Science PD 2. Observation of Susan Heeps in Room 3

-
Susan took a lesson in my class, demonstrating an effective Science lesson.  The things I noticed were:
-she introduced all knew CONCEPTS by relating them to her life or things students would understand. REALLY using their prior knowledge as the first port of call. Not talking about something and then relating it.  So they already had the building blocks assembled ready to go. 

She explained every single new piece of vocab- using the same method of breaking up words that we are doing (yay!).

Used the "I notice, I think, I wonder"  model, which will become the "I predict, observe explain.." when it gets more sophisticated. This is also the SC so it becomes how we measure our success everytime. It is also good for students because you can't predict without experience. 

-she is messy, which is great. I am very clean- that's my way, but perhaps I put too much emphasis on staying clean sometimes. I have habits from before, but I need to remember it's not a food safe zone, we can make a mess- then clean up. Even a wet, sticky, powdery mess...

- the students are encouraged to use a me page- it's whatever they want. What they see, think, want to know more about. Anything. these are the authentic notes. The stuff they really observe or peak their interest.  This is where the real learning will happen and how to find out where to go next based on what they are into. This also gives them agency of their learning. 

-the students are encouraged to discuss findings and compare notes,  if they don't have matching opinions, testing is encouraged again. This mimics the real life peer review system. 
-


Where to from here: continue to connect to prior knowledge, but focus more on relating to their own lives first- then meeting it with new info. Less: what do you know about x and more tell a story and then discuss the link and the new info. 



This was followed by a meeting that involved sharing our reflections and getting some input from Susan about what we noticed. 

Other thoughts included:
Communicating about Science will be our indicator about progress, it is our NOS strand. 
Excellent guiding questions are 

Why do you think that?How do you know that?  

because it links back to their prior knowledge. Collaboration gives them the support to talk about things. If need be, some of them are just listening, but others are perhaps writing. 

It doesn't matter if it takes too long or it gets screwed up. The thing that matters most is the child's experience. 
The Roger Hanlon video that I thought the kids would not get anything from, Susan explained that it shows the practice of a scientist. I didn't think about this, but it's important. 


There are also some other experiences we can try soon that are easy at any level (low floor, high ceiling).  

I'm going to try one in the next 2 weeks and we are going to:
-notice think wonder
-discuss all vocab
-make a mess
-talk about concepts that we learn about in terms of real kid life, THEN make the connection.
-record data as a group and then share





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Student Agency in Goal setting

-
Image
My current improvement goal as a professional has been to assist students better determine their own goals. So far this year we have discussed goals and a few things I had seen as a fail. We made some goal cards, one for reading/writing and maths. Setting our goals at the start of the year and aligning them with things from the Ao's and progressions.   With 3 different types of goals and using the LLI's, then translating to the Asttle marks. It was all a little bit complicated.  I have been thinking about how to better integrate the whole process and make it simpler. Turns out I was already on the right track. As the students are aware that they need to have goals now and we are always discussing next steps- when I asked them (without any prompting or warning that this would be a question) whether they had a literacy or a maths goal. 13 out of 15 could articulate both a literacy and a maths goal that they thought was appropriate for them. The maths goal for all was times tab
Read more

PB4L

-
Mana Atua Matrix Our matrix is effective in that it is referred to often in lessons and changed at least once a week to ensure we are keeping up with the abilities of the students. The matrix is moveable so that we can have it in different places around the room when needed. This means the different lessons/ conversations don't always need to be in the same place, and I can move them around the room, depending on what the students are doing where. Making it more flexible. Classroom environment Ruma Wha is designed with flexible spaces in mind, so the students are able to hide away from noise, work independently (without anyone able to disturb you), work collaboratively, outside, in the shade, in the sun.... basically, how ever they please. The desks help them to ensure they have their own space. A place they can leave their belongings and no one else can touch it. The walls are very helpful for the students to refer to activities and learning we have done previously.
Read more

Assessment: Mindlab

-
Week 25 During Week 1, I shared the action plan with leaders at my school and my students. Week 2 I collected baseline data from my class in terms of giving and receiving feedback, as well as qualitative information on their writing skills. Since Week 1 the classroom culture has been built around supporting learning, as well as the vocab that is necessary for feedback facilitation (what is SC etc).  Week 3 saw the collaborative teacher construction of the format for feedback and the introduction of this format to two groups of students separately. I have not shared my intentions yet with whanau as planned, it is within my job description already that I track data and record lessons for my practice. The only reason I saw to share with these people to have more critical eyes on my teaching and learning.  I do believe in building a supportive learning environment and including parents. Consequently, as Ann Milne suggests, to gain the trust and respect of my communit
Read more