Incredible Years

During the first half of the year I attended Incredible Years for Teachers. Incredible Years included six full day workshops based around positive classroom management strategies, building relationships with students and behaviour management. 

It was an excellent opportunity to connect with teachers from other schools, be reminded of useful classroom management techniques, as well as to come away with some fresh ideas. I found that it also really made me reflect on my teaching practice too. 

I've always focused a lot on rewarding positive behaviour in my classroom and building positive relationships with the children and their families. Carol often reminded us that you get more of what you focus on and I completely agree. Here are some of the ways I encourage and reward positive behaviour in my room. 

Our bucket filling display. See my post on bucket filling for more information. 

Class Do Jo or warm fuzzy awards as we call them are used to reward individual children. At the end of the week we use the random selector to select three winners, who need get to choose something out of the prize box. Visit www.classdojo.com to set up your own account. 

Throughout the week Room 2 earn sparkly pompoms for their jar. Once the jar is full all of the children vote on a whole class reward. This normally happens twice a term. 

I personally found Incredible Years really useful for adding to my bank of strategies for different types of behaviour e.g. engaging a child who would prefer to be rolling around on the floor, instead of doing his work or the bright spark with a short attention span. It was really beneficial to be able to speak to other teachers, in different schools who teach the same year level too. 



Here are the two teaching pyramids that were shared with us. 

Smidgens that I will take away 

• Always remember that you get more of what you focus on. 
• If you focus on successfully achieving the things at the bottom on the pyramid, you will have to use the strategies at the top of the pyramid very often. 
• Use proximity praise more often. 
• Focus on decreasing inappropriate behaviour, prior to using negative consequences e.g. use proximity praise, redirect, provide choices, ignore (but then acknowledge as soon as the right choice is made), use non verbal cues. As I've always believed, negative consequences should always be a last resort. Being provided with a bank of strategies to decrease inappropriate behaviour was really useful, as different strategies work for different children and different situations. 
• Incentives and rewards SHOULD be used!! Although we may love our job we wouldn't work if we didn't get paid. Just the same as most people possibly wouldn't take on more responsibility e.g. leadership roles within a school if they weren't getting paid extra for the time and additional workload. 
• Remember to make more time for the small things e.g. have lunch, a chat in the morning or kick a ball around at play time with a child that is displaying challenging behaviour in the classroom. Make the time to get to know each child as an individual. Those small things will make a big difference. 
• Communicate positive behaviour and achievements with families more regularly, not only when something goes wrong. So important! 

Amesbury School

My focus when visiting Amesbury School was to have a look at their modern learning environments, connect with other teachers that may be doing something similar to Adventure Learning and to see what they were doing with independent learning plans. 

Amesbury is made up of two learning hubs - a junior hub (new entrants - yr 3) and a senior hub (yr 4 - yr 6). In both hubs the children have a lot of ownership of their learning. By the time they reach the senior hub they are self-managing their learning and organising their own timetable. As shown in the photo they have a list of must do activities and a list of can do activities. Whole class activities are already blocked into their timetable. Group workshops e.g. reading, maths are blocked in next. Then the children can decide when they do the rest of their activities. 

The juniors have timetables that look like the one below. I liked how visual they were and how easily different activities could be rearranged. The juniors also have itime where they are given a time slot to work on something that they choose. I think from memory that it was normally based around one of their learning goals, but am not 100% on that. 

Amesbury has large, open spaces filled with modern and flexible furniture. There are also large glass, sliding doors that can be closed off to create a separate space, when needed. Excuse the teddy bears. They're our class mascots. 

They weren't doing anything similar to Adventure Learning at the time. However; I was lucky enough to have a chat with Matt (@hunch_box) about how they run Google 20% Time in the senior hub. Very similar to what I've been doing. 

Smidgens that I will take away

• The idea of the must do and can do lists at the top of children's timetables. 
• Window chalk on windows - great idea! 
• Just because the learning spaces are flexible the furniture doesn't have to be rearranged for every activities. My class found this a novelty at the start. 
• Possibly organise a Twitter chat around Adventure Learning, with our two classes. 
• The concept of itime as a way to initially introduce the start of independent learning plans. Also like junior timetables as a stepping stone to encouraging children to become more self-managing. 

Inquiry at Island Bay School

We spent our first day in Wellington visiting Island Bay School. Island Bay School is a decile 10 school, where the students are very much at the centre of their pedagogy. The purpose of our visit was to further explore their inquiry learning process. Their inquiry model is heavily based on Kath Murdoch's ideas. They've spent a lot of time working with her, within their school. To view a full sized model of their inquiry process you can visit here http://islandbay.ultranet.school.nz/WebSpace/60/ 

Every inquiry big idea is either connected to Health, Science or Social Sciences. They've chosen to do this as these are the curriculum areas that best describe how the world works. The overarching concepts are revisited three times within each child's primary schooling to ensure that layers of understanding are built. 

Each unit also has a provocation. Examples that we saw including 'minibeasts - helpful or harmful?' As well as 'Are we a threat?' The contexts are negotiated with the children, so although a syndicate may all have the same provocation they may all choose a different context e.g. for 'Are we a threat?' one class decided to learn about rainforests, while another selected Antarctica for their context. Then when it comes time for the classes to share and celebrate their learning they can continue to learn from each other. 

Perry spoke about how they spend a lot of time on the 'tuning in' stage, prior to starting a unit. This is when the topic is introduced, hands-on activities are included, kids have conversations and as a teacher you have the opportunity to find out exactly what prior knowledge your children have and where to take them next. Gone are the days where the entire unit was written prior to teaching! 

Inquiry activities should be authentic and meaningful. They should encourage self-discovery e.g. hands-on, interview an expert, experiment, debate. Finding information should not consist of a child just searching for information via Google. I know a couple of years ago I was guilty of this! 

At the end of their inquiry unit the children share and celebrate their learning, as most classes do. The difference with Island Bay is that they then have a stage called going further. It encourages the children to think so what? Now what? I really liked this about their inquiry model as it's about taking the learning that one step further and digging deeper. 

Each classroom also has an inquiry wall where their learning is visually displayed. 

Teachers are provided release time to plan together. There is also money that is put aside so that teachers can take a morning out to learn about the topic they're about to teach (if needed). This may involve going to see an expert in the community so that you have a better understanding of the content knowledge yourself. 

I learnt a lot during this visit and went away completely inspired. I'd like to thank Perry for the time that he took out of his day to share their journey with us. 

Smidgens that I will take away

• Spending more time on the tuning in stage. Once the children have some background knowledge on the topic I am hoping that they will be able to ask more meaningful and in-depth questions. 
• To create an inquiry wall so that the learning is visually displayed and growth in the children's learning is shown. 
• To introduce the going further stage. 
• To introduce a provocation to continuously reflect upon. 

Visit to Stonefields School

At the end of Term 1 I visited Stonefields School to see their Breakthrough learning in action, as well as to have a look at their modern learning environment. Breakthrough is very similar to Adventure Learning. It's personalised inquiry learning where the children are given a large portion of their Friday to work on a project that they're passionate about. 

The children work through this model called the 'Learning Process'. They also talk about how when you are stuck in the pit that this is when the real learning happens. Have a look at the YouTube clip of Courtney explaining the pit. This is something that I have identified as a next step for Adventure Learning. 

Breakthrough projects are tracked using a Google Doc. The Google Doc shows what project each group is working on, what their current goal is and where to next. I was doing something very similar in my own class, but liked the idea of using a Google Doc so that everyone had easy assess to the document. This is something that I personally took away and implemented when I got back to school. 

I didn't take a lot of photos of the hubs as didn't want to have children in any of the photos I took. However; I did manage to take a snapshot of one of the smaller learning spaces within the hub. I liked this concept as the space could either be closed off as a quiet space, or used when children needed a place to be noisy e.g. musical instruments, recording etc. 

 A big thank you to Chris Bradbeer who took a lot of time out of his day to show us around. It was an excellent opportunity to connect with other teachers who were passionate about personalised inquiry learning. Going down to attend Ignite at some stage id definitely on the cards. 

Smidgens I will take away 

• Track children's projects via a Google Doc. 
• Create a visual model for Adventure Learning. 
• Encourage family to come in to work alongside their children and/or share their own talents. 

Literacy Mystery Bus Tour

Last Thursday afternoon just over 100 Northland teachers participated in a literacy mystery bus tour. The first stop was our school - Morningside School. Adam and I had afternoon tea, while everyone wandered through the classes. 

There has been a lot of talk lately around different learning spaces. If you are interested in finding out more about the caves, campfires and watering hole spaces Adam is the person to see. At the start of the term the children redesigned their learning environment, using the concept of cave, campfire and watering hole spaces. Adam does a fantastic job of enabling his year 2 and 3 class to have a lot of student voice. Explanations of the different spaces are also visually displayed throughout his classroom. 

Our next stop was Whangarei Intermediate School. We were warmly greeted by Hayley and then set off to explore the classrooms that were open. High quality examples of children's writing were on display and rich literacy centres were set up that encouraged independent learning. I also took quite a liking to the hand made puppets. This would be a great idea for oral language! Will have to add it to my 'to do' list. 

Our last stop was St Francis Xavier School. All of their classrooms were extremely colourful and rich with literacy. I loved Tracey Alison's 'little things we celebrate' board as well as how her groups are visually displayed in such a creative way. The photo frames have all been painted, with coloured paper inserted into the frame. You can then easily write on the glass using a whiteboard marker. 

Awesome display about how to cook up great writing. Simple step by step instructions with lots of visual prompts. 

Another colourful learning environment that really caught my eye. 

I know I wasn't supposed to be looking for art ideas, but couldn't resist taking a photo of these cute owls! 

If you missed out on the literacy bus tour this year I would highly recommend participating next year. It's a great way to get into other classrooms, meet other teachers and take some snapshots of inspirational ideas. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable evening, with no shortage of pizzas for dinner! Thank you to everyone who helped to organise such an amazing event. We need to do this more often. If you know who's classrooms any of these photos are from please let me know so that I can credit them. 

Smidgens that I will take away 

• To make my classroom displays more literacy rich. 
• Provide more examples of quality writing for my children. 
• Photo frames and whiteboard markers for groups. This would be a great for our fluid groupings! 
• Definitions of caves, campfires and watering holes visually displayed around the room. Like the idea of also including what they could be used for. 
• Handmade sock puppets for oral language. 
• Oh and to add owl art to my 'to do' list :) 

Our Twitter Journey

Two years ago I signed up to Twitter at a Learning @ School Conference, but that was as far as I went. Over the 2012/2013 Christmas holidays I decided that I would take the time to explore Twitter further. It is by far the best PD that I've ever signed up for and it's free! I've also got to know some amazing teachers, some who I've even been lucky enough to meet in person at conferences and Educamp.

It wasn't long before I came across the #Kidsedchatnz blog that @PascalDresse had created. #Kidsedchatnz had the potential to provide an authentic context to teach positive digital citizenship through. It also enabled the four walls of our classroom to be taken down, allowing my year 4 class to connect, collaborate and share their learning with classes all over New Zealand. Not only did they share their learning, but they learnt so much from other children too.

Prior to tweeting live I set up a class Twitter board in my class. Initially there was the child's name and then a single space for them to post a tweet underneath. While it was great for teaching the children how to write a tweet, there was no place for conversation to take place so we ripped the names down. The names were replaced by a plastic bag filled with paper slips to write tweets on and pins dotted across the wall.

The children soon picked up how to write a tweet with a limited amount of characters and how to reply to each other, using the @ symbol. It wasn't long before our Twitter board was covered in tweets. We were ready to start tweeting live!

There was a lot of excitement prior to participating in our first #Kidsedchatnz chat. The children sat around in the campfire space, spread across cushions and couches. We decided that for our first few times that we would tweet as a class, using the IWB. I would type what the children dictated and they would take turns at sending the tweet and deciding which tweets to reply to. Tweeting as a whole class using the IWB provided a useful scaffold.  

As the children's confidence and ability with tweeting grew they started to tweet in smaller groups on the iPads. #Kidsedchatnz has provided opportunities for the children to ask questions, communicate with other classes and learn how to use social media responsibly. Twitter also led to us participating in the #NZSchoolTimeLapse and exchanging class mascots with the @Palmykids. 

 As the year went on Stephen @PalmyTeacher took over the organisation of #Kidsedchatnz when Pascal moved to Australia. Over the next couple of months Stephen created a new blog for #Kidsedchatnz, Twitter chats became weekly, a Twitter mascot, badges and logo were created. The new website for #Kidsedchatnz can be viewed here http://kidsedchatnz.blogspot.co.nz/

Recently an article written by Pascal about #Kidsedchatnz was published in the Education Review magazine. This article can be viewed here (scroll to the bottom) http://goo.gl/5Z6ujo During the year I have run Twitter PD sessions in my classroom after school and have supported another class with creating a twitter account and learning how to use Twitter in the classroom. 

A lot of time and effort goes into the organisation of the weekly Twitter chats and upkeep of the blog. As a result there will now be seven co-organisers of #Kidsedchatnz (the original/ regular teachers that participate with their classes in the chat). The seven co-organisers include Pascal Dresse (founder of #Kidsedchatnz) - @PascalDresse, Reid Walker -@ReidHns1, Marcelle Natusch - @MNatusch, Marnel van der Spuy - @1MvdS, Juliet Revell - @Juliet_Revell, Stephen Baker -@PalmyTeacher and me @Simone015. This was exciting news and the perfect solution. I'm looking forward to being part of a team that is committed and passionate about helping #Kidsedchatnz continue to grow. 

Bucket Filling

Bucket filling is based on the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? By Carol McCloud. It explains that everyone has an invisible bucket. When you do something kind for someone else it helps to fill their bucket, as well as your own. When you are unkind to other people you are dipping into their bucket. It's a great way to teach and encourage children to be kind to each other. 

In Room 2 each child made their own bucket out of coloured card. Throughout the week the children give each other bucket filling awards. This may be because they've seen the person do something kind for someone else or it may be a general compliment. By the end of the week the buckets are overflowing with bucket filling awards. Every Friday afternoon the children sit down and empty their buckets. It's a really positive way to end the week. 

Sometimes there can be a couple of children who have buckets that look a little empty. Towards the end of the week I choose two bucket filling fairies. Their job is to secretly spot those children being bucket fillers, then pop an award card in their bucket. This has worked really well and there's always a lot of excitement around who the bucket filling fairies are. I've used this concept right up to Year 5/6 and the kids love it (with the small change of bucket filling spies, instead of fairies!)

It would be a useful tool when establishing a positive classroom culture at the start of the year. I have chosen not to and have kept it as my wild card instead, introducing the concept at the end of Term 3 or beginning of Term 4. Last year I spray painted small plastic pots, but it's a lot more meaningful for the children if you can provide them with the time needed to construct their own bucket. 

If you have any questions or would like a copy of the resources I have created that give examples of bucket filling, dipping and the use of the lid please leave a comment. 

Current Bucket Filling display (2013) 

2012 Bucket Filling display