Creating a STUDENT CENTERED classroom

The student

RECONSTRUCTION

of a previously 

TEACHER CONSTRUCTED

DECONSTRUCTION

So here is the room BEFORE construction...

Here is the room AFTER i had constructed it the way I wanted it...

And here is the room AFTER deconstruction...

I decided after having 'constructed' theONE6 as to what I thought was THE PERFECT classroom design layout, to 'deconstruct' it and pass it all over to the learners in my room. 

I got to thinking... what is something I could do on the FIRST day back to demonstrate clearly that this was THEIR room as well as mine, that THEIR voice matters, and that I want them to have opinions about things and to be confident to share them.

So DAY 1 will involve some discussion about the ultimate classroom design. 

Okay... so Day 1 is over and we didn't really get to 'discuss' great classroom design... but what was interesting was that when the kids first came in no one really commented about there being no desks, chairs, tables set out. It was rather hilarious... they all just grabbed cushions, bean bags and chairs and sat on those in a group. Not one of them asked about the furniture. On reflection...I should have waited for one of them to ask...and we could have worked like this until then!

After morning tea I decided to set them the challenge of designing our space. To work in groups, pairs, or individually to come up with a classroom design which 'makes sense' to how a classroom works!

Here is a short video of the process...

Anyway, the end result is a room which will be workable and most importantly is one THEY have had a say in. 

It was an interesting experiment to carry out. It did not have the impact I thought it would...by that I mean a lot of the kids would have been just as satisfied if I had done it already. Why? I would LOVE some feedback about that. So all you lot in theONE6... reply and comment about whether you think it is important to have a say in the room design OR whether it doesn't really bother you!

A new year... 2016... Here we go!

SO another year is upon us.

I am SUPER EXCITED to come back to school and continue our learning journey that we are on.

BUT the question is...

The MOST important thing about a classroom are the people in it.

In theONE6 we are ALL learners.

In theONE6 we support each other.

This year though we are going to be PUNK LEARNERS!

This means ...

we think for ourselves

when we are stuck we work hard to get unstuck

we solve problems we are faced with and this can be messy and hard

we take risks so we are never bored

we THRIVE in the pit of learning and love the challenge of climbing out

SO...

and remember...

Meri Kirihimete

As 2015 draws to a close... all of us in 'theONE6' would like to wish all of you a

MERI KIRIHIMETE

Merry Christmas!

We have LOVED connecting globally this year and have great fun Mystery Skyping, sharing learning, and chatting with many kids from various parts of the world!

Especially to ...

Pernilla's class in Sweden, Mr Dorland's class in Surrey, Canada, Ms Nathan's class in Wellington for our Dubsmash rivalry, our Global Read Aloud collaborators Mrs Shultze in Wisconsin and Mrs Karg in Texas, a BIG kia ora to Laura's class / school in Connecticut, Mrs Vanderwal's class in Toronto, our #NZreadaloud peeps we connected with in Term's 1, 2, and 3 especially Susan Brocker and Ella West our authors of 2 awesome books ... and there are likely more ... this is from us to you!

Kowhaiwhai Creativity

KOWHAIWHAI CREATIVITY

Combining art, maths, and a bit of culture!

An awesome activity using the kids understanding of reflection, rotation, and translation to create an original kowhaiwhai pattern.

First thing they all do is inquire into what kowhaiwhai is and complete a little bit of research to get an understanding of its cultural significance.

Then we shared some 'koru' shapes - specifically trying to come up with some 'different' shaped ones so we could create a truly original pattern.

After the kids had used up a lot of newsprint practicing koru - they came up with a shape they liked ready to make their stencil.

Then they went about figuring out what transformation they wanted to use for their pattern.

After the patterns had been created we started the dye process.

Select 3 colours, apply the lightest one first, apply in the space not directly on top otherwise it will turn poo brown, let the colours mix on their own, and then leave to dry.

Once the dye part is complete, they leave them to dry. When dry the 'inking' begins. The trick with this stage is "don't rush it". 

Take your time, persevere with this, get your corners and edges smooth and it will turn out KA PAI!!

Here is ONE which is complete!

As the others get finished I will add them to this post:) 

Ka pai with this one above Sharn - STUNNING:)

Love the simplicity of yours Mikayla:)

Chloe your 'roundy' one is effective too:)

Waimarama - this is stunning - love the 'warm' colours:)

Pearl yours is effective too the way you used rotation.

Mystery Hangout Mania!

We LOVE Mystery Hangouts!

This morning saw theONE6ers' settle in for what will likely be our last Mystery Hangout for the year!

Today we were trying out a different platform too called

Appearin.com

Wow...how easy was that! Like creating a private living room for the Hangout to take place!

As usual we started by finding out which Hemisphere they are in, then used longitude lines to break it down to East or West. After we had found out they were in North West Hemisphere we asked if they were in Canada...YES they were. 

We then kept narrowing it down using longitude and latitude until we found out where they were!

Surrey in British Columbia, Canada.

After we finished the Mystery Hangout we chatted for a bit and our kids performed the Tikatonu Haka for them. Thanks Mikayla for starting that off...if you hadn't we might still be waiting!

A big KIA ORA to Mr Dorland and his Grade 6 kids for spending some time with us this morning. Some were amazed that it was after lunch Tuesday for you while it was 9.30am Wednesday for us! 

Here is a short video of PART of the hour long Hangout:)

Dubsmash Wars

Nothing like learning something new

AND

to have the kids being the ones to teach me makes it feel even better!

What a BLAST we have had over this last week. Having put a challenge out to our connected classes about a 'lip-syncing' competition in Week 8 with the finals via a Google Hangout, a challenge was sent back to us from Ms Nathan's Year 8's in Room 27 at Karori Normal in Wellington.

Dubsmash Wars!

Here is the video of their one after which the challenge was laid down!

We were in... do you think 'theONE6ers' were going to let this challenge go!

NO

we have too many extroverts to let this pass up!

So I had to get the kids to teach me / show me what we had to do! 

To be fair on myself...I learnt quite quickly actually! What fun it has been to put this together. Pretty much song for song...I had to change up the intro as I couldn't figure out how to get the 'star wars' effect with the text 

BUT HEY

I think I have done a pretty good job of the intro with my 'sound effects'! Anyway here it is... 

Can you beat this?

Thanks to Ms Nathan and Room 27 at Karori Normal for laying out the challenge in the first place! You guys were inspirational!

Constructive feedback

Finally the results of our 

2015 LearningMYway survey

are out!

I have been developing the LearningMYway pedagogy for 3 years. It has been such an amazing ride to be on... every year I carry out surveys mid-year and end of year.

I have learnt HEAPS!

The MOST important thing though is getting that student voice which is SO SO valuable. There are always interesting things which come up during these surveys which IS AWESOME. The kids are expected to be honest and constructive because we WANT to know the things that don't work so we can make changes... we know the things that do work because we see it everyday:)

From this first shot, all responders believe LearningMYway has helped them learn to manage themselves. It is also fairly obvious that all the kids are keen to continue to develop these skills they have learnt this year.

72% (18 out of 25) believe we got to know them as learners pretty well or very well. The 28% (seven out of 25) who are on the fence are the ones I will talk to about their views. We need to fix this!

What is VERY important to know is what the kids find difficult about Learning my way so we know what we can do to help and improve their experience.

The 2 most popular reasons why kids find it difficult were: (surprisingly)

1. "not having my own desk" - ACTION TO TAKE -  Offer a 'desk' to those who want one!

2. "not having enough tasks to get on with." - ACTION -  provide MORE learning experiences for those who don't think they have enough!

The 4 reasons which were the next most popular were: 

1. "difficulty prioritising my tasks" - ACTION -  discuss with these kids the best way to do this, have other kids SHARE how they do this.

2. "making wrong choices about where I sit" - ACTION -  continue to encourage learners to make good choices for THEMSELVES and to be aware when they are getting behind or distracted and that sometimes it might be a good choice to move away from your mates!

3. "not having enough time to complete things" - ACTION - talk with these kids about "home learning" - as we do not have "homework" kids need to REMEMBER if they are getting behind, they can always do this catch-up at home.

4. "other." - ACTION - find out what these 'other' reasons are!

What have the kids enjoyed about LearningMYway in order of popularity:

1. "having some control over what I am doing and when"

2. "being able to learn with my friends"

3. "being able to work at my own pace"

4. "having the use of chromebooks for online learning"

5. "writing some of my own timetable"

6. "connecting and collaborating with classes around the world"

     "not having set homework but rather learning which can be done at home"

     "learning about Growth Mindset and knowing I can get better"

7. "being able to choose where I sit"

     "being able to access my learning when ever I can / where ever I am"

     "using blogs"

8. "using Google Classroom"

9. "using online tools to create and present work"

10. "learning how to learn on my own sometimes"

      "having to use my initiative and solving my own problems"

Once again - some more constructive feedback to follow up on.

HOW ARE YOU GATHERING STUDENT VOICE TO IMPROVE MOTIVATION & ENGAGEMENT 

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY

TO MAKE LEARNING EXPERIENCES MEMORABLE,  VALUABLE, AND RELEVANT FOR THE KIDS IN YOUR CLASS?