PaCT

PaCT PLD 16 October

Today we had Janelle come in and continue to show us how to use PaCT. I found it really interesting to use, an have been privillaged to use it before at a previous school I've taught at. It is good in that it helps confirm an OTJ without being too far off the mark. I found the process easy and am looking forward to using this in my class to help with assessments and reporting.

PB4L Positive Behaviour for Learning

We had a PD session yesterday (24 September 2018) on PB4L. This made me think about what I actually do in my class to create a positive behaviour for learning. I have been lucky enough to have done the Incredible years programme and even though this is aimed at younger students I do use a lot of its philosphey in my class. I have tried to create an enviornment of support and encouragement, where students feel safe and valued. Different things that I do to encourage a positive environment are:

• Banqer rewards for positive behaviour 
• Waka Points
• High Expectations of the behaviour I expect to see from my students
• Starting each day afresh because everyone deserves a new chance. 
• Looking for the positives in my students and encouraging them to look at the positives in others
• Growth Mindset in my students (Done in conversation, and as a morning book completed first thing in the morning)

Students seem to enjoy being in the class, and they are generally positive towards each other. 

Maths - Introducing workshops

I have been wondering how Ngami and I could best get the much needed improvement in mathematical knowledge from our class. One way I wanted to try was to introduce goal setting based around the curriculum, and then have workshops that students can sign up for.

In order for the students to understand their gaps we gave them all a coversheet of what they should be able to do at Stage 6 of the curriculum. We went through this as a class, and students highlighted what they thought they could do. Workshops are based around these. Students are being encouraged to look at their coverage sheet, and then sign up for the workshop they think they need to. Workshops are being held on Wednesdays to Fridays, with the whole class being taught together on the Tuesday.

So far I have run a workshop on the different mulitiplication as this is an area my students really struggle. I have been impressed with how engaged the students have been and how excited they have have been to sign up to these workshops.

These workshops have been well received and I have seen an improvement in the students basic fact knowledge.

PaCT - Progression and Consistency Tool and LPF - Learning progression framework

PaCT - Progression and Consistency Tool

LPF - Learning progression framework

NZC, Learning progression framework and PaCT all go hand in hand. These are tools

Progress is the rate of growth in learning over time

Consistency is important across schools

Teacher make the judgement - All of this evidence informs teacher judgements
(Observations and Conversations, task and tools (PAT, E-aTTle, STAR Observation survey)

PaCT is based on the LPF and they work hand in hand together

It gives an annotation, a text and task, Task or Problem and student response for each of the different

PaCT shows where the students are working at, and shows strengths and weaknesses.

PaCT is able to show progress of students over the course of their schooling and shows if they dip
below the “Norm” and may not reach NCEA. It also has a reporting system, to help report back to
parents.

Curriculum levels - progress and achievement can create graph for whole class like PAT.

What does this mean for me as a teacher? I can see the benefits of helping my students become better
at self-directed learning, as it clearly shows where the student is working. The fact that it identifies any
weakness that could be holding the students back from travelling up a curriculum level. It hopefully might
engaged some reluctant students more, as they can clearly see their weaknesses and hopefully work to
fix these. I have been fortunate that I have had experience with PaCT at my previous school and saw
the benefits there. As a newish teacher it makes it easier to justify my OTJs as I often know what they
are working at, but struggle to be deliberate in my levels, and this gives the confidence that I am not
being either too soft or too hard.

Banqer and its use in the classroom

This year I implemented a different reward system in the class that also included some financial literacy for my students. This programme is called Banqer and is run through the Kiwi Bank. Each student gets an "account" and then uses real life situations to learn how to better manage their money.

When I first introduced it in term one each student was given a weekly allowance of $300.00 for coming to school. Out of this they had to pay $170 Rent. This was broken down to $150 for desk and chair and $20.00 for laptop usage and wifi. Students could then choice to keep the rest of their money in either their everyday account or their savings account. As the term progressed we looked at interest and tax. Students then were able to gather interest on their savings accounts.

At the end of term 1 we looked at our class jobs and decided that some were worth more then others because they required more work. As a result of this discussion we assigned different monetary values to our different classroom jobs, and students had to apply for these jobs. To keep the interest high I had a few jobs that weren't open yet that students could look forward too. We also discussed minimum wage, which was $176.00 at the time. Those that didn't have a job were put on minimum wage, but still had the same costs.

From there we have moved on to Term Deposits and how these work, Kiwi Saver and how to make it work for you, and just at the start of this term we have started looking at the property market and purchasing houses.

My students have really enjoying this. I have been impressed with how much the students are learning and how engaged they are with there learning. They are very competitive and want to be the top of the class. Lots have made mistakes with their money, which has not ended up with them (One had to break his Kiwi Saver as he was over $6,000 over drawn)

Take home note: Will defiantly use this next year. Children have been really engaged. Next year I would change a few things, like unlocking kiwi saver to help them buy their houses, and having the reward system set up sooner.

Learning Languages in the Classroom

Over the past few weeks 10 Mohua has been working on their individuals Pepehas. These are similar to a  mihi, but more formal, and give more information for the audience.

Students have really enjoyed working on finding out who they are, and where they are from. This is important to Māori students as it enables them to feel connected to their whakapapa, and knowing who they are.

As a person of Māori desecent I know how important it is to know where you come from. I also feel it is important for all students (Not just Māori) to learn Māori tikangi as it can create a real feeling of togetherness in my class.

One of the first things we did as a class was a collaborative art piece where everyone coloured a piece and then we stuck it together. The saying is "My Strength is not as an Individual, but as a collective." 

"Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takatini." I do refer to this lots during the day, especially  when students are not really following our class values I do remind them of this. 

When we did our Pepeha's I wanted the students to learn them in a fun and interactive way, so I decided to use a visual pepeha for the students to present their pepeha's to the rest of the class. This was a great engagement as I have several students that are very good at art work, so they have produced some amazing stuff. I was even excited that JC was even wanting to produce a visual pepeha too, as he often opts out of any Māori activities. 

New Beginnings

This term began with my whole class going on Camp so we didn't get stuck into school until week 2. I began the Monday of Week 2 with a recap of the last two terms, and we talked about camps and how much we grew as people.

I then introduced the students to a few things I had changed around the room to make this term flow better. These have included:

• Using labels for our timetable, rather then just writing it up each day. I have made this change to try and limit the amount of whiteboard markers my class goes through (Better for the environment and all that)
• Having a timetable clearly displayed of who is on duty so students can see straight away.
• Clearly showing on the class term timetable and on the the board when work is due, so that students are developing self-efficacy and not leaving work to the last minute (Hopefully)
• Having everyone assigned to a new job and encouraging students who are not normally very helpful in class into leadership roles (Fingers crossed)

As well as this I also wanted to continue to build on the digital technology use in the class. I have done this by:

• Continuing to use Google Classroom to set tasks and give notice
• Continuing to use Seesaw for the students. Each student has a goal around the subject areas for the term which they have shared on Seesaw. I am hoping to get the students blogging on Fridays using Seesaw
• Introducing Education Perfect to my class for maths and potentially using it for science, maths and reading
• Using ARBs and linking this to Google Classroom

This week has had a much more positive feel, which I will put down to the bonding that has come from camp. Students seem excited to be back at school and are looking forward to two terms of solid work before the move on to high school.