It's been a while...

 

It feels like I've dropped off the side of the Earth!  Finishing up my last assignment, starting the final term of the school year, and beginning report writing - it feels just like that!

My Y8s are about to start their high school testing and getting ready to move on, we're taking the time to reflect upon how far we've come.  I've tried to instill in my class that we need to celebrate our successes and learn from our failures or "could have done betters" in order for us to grow as individuals.  All of the students have something they can be proud of and things they need to work on, it is a "feel good factor" when they want to tell the whole world, how well they've done.

Writing reports are part of our job for me, like all educators, it gives me time to reflect upon each individual student, time for me to celebrate their successes and give them some feed forward for their "can do better" going into next year.  

In conversation with one of the PRTs (provisionally registered teacher) about report writing, it got me thinking about how I structure my report comments:

• What is something they do exceptionally well?
• How have they applied it
• What else can they do well?
• Is there any evidence of it?
• What do they really need to work on?
• How can they do it?

All my comments are written straight to the point but in a positive manner.  Our report comments for each learning area aren't that big so being concise is very important.

Everyone also has their own way of which order they do it: some like to do one learning are at a time and others like to do one at a time.  I'm one of those people who like to do it one at a time, I prefer to focus on one student at a time as mentioned above.

There isn't an easy way of telling you how to write reports or how to reflect upon the progress of each student.  You need to:

• Take on what everyone else does
• Try them out
• Throw away the bits you don't need and keep the ones you do
• Set yourself goals (especially when working to a tight deadline)
• Re-read as you go

We're lucky we have a buddy to check our reports, which helps me feel at ease because after your 20th report, you're not as efficient at picking up the errors as you'd like to be.

Take the time to reflect upon each individual student, recognise their successes and give them some feed forward.

Doing something different

This year I decided it was time for me to do something different.  I took on the challenge to be a part time student at Otago University, extramural of course!  I chose Otago purely because I did my teacher training and had a positive experience experience with the staff there.

The paper I am doing is EDUX440: Critical Analysis of Teaching, sounds boring however it was a great way to get amongst a community of teachers and principals from all over to discuss teaching practice.  It helped me to reaffirm my own teaching pedagogy, as we all know it is underpinned by theory and experience, being able to recall exactly where it comes from is sometimes a little bit difficult - at least for me!

I must admit it is challenging at this time of the year with the up and coming report writing and assessments, getting to the finish line with my last assignment has been difficult.  I have been very lucky to be supported by my family, people I work with, and Sheelah who has been so great at proof reading all my assignments.

For the my last assignment I stumbled across this EDtalks from Core Education by Quinn Norton - Students as hackers.


This got me thinking not only about students but as us as educators.  We take apart different theories of teaching and learning and put it back together to create our own pedagogy, our own way of teaching, to create something that is personal to you as an educator.  It may not work exactly for the current class or setting that you teach in however, you adapt and change it.  We're creative and flexible, responsive to it.

So for my next challenge?  Not too sure as yet, still thinking about doing another paper, not too sure.

W1 - Connected Education

October is connected educator month and with all the exciting activities that are happening, TeachThought are continuing their September 30 Day Reflective Blogging Challenge with Thoughtful Thursday.  The topics look great!  Week 1 Thoughtful Thursday topic:  

What does 'connected education' mean to you?

Connected education means educators connecting with each other to learn from one another whether it is through a professional discussion or connecting with a class.  We are becoming more connected with each other building our PLN to beyond the area we live in.

As I build my PLN and connecting with other 'like minded' people I am growing as an educator.  I'm relatively new to the online community and have already made so many connections.  If you haven't started, I suggest you do so.  There is a rich resource out there that we all can benefit from each other.