I have fond memories there.

The displays are slightly different than that of KS2 and I know that next year the classroom I will be getting is currently the classroom of the children I will take on. This means in my opinion a big change will be needed to both show the children that I am their new teacher and also to show the children that they have grown one year older and therefore a change is also required. Resources will need to be split 3-ways instead of 2 and I am steadily making lists and notes about what I want and where I can source it from.

Finally, today I went to University to receive my QTS certificate, and this was a chance to say hi and bye to people I have seen on many occasions during my time as a trainee teacher. Some I will no doubt see more than others and some probably only during reunions but I have made some firm friendships and despite people saying that teaching is a lonely profession, I believe that friendship doesn't just extend to the staff room but across the whole teaching community.

And there we have it. The final blog post, or is it?....

Thank you for taking the time to read this and any others you may have glanced over. It has been a chance to for me to express myself and allow others to follow me on my new journey. 

                                                   

A warm welcome back

This week marked the first time back at St Mary’s and for the next few months I will be working in Year 5 alongside a shared classroom. My aim is to improve on the targets set by my Second Placement mentor and build up to a Good if not Outstanding teacher by the end of July.

The first 4 days I spent getting to know the class and was fortunate enough to have taught many of the students during Maths from September to January, and coached both boys and girls in the school football teams. I've been given the progress ladders and mid-term planning overviews to look into and I made it a top priority.

In English, biographies is the unit choice and the students have been asked to research various well-known people, in order to create their own biography of them. It was very interesting to see obvious choices such as football players and TV or Music celebrities but what did strike me was the quality of note taking and after hearing 'ooo I didn't know that about this person' was great because it showed the students there is more to a person than meets the eye.

I am also excited for English because from the April 27th it will use the General Election as the stimulus and I am planning to teach the class how to write a persuasive speech based on the 7 political parties manifestos. By using the BBC Newsround site, it will enable the children to access politics on a low level but give them a chance to have a 'theoretical' say in how they want the country ran. This unit will include videos featuring children interviewing the party candidates, asking why a TV debate matters, what a General Election actually is, and the power of using persuasive language. 

In Science the teacher asked the students what they knew about the life-cycle of animals and reproduction cycle. This will inform us when planning future lessons to ensure the national curriculum is adhered to but taught according to the what the children already know. I already have some ideas about how to facilitate this and am thinking to split the class into research groups and feedback to their peers with written presentations.  It will be used as a Speaking and Listening assessment.

The Music unit is exciting because it's based around Holst's 'The Planets'. Due to Earth not being used as one of the planets (because at the time of composing, everyone thought the planets revolved around the Earth), their task will be to compose their own idea of what Earth sounds like. I am envisaging solo pieces at first then leading to a group ensemble for their peers to evaluate. This will help with marking and using Success Criteria to show progress.

 Next week will be spent team teaching and getting prepared for the big step up to 80% teaching. I am nervous especially as it's getting closer to the final assessment plus I now have a position at the school as a full-time teacher next year so don't want to make too many mistakes. A good piece of advice I was given is - use this time to make mistakes, as there won't be a lot of room for them once in charge of class by myself.

Joining a new school on my birthday – Yes I am 31 years young!

This week was a first for me because I had never started a new job location on my birthday and also kept it quiet to pretty much everyone. My second school is a small one form entry school with yet again one male teacher although there is a male TA and he is an avid PE teacher.

My mentor is said male teacher and he will be mentoring me under the guidance of the headteacher whose daughter is also on the Schools Direct course and used to be a GTP assessor so knows a thing or ten about student teachers. I had 32 children’s names to learn, which I managed by about Thursday. Using surnames is also a good thing because there are 3 children with the same name and it also helps when they have done something wrong or I want their attention quickly. I remember being called Schiffer or Schiffer-Hart when at school and sometimes it was endearing because it showed teachers were bothered to know both my names. 2 parents whose children are in my running club are also at the school but not in the class although one has a nephew in my class and was shocked when I told him how I knew his aunt.

As part of my Schools Direct training I am required to be in charge of planning for the Core Subjects and have already gone through the Writing, Reading and Math’s levels to see the pupils progress. Math’s for this Year 4 class is quite high and one of the pupils is working towards Year 5 levels already. I am sure that with my recent teaching in the year above, I will be able to push him and ensure he doesn’t stagnate.

Each day there is a Daily Challenge on the board (similar to rise and shine) and the children also go out for reading with either the class teacher, TA or myself and this allows each child to read to an adult at least once a week. A times table board shows who is currently working towards their targets and a big deal is made when someone moves up to harder multiplications.

Over the week I slowly got to know the children, implemented my own style of teaching and followed the class teacher’s advice as to what goes where, who to keep an eye on, which children need an extra push, the class reward system, and behaviour strategies. I brought in some prizes for the Pirate Points Board and at the end of the week even taught Art in which the children coloured in a Scuba Diver which will attached with a photo of themselves and moved up the board to win some prizes.

There is a spelling test once a week linked to Read Write Inc, Mathletics is a new Math’s programme the class use to improve their subject knowledge, a mental math’s test is also weekly and both are things I will need to factor into my planning once I become their main teacher after half term. I may be at a new school but many of the things are the same and those that are different I can perhaps adapt and use when back at my main placement school or next year. I do have a few teaching ideas for this class and will discuss them accordingly. 

Being an avid footballer, I am also able to join in at break and lunch times with my mentor and get involved with football games in the schools sports cage. I think I need to improve my skills though as some of these children are whiz at it.

The Lead Up to Christmas

This blog post is slightly different to the norm. Yes it does contain anecdotes from my last week at school but please read until the end to see my 'Lead Up To Christmas' poem, which formed part of my end of year assessment for the University of Reading.


This was the first week in a while I happened to spend each day at school and this was very much needed. There were a lot of things to bring and take home from school each day including; presents for some of my colleagues (Mentor and Year 6 teachers), cards for pretty much everyone else because without their advice, help during my time at school, showing me where various materials were, and inviting me into observe their lessons, I would not have been able to achieve as much in my first term. As well this I brought some sweets in for both Year 6 classes and was for two reasons:


1. In my class I introduced table points last week as a reward for tidiness, outstanding behaviour and most of all teamwork.
2. In the other Year 6 class I gave a lesson on making Christmas Decorations and said that I would choose 6 winners of the best design.


The decorations were on flat paper that the children had to colour in, add tissue paper to and then slot together to make into 3D. The snowmen and trees looked brilliant and I was proud of each of them giving their own spin on the artwork.


Twice I visited the local church to assist with the Nativity play in which the Year 2's silently acted out the scenes and the Year 6's read out passages from the Bible which linked into each scene. I was asked to lead 3 different processions (for the main characters) around the church in time to each relevant song - Little Donkey for example when Mary and Joseph were heading to Bethlehem. On Friday the entire school descended down to the church and it was literally packed to the rafters with parents, teaching staff and children. Coming from an acting background I know how important being on stage is and all of the children acted beautifully and looked amazing onstage in their final montage. The Year 6's read each passage carefully and at the end of the service also said Merry Christmas in a range of languages to show how diverse we are as a school and church community. My wreath was given to the presiding priest and in the middle I had added a piece of writing with the schools logo, motto, a thank you message, and end line from our school prayer.


Most of the week was full of making things whilst listening to festive songs or watching a film being played on the IWB, this I feel is a great time to be creative and allowed the children to express themselves without any big focus on grades or attainment.


For one of my University tasks, I was asked to send in a 200 word piece of writing to test my Grammar Subject Knowledge. I decided to put forward a poem because in this I am able to show some of my own creative skills whilst ensuring it is full of grammatical phrases and content.


Here it is:


It’s the lead up to Christmas and where to begin? 
I could start with a song but what could I sing?
The Coca Cola advert is out so it must be December:
no wait silly me I must be mistaken because it came out in November.

With so many Christmas parties to attend and lots of people to see,
I’m counting 5 portions of; turkey, parsnips, potatoes and brie.
Every year it’s the same and jumpers are to be worn,
mixed with a game of monopoly, relationships will be torn.


My home is full of candles and each one burns bright like the Nativity Star,
I’d rather be inside keeping warm than driving through the snow in my car.
With 24 spaces on my calendar I am counting down the days,
being an adult doesn’t stop me being a child in any which way.


Spare a thought for those who are far away from loved ones and on their own.
It doesn’t take long to visit those nearby, or even to pick up a phone.
In the lead up to Christmas remember those who are no longer with us –
and those who are around you spread the love and make a lot of fuss.


Now all that remains is to say a very Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year.


PS: In my next post I will concentrate on my recent visit to a SEND school, in which I worked with 7 autistic children and gained some fantastic experience as well as advice from the teaching staff.

One weekend to go before I start my teacher training.

I am chomping at the bit to get started but know that this term up until Christmas is the longest and I should take  and use wisely) in all the non-teaching days I can gather. My fiancee starts her new job at a local Secondary School as English Teacher with responsibility of whole school Literacy. 

I have been swotting up on my English, Maths and History topic as well as reading up on what's going to be happening at Reading University from Sept 15th onward. I go there for the whole week and then at least once a week until February Half Term. 'Letts - Make It Easy' books have been of great use to me and contain a lot of bite-size topics, that have questions o each page with a set of tests at the end. Speaking of Bite-Size, the BBC website has been brilliant and provided me with some helpful hints plus a lot of information that I used in one of my blog pages. 

Becoming a reflective professional

Today in University, the Schools Direct students were given a lecture on 3 of the ten principles that were conceptualised by the UK's Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP).

These have been extensively researched based and is intended as a guide and support for teachers making the professional judgements which they are uniquely positioned, and required, to make.

The BOLD description of each principle was taken directly from Andrew Pollard's Reflective Teaching in Schools. The added information was what I gained from the lecture and based on our group discussions.

Principle 2: Effective teaching and learning engages with valued forms knowledge.
Teaching and learning should engage with the big ideas, facts, processes, language and narratives of subjects so that learners understand what constitutes quality and standards in particular disciplines.

Firstly we discusses, who decides what goes into the NC, who decides what to teach and who decides at what age should it be taught. This principle is about making sense of the world we live in; whether we think geographically, scientifically mathematically, creatively, religiously or other possible ways.

We need to use our own personal knowledge and create lessons that a significant and give the students a strong experience.

Good primary teachers should be ale to know each subject well enough to be able to explain it without requiring a degree in all subjects.

This will then become part of you, and almost like breathing you will be able to teach each lesson without constantly planning and checking subject knowledge is secure.

When observing we need to look at what the teachers do with their subject knowledge and how do they focus in on the students learning.

Principle 6: Effective pedagogy promotes the active engagement of the learner. A chief goal of teaching and learning should be the promotion of learners' independence and autonomy. This involves acquiring a repertoire of learning strategies and practices, developing positive learning dispositions, and having the will and confidence to become agents in their own learning. 

In the group discussion we spoke about Piaget and his theory of a condition and assimilation. In other words, make the knowledge your own. How and what you do in the classrooms will help children to learn through their challenges and  master independence via scaffolding and discussion. 

Teachers should equip their students with life skills. A video from the website teach media,  showed how different roles can be shared amongst a group and enable each student to take ownership and feel part of a bigger picture.

These are the following Thinking Skills.

Manager-makes sure everyone works together.

Scribe- writes down the group ideas.

Encourager- praises people on the group and boosts positivity.

Reporter- reports the ideas back to the class.

These skills help students work in a group, promotes speaking and listening, gives more time to think, all can take part , and is important for personal/social development. 

Principle 8: effective pedagogy recognises the significance of informal learning. Informal learning, such as out if school or away from the workplace, should be recognised as at least as significant as formal learning and should therefore be valued and appropriately utilised in formal process. 

This focused on home/school knowledge. It made me think about next year with what I should find out about my class and their personal experiences.

Parents should ask their children to complete sums at home (shopping, time until bus arrives, fractions with pieces pig pizza).

Finding out what hobbies and activities they do as well, will help to shape an opinion of them plus give some indication as to why they could be tired, anxious, excited, sleepy etc. Also praise could be given for those who may have achieved something or want to talk about holidays etc.

My first observed lesson.

On my return to school after University I was brimming with confidence and full of ideas. My first lesson was about researching a famous person on the Internet such (Usain Bolt and Mo Farah among the favourites) and making notes to create a biography. 

Science Lesson Observation 

Focus: How does the teacher check for prior knowledge?

I observed for just the starter.

LO: To know which types of materials make shadows.

LO: Can translucent objects make shadows?

• First questions included what the class knew of light. When given an answer, teacher expanded on this and asked how/why do they know if it’s a true fact. This made if more interesting because not only was an answer required but also supporting evidence.
• How it is a fact and not opinion was the phrase she used.
• The use of real life context also aided the class to think of answers.
• Interactive whiteboard was used by teacher to put answers.

On reflection this was a useful observation because it allowed me to see the value of knowing what prior knowledge the class have and despite knowing what they should have covered previously, it's always wise to never assume.

I should have observed the entire lesson and seen if any other more prior knowledge came from the class. 

Mentor Meeting

During my mentor meeting on Wednesday, we discussed my Science observation and talked about my pending Spanish lesson plan and I was confused about the difference between a Learning Objective and Success Criteria. She went through what each one represented and hopefully it will stick in my head.

Spanish Lesson Observation of me 

I took the starter of this lesson

LO:  To introduce myself and provide basic information in Spanish

SC: I can recall and use basic vocab to describe; name age and nationality - ALL

SC: I can have confidence in my speaking and listening skills - ALL

SC: I can speak in more than one sentence at a time - MOST

SC: I am able to use previously learnt vocab - SOME

I started off by going through the alphabet as a starter and then introduced 'What is your name?' 'How old are you?' and 'Where do you live?’

I said the Spanish and asked the class what the English was. This enabled me to gauge the ability of the class and which ones stood out from the rest. The hardest one was ‘Cuentos anos tiennes?’ because it doesn't have a word similar to English. 

The class teacher took over for the main and this involved using the questions learnt, applying the knowledge by copying sentences from the interactive board, into their books and filling in missing words.

From this lesson I learnt quite a lot about what's needed of me in future teaching. My feedback (a lot of positives with added constructive criticism) had been given at time of typing but I wish to keep some of it to myself and only reflect on how I felt directly after my session. Luckily Miss G took the second Year 6 class as soon as this one had finished so I could also see similarities and comparisons. 

First lesson

• There were a couple of really strong students who could do all of the tasks I set. This class I do not teach a lot (they are the other Yr 6 tutor group) so it was helpful to notice who has was willing to answer questions and add extra vocab.
• I asked questions in Spanish to illicit a response. This was often harder than I thought because my own vocab and pronunciation is not strong enough yet.
• When asked to get into pairs, the class responded quickly and engaged in conversation. This then resulted in some excellent responses when selected to present to the whole class.
• I should have used the lolly-sticks because still not clear with all of the names in this class.

Second lesson

• It was opened similarly to mine, although the teacher is able to talk fluently when greeting the class and has of course better understanding of the entire lesson.
• She used the interactive board to show Spanish words with English meanings - something I could have used.
• Instead of working in just pairs, she asked the class to get into groups of 2's, 3's or 4's. 
• The children presenting afterwards, relied heavily on the interactive board. Would this have been the same in my lesson?

Second School Placement

There is nothing much to say except I arranged a meeting with the Head from a local school and was able to confirm that I have a placement in their Yr 4 class for my 60% teaching block.

It's a school close to where I live and I was recommended it by a couple of their pupil’s parents who I run with at my running club. Being a one-form entry school, there is a huge difference in number of students and also a lot easier to get from a-z across the whole school.

My Day at University

This was all about how to plan lessons. The subjects were: Maths, English and Science. All of the sessions were held by teaching professionals and each had their own unique way of delivering a lesson.

MATHS PLANNING

We were shown additional resources on Blackboard to use and this contained plenty that I will be no doubt using including; Sets of test questions, plenary or starters, mathematical challenges for G&T, mathematical vocab and also other useful websites.

A first starter was shown to use which involved the simple use of a piece of paper. 

• Fold it until it creates 16 sections and write a single digit number 0-9 on each space.
• You then ask the class questions and they have to re-fold it into place to create answers.
• Find a multiple of 5, find the smallest 2 digit number, link up with someone else in class to make a certain number.... the list is endless.
• The hope is to get a visual method of assessing the class without implying it.

Helpful hints

Observe ----> look listen and note what the class do.

Assessment ----> analyse and decide what's needed to be learnt.

Planning ------> how to build on what they know.

What has changed in the curriculum?

Probability and data is less prominent.

Students are expected to build firm foundations and NOT accelerate content learning. 

A second starter was shown and it also involved the simple us of paper.

Helpful hints

Create a learning hook/starter: Why should children care?

Vocab: see maths vocab website.

LO: What is the aim?

Support: Differentiation and resources used.

Particular Challenge: Check out the NRich Website.

Resources Needed: Don't leave them until last minute.

LITERACY PLANNING

Helpful Hints

Need to think about the END GOAL.

Need to give the message that all children are R/W's but are at different stages of learning.

Writing isn't just formal pieces.

Children should be learning about text that they have empathy with and are interested in.

Value the texts read by the lower attained reader but open the door to other texts. 

When using extracts - ensure they come from text that is known to the students.

Text Integrity

Choose appropriate ones that are have a good back story for planning.

Not just books but could use Top Trumps/Game Cards or even instructions for games, LEGO etc.

The Specifics

Find every way to show that you notice the children are R/W and give power to them by letting them know that they CAN read and write.

They should be able to integrate life context into their writing.

Behaviour Development 

Coherent thoughts

Better Vocab

Higher choice of reading material

Sense of achievement - they want more

Curiosity and the need to explore further

They contribute more to lessons and take responsibility for their work

Higher level of concentration because they want to do better

Planning

• We looked at a couple of poems and analysed the planning sheets that we were given. A lot was discussed about how the poem makes you think and not just what the poem is trying to say.
• When reading poems there is no right or wrong answer. Every opinion counts.
• Ask a TA to write words up on the board plus teacher add some that could be included.
• Always read it 3 times; teacher, together and then individually.
• Place in mixed ability groups so that whilst others are more able readers, the less able can then decode words from what they hear.
• Give children roles so that they can function as a group and work together.
• Share the group ideas with the class.
• Build on other group’s comments and then connect to literacy landscape by adding context.

SCIENCE

Helpful Hints

Always try experiments first before showing the class.

Make a list of essential equipment that should be within easy reach or know where it is.

Remember that some of the experiments, whilst seeming childish to adults, will shock and awe primary aged children and even secondary.

Planning

• We looked at Sound and how it should be taught at KS2 Level.
• Evolution is being introduced to Yr 6 in 2015-16.
• On B/B is a power point and has the National Curriculum in a file.
• Sound vibrates through things.
• Show a picture of a Slow Loris and compare the slow movement with lack of sound; making it less easy to track by predators.
• Use a tuning fork to hear/feel vibrations.
• See vibrations over different objects and also in water.
• Try different games such as grandmother’s footsteps; snatch the keys, sleeping lions.

Essentially the session was a huge lesson in itself all about sound and it modelled the way in which we could engage a class not only by power point presentations but by using different experiments dotted about the classroom.

Highlight of the week

I have my second placement organised and have also encountered my first official observation of me teaching.

Roll on next week and see what it produces.

Sept 11th: Day 3 of teaching

Another day of firsts at school today, with History and Art being introduced. (More on this later).

RISE AND SHINE

Today's question was 'You walk into the classroom and an astronaut is there sat on a chair. What do you ask him and why? You can only have 3 questions so chose wisely'.

Questions included:

Where is the furthest place you have travelled and do you enjoy space travel?

Why did you decide to become an astronaut?

If you had the choice to travel anywhere in the universe, where would you go and why?

What is it like to walk in space?

This was a great opportunity to see continuation from the report writing, LO: I can write an engaging report. Some of the students have really taken on board what we taught them over the previous two days and this has shown in their imaginative quality of questions.

MATHS

The was the LO: I can read, write and order numbers to a million

SC: Record six-digit numbers correctly

SC: Explain what each digit means

SC:Write six-digit numbers correctly in figures

Place Value formed the starter, and the teacher read out a number in words and expected the class to write on whiteboards what they had heard numerically. A few made mistakes with similar sounding numbers such as 15/50, 17/70 and 19/90. Listening is a key skill in the mental maths SAT's paper because you only get to hear the question for a short amount of time. 

Larger numbers in their 1000,s, 10,000's and 100,000's, were also proving difficult for some students. For example: 13,213 was written as 132,013 or 130,213, 370,100 was written as 370,0100, and 2,340,020 was written as 24,020 and even 2,340,020,000

As you can see quite a few had missing digits where the student had thought 13 thousand 2 hundred meant that a 0 was to be added before the 13, therefore making the number 10 times bigger that it should be. Another had a lot of 0's because they heard the word 'million' and thought they had to add extra ones at the end.

The teacher drew a place value grid up on the board and commented on seeing a few students who had thought of the same idea to help them with their working out. 

Afterwards I worked with a lower ability group for the rest of the lesson, and focused on similar assessment questions as yesterday. What I noticed were: methodical approaches to mental addition, contribution to the table, and  sequencing was good after an explanation.

LITERACY

This progressed on from this weeks lessons to introduce the LO: TO write an engaging report.
SC: Ask open ended questions
SC:To take effective notes
SC: To write ambitious vocab

For this lesson, the class were asked to re-question their partners and generate up-levelled answers. The Grandwriting Books were used to write in, and it was expected to contain at least a paragraph of writing - if not more from the higher ability students.

HISTORY AND ART
This lesson follows lunch and was introduced by another teacher, who has a lot of roles including: classroom sharing with my mentor, the school music teacher and guided reading specialist for Yr 6. 
Both Yr 6 classes were given a brief overview of the topic and were asked to analyse a painting of Professor Dorothy Hodgkin, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964.
LO: To know what a portrait is
SC: To discuss how an artist might show personality
SC: Discuss in groups what the pictures portray



Questions asked of the students included: What the painting could be?, What could be seen in the picture? What does the painting tell you about this persons life? 

Answers included: Someone intelligent, its setting could be in a library, this lady has lack of sight (shown by the use of glasses and a magnifying glass), she likes to draw herself.

Painted in Hodgkin's study at home in Warwickshire, a structural model of the four molecules of insulin stands in the foreground. The artist presents Hodgkin immersed in her work.

Two pairs of hands convey energy and activity. Their appearance also refers to the subject's acute arthritis, contracted when she was 28. - BBC Website 

One of the students thought that the molecules of insulin model could perhaps be a chandelier. Although he was incorrect, I said to him that it was an imaginative way of looking at it. 

The next part of the lesson took place in the separate classrooms, with each table given a couple of pictures to analyse. Some were of royalty and others a random selection with lots to talk about. The teacher wanted the class to realise that a painting can tell a lot about someone and doesn't need a script to explain it all.

READING BOOK SELECTIONS
Ensuring my classroom are reading appropriate books, that suit their ability of reading and comprehension, is top priority because Guided Reading will be starting next week. I took another set of students aside and asked them to chose a book, discuss why they chose it, read a section to me, and answer some questions surrounding the book.

Tomorrow is SPANISH for the first time this academic year and also a first for myself. I wonder what is in store for the students? or Me pregunto lo que está reservado para los estudiantes?

Sept 10th: Day 2 of teaching

A lot of my blog posts will be shorter than they have been recently. This is down to time constraints and the fact that I want certain ones to contain more information, especially if it includes my own teaching and or highlights across my training year.

With that in mind I will continue with my 2nd day at office (sounds a bit like being the President of The United States), and with the smart suits I am wearing, I certainly feel the part.

RISE AND SHINE
There was a paragraph from a book, up on the interactive board, with a series of punctuation missing. The class had to write the sentences in their R&S books and include all of the missing punctuation. This ranged from weve/we've, Ive/Ive, and were/we're, to speech without ''speech marks''. 

MATHS
After the morning registration had been completed, I led the students from my class and into maths. The teacher had been given Assessment Sheets from the Maths Subject Leader, and this was to be the focus of the week. I was given a high ability of students to sit with and monitor their progress, whilst they completed a few pages of printed test questions. The reason for this is to see what strategies they use, whether it be: trial and error, building on what they know, resources used, patterning etc. I noted down any questions that proved difficult, which way they worked a question out, and how they used the sheet of paper in front of them (did they work it out in their head or jot down calculations). I followed this with a series of questions, with the students using whiteboards to answer. This helped me to identify: their way of thinking, how they thought I had said a question, did they copy someone else's answer, and what they did to rectify a mistake. Whiteboards are great because as a teacher I can see a quick way of thinking, how much information is written down regardless of how much is given, and I can see lots of answers all together - which helps to assess if they need more time or can move on.

All of this information will be used to create the next few weeks worth of lessons, and gives the teacher and I, a chance to plan appropriately for the level our class our working at. 

ASSEMBLY
It was singing assembly today and although I am not required to be there, I decided to sit in and learn two songs I had not sung before.

BREAK
My day for being on duty and I have been asked to cover the KS2 area, which includes a lot of space.  I was required to roam around as much as possible and to keep my eyes peeled. 

LITERACY
To start, was a continuation of this mornings rise and shine. I spoke to a few students and explained through any mistakes they may have made plus some things they did correctly. The main part of the lesson was based on another paragraph from the same book, however for the most of it I asked small groups of students (4 at a time), to chose a book and read to me. This gave me a chance to gauge what level reading they are at, what made them chose the book, and whether it is suitable for their reading age or not.
There are two books for staff to write in; one to keep a record of what they are reading and when they got it from the library, and the other is going to be used for an adult to write about the way they are reading, any words mispronounced, and make suggestions as to what they should be reading.

SCIENCE
With the students on the carpet, the teacher asked the students what they know about light vocabulary. 4 pictures were up on the board, all representing some light. Two pictures created a debate surrounding which picture was of a sunrise and of a sunset. It was decided that the one with a red sky was sunset because it's similar to the evening sky. Similarly the other picture had blue sky in the background and this was decided to have shown an early morning setting.

Other pictures included a street lamp, light bulb and a lighthouse, and vocab included refraction, reflection, light source, natural and man-made, light years, rainbow, and electricity.

So much that came out this lesson. The students were asked to write down on different coloured pieces of paper- with each colour representing different levels of knowledge.
GREEN - Confident with knowing the fact on the piece of paper
ORANGE/YELLOW - Think they know the answer but not sure
RED- Would like to research the question on the piece of paper

The paper was on each table and after 5 mins discussing and filling them in, A person was chosen from each table to come up with their groups best choices of paper. Each of them presented their findings (skills learnt from yesterdays Literacy lesson) and the rest of the class fed-back on what they thought.

If GREEN - The class were asked to give thumbs up if agreed with statement
If ORANGE/YELLOW - The class were asked to help fill in some answers if possible
If RED- Most of the class agreed they would like to know the answers

Some statements included; How quick light travels, Who invented the light bulb, How an eclipse works, How does a shadow appear, and Why can we see the moon from space?. 

These were then put up on the Science Working Wall and the class have been asked to research the ORANGE and RED questions, and then fill in a GREEN piece of paper, to let the rest of the class know the answer.
This is a great teaching technique because the students have been asked to think independently and work as a team within the classroom.