PlayDayMonday

So ... halfway through Term 1 it was becoming clear that Mondays were just not 'a happening thing' in 'theONE6'.

One of my students even selected this Bitmoji (out of ALL the hundreds to choose from) because he just does not like Mondays!

So ... having participated in #GlobalPlayDay on the third day of the year, it got me thinking. And it got my student thinking too!

"Can we do PlayDayMonday?" he asked me one day. 

I replied to him ... that could be the answer! Go off and put some ideas down ... what kids could do, some cool online games you might play, board games they might bring in, cards etc. So off he went and put together a Doc of ideas. We posted it into our Google Classroom for others to add to and we kicked off this week. 

It went okay ... actually it probably went better than okay. I think MY own concern is ... are they LEARNING something during this day? There is this nagging feeling you get when attempting something innovative and different from the norm that the kids aren't really 'learning what they should be'. 

And then the question comes up ... "what is important to learn?" 

And then another question comes up ... "who says what I think is important is what they think is important?" 

And then I start thinking ... my goal is a student-centred , student directed classroom. If this is the goal ... then I have to allow them some choice in their days and what they learn. 

So we did it on Monday. It looked busy. It looked fun. It looked like everyone was engaged in some 'play'. 

Strategy games ...

Hangman ...

Creating their own music tracks using Ditty ...

Cool maths games ...

Another strategy game ...

using the time for MathsMakerProject ...

The kids were busy and the day FELT better than most other Mondays. What a great idea of Ryan's to suggest this and put the initial idea out there to me:)

Being a highly reflective person, I wanted to gather the #studentvoice about the success of the day so I created a Google Form to get some feedback. Here are the results ...

When Ryan shares this feedback, I have discussed with him that is perfectly ok if the 2 or 3 kids who aren't so sure about PlayDayMonday if they want to just continue on with their own learning tasks. He also has some suggestions from the kids which he will clarify before next time:) 

Nothing better than a student-driven innovation! 

This was the part of the survey which pleased me the most. The kids were pretty clear about what they were learning during the day. Perseverance is ONE of our core virtues - and it is the FOCUS virtue this Term. So this was awesome to see it as a top learning outcome for the day. 

Sharing, discussion, thinking about options, strategies, and moves, and being creative were other learning outcomes in the kids' top 3. I am VERY happy with that! These are all the things I wish for my kids at school ... the 3 C's 

COLLABORATION * CRITICAL THINKING * CREATIVITY

BOOM!

20%Time

Today was our first day of 20%Time.

For MOST kids ... it was a time of engagement, problem-solving, designing, creating, researching, building, and DOING ... 

A small few are still pondering what it is they want to CHOOSE to learn during 20% Time. It is interesting that when given some freedom to choose what to learn for 20% of the week, some struggle with this. Is this because they have had limited (or no) choice before? A question to ask them maybe.

ANYWAY ...

 The kids below are getting started on making a 3 dimensional 16 to paper mache and then cover with photos of our LearningMYway class in action. These same kids are also constructing a huge 'brain' to paper mache and paint/decorate to explain about Growth Mindset which we will hopefully hang in our library.

This group are investigating skateboarding and learning about 'how to learn tricks'. Their plan is to photograph and video the skills and tricks to create an informative YouTube video. 

A couple of boys are re-creating an environment they built in Minecraft. They plan to paper mache after they have constructed it then paint it. 

A group of boys are inquiring into 'Parkour' and 'free-running'. First thing they did was write a letter to the Principal to explain what they were doing and what they want to do to get his permission considering there is some safety issues involved. They are creating a presentation which includes some history about it, some photos and videos of skills and moves. The map of the school was given to them by the Principal so they can show him the areas around the school that they will be using.

There are students who have selected one of the Global Goals to inquire into and create a presentation which will share their learning using Thinglink.

One student is inquiring into Global Goal No. 15 and after gathering information is putting together a short film to share what she has found out.

One boy has chosen to research about Chinese 'masks' with the aim of creating an example using paper mache and paint.

We will keep adding to the blog as the kids progress on their self-selected learning journey:)

Learning to Learn

Love my work! 

Learning HOW to learn is a goal for the kids in theONE6.

There are often small moments in the day when the little things mean the HUGEST in terms of "YES! my kids ARE learning to learn?"

Today... I needed to Tweet these so I had a record of these moments. These are 3 from many that happen during the day:)

I will share them with you here...

End of Term Tweets

Gathering student voice via Twitter is simple and easy... 

EXIT tickets in 140 characters:)

Learner Voice

Something I am PASSIONATE about is making sure my learners have a voice in the classroom.

* Oh yeah ... don't you worry, plenty of korero goes down everyday (most of it about learning) but hey they are kids!  

What I am meaning by learner voice is that they have a say * they make some decisions * they talk to me about what is good and what could be better ... this is what I mean by VOICE.

Something I have done ever since I started using LearningMYway pedagogy is carry out a Google Survey. I do this to 'gather voice'. 

I want the kids to share what is hard about it (so I know where the help is needed). From the graph below, the first 2 things the kids find the hardest are likely the easiest to overcome - keeping an eye on the time (check the clock) and my friends around me (make a choice to move).

The third hardest thing is about 'prioritising my tasks and getting the important ones done' (this takes practice and will get better over time). The fourth hardest thing is "knowing what to do when I don't know what to do" (this is about initiative and will also improve with practice as many have had a teacher TELL them what to do most the time and it means taking some risks now to make their own choice). "Learning about the digital tools" is an issue for a few (once again practice and getting help from all our amazing experts in the classroom). "Not understanding the learning tasks" is an issue for a few also (this is where my focus will start - making sure these kids know they can come to me to clarify or maybe I need to be clearer!)

I want the kids to share how we could make it better (better to ask the kids what will make it better then they feel like their ideas matter - it empowers them).

There were only 5 pieces of feedback from this question which I can act on...

We have a space for quiet working and I need to ensure it is a quiet space!

This should be discussed on a Monday when we set up our timetables.

I have moved away from groups to personalising learning ... but do carry out group work for maths. The kids can discuss their learning with those around them. 

We are a blended classroom and this means we alternate between digital and hard-copy work. I think once everyone has learnt how to use the digital tools better we might be able to ask for some more.

Well this is something which is already in the planning. We are beginning 20% Time next Term ... so for 20% of the week (1 day out of 5) the kids can select something which THEY want to learn about. We have been getting inspired by the videos in our Google Classroom. Ask your kids:)

Interesting I am sharing my thoughts about this ... the results from the survey have also shown that the 'most important thing they have learnt that they didn't know before' was that

THEIR VOICE MATTERS

The next 3 important things they have learnt that they didn't know before were the idea that "I can be my own boss" - meaning they are learning to manage their own learning and behaviour - being in charge of themselves. The image really shows that one aspect of being your own boss, creating some of their own timetable, is a winner!

This graph below shows that 20 out of 26 are either 'smashing it' or nearly 'smashing it' when it comes to managing their own learning and behaviour. This is AWESOME - and I can feel that in the classroom ... 20 kids being their own boss means less whinging on my part! 5 kids are middling and one responder does not feel they are doing this well at all. This is the person I need to help:)

"Having a Growth Mindset helps me as a learner" - meaning knowing that it is ok to make mistakes, ok to not know things the first time you are taught it, you have to practice, being challenged is when the best learning happens. "The Habits of Success help me Focus" - meaning there are certain key habits that if they can remember and do without thinking will help them be successful.

The most important thing is this ... are you more motivated to come to class because we work differently ... because we are being innovative in the way we do things? My one learner who is still not motivated to be in class ... this is my challenge:)

And lastly, this is pleasing for me...

We would love some feedback on our 'student voice'.

How often do you gather student voice for the purpose of gauging what the kids are feeling and how you can make things better?

Our Assembly Performance

On Monday theONE6ers' put together a 10 minute performance to share the learning we had done during #NZreadaloud4JWM to the rest of the school at Assembly.

Jack volunteered to be our Master of Ceremonies

Chloe and Sharn wrote a song where they had summarised some key themes in the story and a few of the one6ers' stepped out of their comfort zone to sing it at Assembly.

Grace and Te Anahera put together a Google slideshow sharing some of the amazing language features from the story. A line of one6ers' got up to say one each as the slideshow went through.

Mya did some research about 'How to Juggle' and put together a Slideshow to share at Assembly. A small group of one6ers' who had taken up the challenge to learn to juggle took a risk and demonstrated their new found skills of juggling.

For some this was really stepping out of their comfort zone to get up in front of the whole school. I was very proud that ALMOST all got up and did something - a real show of UNITY. Well done you guys:)

Here is the video i took of the performance ... please excuse any 'random noises' !!!

What was it like for you to step out of your comfort zone and share in front of your peers?

Balls Clearing Trip

This Wednesday we went on a trip to balls clearing for our native bush research. We had to write down everything we found. The bugs were the hardest to find because they had all run away because of the class before us.
These are the native trees that we found some of the native trees we found
1. Rimu
2. Matai
3. Horopito
4. Mahoe

Here is a video I put together from some photos that we took.

by Bree Ann