Open Skill vs Closed Skill success criteria

I have been reading Formative Assessment in Action By Shirley Clarke I found it interesting when reading about co-constructing success criteria with open and closed skills. When reflecting back to my target group of Year 8 boys I realised that they are confident in setting closed skilled success criteria. But still rely on support with open skills. This has made me aware of the power of good exemplars for the students to refer to with their success criteria when working with open skills. Alan Peat provides examples, teaching tips to help with co-constructing success criteria that I am finding useful at the moment.

Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids

I was just shown this by a colleage Debbie Sorensen for me it confirms the need for change in teaching practice. It has me reflect even further on the purpose of teaching as the facilitator. I recommend this as a must watch.

Teacher Inquiry Reflection

Over the past few weeks I have dramatically changed my practice. Teaching as a facilitator rather than directively teaching from the front of the room, using questioning to explicitly teach key learning concepts, tools, thinking, key competencies. This is allowing my students to engage in rich and meaningful discussions. For me, it has been brought to my attention the power of explicit teaching in every area is so vitally important. Curriculum areas of reading strategies, writing deeper features and maths. Not only is it in curriculum areas but the need for explicit teaching self talk, modeling thinking, discussing values and the importance, relating it every time back to an experience the students can hold onto.

By practice has change from me doing 70% of the talking, to my students doing 85% of the talking and I am only asking the questions, to allow for them engage in deep thinking. This provides them with the opportunity to question each other.

So, how does this relate to my teacher inquiry on the use of co - constructed success criteria? It has become the "Ripple Effect", (A book that I have recently read by Tony Ryan), I am now seeing the benefits of explicitly teaching components of success criteria ripple off into all areas that I am teaching.

For example, I most recently filmed myself teaching a writing lesson where we were reflecting on the success criteria that we had constructed at the beginning of the term, about the structure of an explanation. Using the analogy of the structure of our classroom. First of all laying the foundation being our Appropriate Title, without the foundation we are unable to have the walls, so it is important it is strong. Then we need to put a wall up and one next to it so that it stays standing, this is our identifying statement. Then we add the next two walls to complete the walls of the classroom, which is our explanation sequence. The roof must go on to close our classroom in which is our summary statement. As we were extending our success criteria we have now discussed the need to add furniture into our classroom. Our desks are our language features which we were introducing similes.

I am now using this style in many areas and seeing my students starting to use other thinking strategies. One student said, last week when we were discussing science investigation structure, "I look it as HAMM. Hypothesis, Aim, Materials, Method, so it is just HAM with an extra M." I took this opportunity to discuss this as an excellent thinking strategy and we used this as a teachable moment around mnemonics.

So where to now?

On reflection I need to change my practice of the style of feedback and feed forward I give my students. I am currently giving most of my feedback and feed forward orally, this needs to become written so that my students are explicitly seeing how to give written feedback and feedforward. I would like to trial giving the feedforward in the way of questions to allow students to start to think about what is their next learning step. Also all my feedback needs to be in relation to the success criteria. I have begun to introduce this with my class in the way of a new teacher, self and peer, highlighting system where colours correspond to different areas. I would like to provide my students with opportunities where they are receiving written feedback and feedforward from me and then move this to a peer and self reflective level.

ICT Lead Teacher Workshop 3 June

I was exposed to this fun photo site today. What an inspirational way to get students to reflect on the learning that they have done and be creative at the same time. It is easy and fun to use. Check out my reflection.

Tracey Observation and Conversation May 2010

Shelari

Sharing ideas is the best thing about being a teacher. I have been lucky to have been exposed to Shelfari, which I am planning on introducing into my reading programme over the coming term. It is an awesome way for students to keep a book shelf of what they have read and share their reviews and read other people's ideas.

Trail of Next Step for Creating Success Criteria

After reflecting during the holidays on how my students were progressing towards developing and working towards success criteria, I was happy. However, I was still the one doing all the work. I had not yet tried anything that would allow them to have ownership. Today was the day!

I started off by sharing this photo with them:

It was something they knew a lot about as we have recently completed our study on Anne Frank. Then we looked at the 6 levels of questioning. Together we came up with questions that would be relvant to each level. From there we created our own assessment rubric for question in our coming inquiry.

Here is what we came up with:

This was a positive experience, that I feel the students now own and are able to clearly understand the different levels of questions.

Success Criteira

After observation of my students this year. I am well aware that they are unable to create and use success criteria to devlop their next steps for learning. I need to gather data to support my findings. I have developed a survey using survey monkey, an excellent data gathering site, and had all students answer it. 53% of students said that they could create some success criteria when given a learning intention, and 34% only being able to identify one step.

I then gave them a task as follows:
Write the success criteria for an agument to encourage the Government to make Cellphone usage free.

Here is an example of the success criteria I was given:

Success Criteria for free internet:
• Write a good argument to why the government should let the internet to be free.
• How would it affect other people worldwide?
• How would the people who had internet and was paying it feel if the internet was now free would they ask for their money back.
• Give a variety of question’s why it should be free.

It confirms my need to develop success criteria with students so that they have a recpie for success.

I have identified my target group as year 8 boys.

After discussions with Lyn Ross, I came up with a task sheet to explictly teach success criteria. Where students would create an animation powerpoint. We explored how we would make it successful and what aspects we would need to include.

Sam Animation

Sam animation is free downloadable software to create animation that is quick and easy to use. As always the learning needs to be at the forefront so how can this e-learning tool enhance students learning? Well the opportunities are endless for example in literacy using this to retell a story, creating a story from infering a meaning from a text etc. In maths students could use this animation to solve problems and show their thinking. These are just a few examples.

Publishing Goals

After looking around other schools blogs with my class this week, the students decided that they wanted to publish their goals to their blogs. They also insisted that I posted my goal as well. After discussing teacher inquiry at our most recent staff meeting I thought why not. I am wanting my Inquiry to focus on students using co-construction success criteria to measure their own success and create their own next steps. I am trailing using the Habits of Mind to help students to identify goals that will help them to develp skills to be life long learners. In order for this to be successful I needed to make my students aware that I am a learner as well and we are all on learning journeys. So here is my goal:

Here are some examples from my students

Prezi.com

What an excellent start to the year. This week we have been mind mapping using www.prezi.com. Prezi offers educators and students special free accounts with larger storage space. You are able to embed your mindmap into your blogs for others to see. It is a easy user friendly programme. When you sign up there is a series of short movies that you can watch that teach you how to use it. However, if you are like me the best way that you learn is by having a play. Although I teach Year 7 and 8, I believe that this programme could be used at any year level as it does offer you the opportunity to insert pictures and group ideas together.

What is it to be digitally Safe? on Prezi

NetGuide - Youngsters gripped by technology

NetGuide - Youngsters gripped by technology

This is a must read for parents and educators. It confirms the importance of digital education to keep our students switched on when they walk into the classroom. Share with me your thoughts.

Inspired Impact Conference Day 1

Conferences are always inspiring, hundreds of educators get together discuss their views and share ideas. This is what I love the most about attending conferences "Networking". Lots of trade stalls all handing out things for free, have myself another years supply of pens, a large amount of chocolate and even a rugby ball. However there is more to an educational conference than free trade stalls and have lunch with your co-workers. To me it is about listening, engaging and implimenting the main message. After several workshops during the day sometimes these messages get lost however today I have come away with some key points to ponder and look towards implementing them in my classroom this year.

Dr Anne Davies alerted me to the fact of co-construction of success criteria and making sure that the students expectations are the same as the teacher.

Dorothy Burt from Point England School in Auckland, was the most inspiring speaker of the day. I attended her workshop on 'Literacy in the Digital Age'. She discussed the literacy cycle, and the need for quality teaching, creating the digital object, then publishing it online to recieve feedback. By publishing it online not only do students recieved feedback but they also reinforce learning by watching it over and over again.

Dorothy raised two very important questions that I believe every educator should ask themselves and then think about their response.

• What do our students do when they are at home?
• Have our kids failed at school or have we failed them?

Dorothy was also the keynote speaker after lunch, her address was "Heating up the 21st Century".

Main Points

• Plan, Process, Produce, Publish
• We need to be aware of digital citizenship
• Teach digital literacy

Well that is a lot for one day and I am well ready and excited for tomorrow.

i-Pod Touch

After following what Nick Rate has been saying regarding the i-pod touch I thought it was time to purchase one myself and add my thoughts.

After only a week I have been blown away with the opportunities that it has for the classroom. The instant access to the Internet allows you to access information instantly along with sharing your own ideas.

I am amazed with the free applications, at present I have been using the skype application, TVNZ and many more. Unfortunately blogger does not match with word press, that I can work out, so it makes updating our blogs difficult. However the ease to upload photos and share on web is efficient.

I found it easy to set up email and now have instant access to work email. It has made me excited to see how the i-phone could be used in the classroom. With the camera and videoing functions, the constant access to call people, anytime access to the internet, to me it seems like the logical next step in the classroom. It raises this question in my mind, will we see the days of computers leave the classroom and hand held devices, such as i-phones and i-pod touches, revolutionise the classroom learning?

I am keen to use my i-pod touch in the classroom and see how the students repond to it. At the moment I am so hooked that I imagine that they will be to.