25/7/27 General Reflection

This term has started really well. Over the holidays we created a behaviour plan for Logan which we haven't even really had to use yet. He had an "off" morning this morning but came right with some consequences for being out of class and had a really good rest of the day. We have split the class a lot more this term and it seems to be working quite well. I think it is a bit easier for Sarah too as she is able to plan and take control of the same group of kids each day. I would still really like to get back to changing groups a bit but for now this provides a bit more structure for Sarah as she finds her style.

We have come up with some good ideas for Cody this term to develop his Oral Language as we don't think continuing to push along his reading is really going to help because he cannot articulate the sounds clearly and we don't know how much of it he actually understands. So, we are reading one book over two days, with the first day focusing on the pictures and identifying nouns. I am looking forward to my Oral Language course I have coming up and I'm hoping this will also help with some more ideas. In the staffroom today, I overheard a conversation about some ESOL resources and thought I might look into them too.

We are using Sue a bit differently this term with her working with target groups and Cody during our literacy time to support them with their reading and writing skills such as letter sounds, HF words and oral language.

We had some interesting feedback from Nat and Rose at staff meeting yesterday about attachment issues in students. This really made a lot of sense and reaffirmed my beliefs around the importance of relationships with our students. How we need to be nurturing like mothers but also firm and fair in our boundaries and consequences. The students need to feel safe and valued. These are all things I hold very highly in my practise and that I have seen strong evidence for within my own classroom experiences - even when it has been really hard to do.

Student Wellbeing

In Term 2 we have had a couple of challenging students begin in our class. Both have come from other schools but are year 1s and hadn't been at school very long. These students have had difficult home lives and need some extra care in class to ensure they feel safe and can therefore begin to learn. Tayla-Rose has settled very well into her new environment and we haven't seen any of the aggressive behaviour that she was apparently displaying at her previous school. We allow her to have a toy with her for comfort, provided it is not distracting her or others. We keep in regular contact with her grandparents to ensure we are aware of any other issues from home.

Logan has also started late in the term. He needs a lot of extra behaviour support as he is not really "ready for school" and we have talked to his parents a lot about how his programme is differentiated. We have been having some success with sticker charts for getting him to follow instructions and complete tasks. His mum took one home to use over the holidays too. He spends a lot of his day playing with the toys but now usually completes his work that he does with the teacher. He struggles to complete any independent activities or to make friends. He also needs a lot of support to develop social skills. He can be aggressive, confrontational and has difficulty sharing resources or activities. He has already come a long way and no longer leaves the classroom anywhere as often. We have developed a behaviour plan for him to start this term with to help support him to complete more of the class programme.

Reflecting on goals

As we are halfway through the year it's a good time to reflect on how my goals are going. 

• Use clear, explicit, child friendly learning goals that students understand and can reflect on.

So far I have made big progress on the student learning goals. The students now have learning goal sheets for reading, writing, maths, handwriting and spelling. These have been working really well, particularly in writing and maths. The students have some choice about what their next goal is and enjoy seeing the progress they are making. They get an AROHA for every goal achieved. The students are then grouped by similar goals. The groups are incredibly flexible and often change weekly. Some of the challenges are making sure to allow time to tick off achieved goals, particularly maths as we get the students to  prove they can achieve the goal individually. We try to timetable this in to our week but when students are away it can mean they miss out. Writing, handwriting and spelling goals get ticked off as they go. The reading goals haven't been being kept on top of as well as they are in the students reading diaries and if they have left them at home/lost them then things get out of date quickly. 

One of the other challenges with the goal sheets is having different teachers in and out of them room.

• Increase the use of Te Reo and Tikanga within the classroom.

I am becoming more and more confident with my knowledge of Te Reo and Tikanga with my he papa tikanga paper and my increased dedication to using Te Reo. One of the big things I have been trying is to do more waiata with the students. I have found youtube videos of many of the waiata the kids sing at kapahaka. I think this will encourage more of our students to get involved in kapahaka next year as they will already know some of the waiata. It also supports those who are in kapahaka by giving them extra practise. I am using Te Reo in the classroom daily for many simple instructions and am continuing to develop this. In the most recent module of He Papa Tikanga I have learnt a lot about powhiri and the reasons being the protocols. It has helped me to also understand more about the culture in general. 

Mentoring PD - Listening

Interesting notes, diagrams etc from the latest Mau ki te module -Mentoring Skills - Active Listening

The 3 Rs for Coaching Learning Relationships

Fluency Video

New Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards

Download the Code and Standards Download the Code Examples in Practice