Goals

Sat down with my associate teacher and went over my personal goals for the next month. It is quite hard when you are already a practicing teacher, albeit not for this subject, to put yourself into the framework of a beginner teacher.  Reflection is a constant and a given for a teacher. It is so important to be able to reflect on what you have done, the extent to what was achieved, and future directions.

However, these are my goals:
1. to utilise technology in the classroom especially with a focus on students demonstrating their knowledge through creating multimodal products
2.  focusing on planning and assessment
3. continued improvement of my professional knowledge and practice:
          teaching secondary students, extending my IT skills, knowledge and practice, and in secondary       literature
Other aims include extending my resource collection. I have sent off the goals, but with some misgivings. I feel I need to be more specific. So will be going back to the drawing board.

Sitting in ...

The G10 are nearly finished with Macbeth. Their learning continues to be scaffolded and extended with students completing writing tasks that have them interpreting quotes from the play by writing the context, and then thinking about the inferences/implications of the quote. The next activity saw them going one step further and looking at quote: rewrite or interpret: characterization:: motif evident within the quotes. The students have been involved in constant reading and writing throughout the past several weeks, becoming familiar with the structure and language of the play, and meaning-making.
Once the class had finished, my mentor and I continued our talking, with discussion turning to assessment, and the differences between assessment in the MYP & DP IB programmes, and also in comparison to non IB schools.We also talked about the need for differentiation and the importance of tracking those kids who will finish early and will need to be extended further in their thinking and work. I love our talks!

Sitting in...

Today I had the chance to sit in on a middle years Grade 6 English class. It was great to observe a younger class and reflect on the differences between middle and high school. I must admit that I am always pleasantly surprised as these opportunities to observe seem to be matching up with my readings of the week. This week  I read an article by Mary Macken-Horarik, "Exploring the requirements of critical school literacy". In the article the author argues strongly for the need to for critical literacy to also consider  the challenge of developing those linguistic skills necessary for students to read the text in order to  gain a critical understanding of the relationships and conceptual meanings to be found within it.

And that is what I observed - the teacher teaching those skills and scaffolding the writing process from description - analyzing - essay format. Differentiated learning was in evidence with three different tasks according to the needs of the student. Students had been given modeled examples to support their own writing. They also had support with Step Up to Writing Handy Pages booklet.The teacher focused the groups at the beginning and throughout the session reminding the students of what their tasks were asking of them - to think about 'transition words in the texts, and in their own writing,  and what was needed in developing Introductions. The teacher also spent the lesson clarifying and elaborating with individual students regarding these aspects of their writing - both student having to clarify and elaborate on their work, or their teacher commenting.

The importance of outlining again was evident (seen in other classes). Students were required to complete outline notes before commencing their typed drafts. It gave the students the necessary organised format to begin their writing.

It is this explicit instruction in building up the skills involved in writing essays that will lead these students to be able to analyse and critique them.

It was a great lesson!

Sitting in ...

I joined back up with Macbeth  today. After the class, talk revolved around how students begin the outlining process by looking at quotes from the play, what they say, and what they mean within the context of what has happened or is happening in the play as they progress through the Acts.  Students then move on to create a dynamic structure of the play, first in pairs, then individually. My mentor really likes to see colour coding used, and also  to leave the design or layout of the structure to the students.The teacher models a simple DS at the beginning, but the creativity is up to the kids...and the end result is showing the thought processes that each student engages in. 
Which led us to another discussion point, being the importance of outlining, and especially visual organisers in helping the students organise their thoughts. Another class yesterday used Venn diagrams to discuss parallel themes in two different plays. All these visual tools move the students toward effective writing - one that is coherent, organised and shows critical thinking.

Quotes I like...

As a PYP Curriculum Coordinator, I like browsing to keep abreast of happenings in the IB (International Baccalaureate) world. One site is PYP Threads which is a ning I subscribe to. Of course, the links send me out into the global community. One blog I came across is 21 Century Classroom. Heidi's blog this week reflected on learning, and how important it is that we as teachers are always learning alongside our students:

"... the sad truth is that when I am not learning, none of my students are learning." 

This really hit home, as did an earlier blog commentary: My students need me after all  - thinking about our role as teachers.

Sitting in ...

Today, I sat in on a Grade 10 English class. I explained that I had also returned to the study books and gave the background as to why I am studying Secondary English...and that my whole purpose was for a change to watch the teacher not the students.
Grade 10 are studying Macbeth. It is perhaps the only Shakespearean tragedy I have not read.  The class were still involved with reading the play. Students nominated themselves to read aloud different parts. Alot more scaffolding by the teacher compared with the Grade 11 class...elaboration upon text - meaning and context, more directed questioning regarding the play. Love the teacher's sense of humour...as did the kids!

Sitting in ...

Sat in on my first senior  (Grade 11) English class today...was so great.  The group is reading and discussing Chronicles of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Noted how my mentor really gives the kids the time to think and reflect about aspects of the novel in order to add to the class discussion. The importance of 
'wait time' ! Also elaboration and recognition of their ideas.

Stage 6 Plus Minus Interesting

Plus

• continuation of Personal Growth model with emphasis on importance of personal experience, talking & writing, workshop based organisation, active use of language 
• & continutation of Critical Literacy. I still believe it has an important role to play in developing critical and reflective thinkers -  
• influence of Multiliteracies which has seen widening of various textual forms and formats that are now available for examinable study; has also had implications in classroom with greater emphasis on student negotiation & student choice for composing e.g. student's creating digital stories, digital formats
• focus on composing and responding - value given to student's own writing, speaking, creations.

Minus

• is the syllabus, and are teachers in the classroom, giving credit for engaging with texts and wide reading? for pleasure and enjoyment? or is the focus on the end product of the examination and the HS Certificate?
•  Apparently "students can go through their entire HSC without ever studying a visual text, or without ever studying a work of non-fiction" (McGraw 2005 - see link below). Although widening the range of texts available for study, there is still weighting on traditional conventions.

Interesting/ or find out more

• Kelli McGraw (2005) comments on concerns by teachers and professional organisations: application of standards-based framework, nature & content of external examination, lack of resources to assist with integration of film & multimedia texts, provision of professional development. Are these still current concerns 6 years later?
• McGraw in same article also comments on weighting of assessment in English - with Writing and Reading still the more heavily weighted modes which begs to suggest "that somewhere along the line, judgements have been made about the greater value and intrinsitc importance of written literacy - specifically writing tasks - over other forms of literacy" .  
• Is there a balance between the internal assessment and the examination, or does the exam give more weight to student results?  Could not a major work of student compostion be submitted just like in Art or Music?

 
 

Reflection

I have just finished my essay for the English Syllabus 7-10 NSW assignment. Upon reflection, it brought together all my readings on the theoretical underpinnings of the Syllabus...who knew there were so many different English models influencing the document. It gave me a new appreciation for curriculum development. It also made me realise how important it is for one's professional development to stay abreast of educational research and 'what is happening' in the field.
Now to upload and send it off :)

Information management and tools

Reflecting on the importance of explicitly teaching our students how to manage their information. I have over 30 years to learn my preferred learning style, and I am still learning. Our students, especially in secondary, need to know different technological tools that will assist them. I use Google docs in order to collaborate (simultaneously) and to be able to store and  access my documents anywhere, anytime. I use a blog as a reflective tool, yet have learnt that I am best to write and store my information previously. Technology allows for the engagement of our student's learning...but it still all about purpose and what is best for my need, as to what tool I will use.

A new beginning...

Well I am continuing my journey as a lifelong learner. I must admit I am excited to be studying a subject that I majored in at university, and which really started me on the path to my career as a teacher librarian. The two, English and libraries are so intertwined, that I feel I will benefit from knowledge of both.

I am also on the nervous side, wondering how I will keep up, with my study, a family and a full time job as Head Librarian & Primary Curriculum Coordinator  for an international school here in Osaka, Japan.

I have received the module books and have ordered the Charged with Meaning (Gannon et al) book from Australia. I am thinking that I may come up with a 30 things about me rather than a digital biography as such -  I have not created a digital story yet, and I feel daunted that it may take up alot of time to create. I will go and watch Beverley's :)