Our Advice For Whaea Nicole

This is my final week at Rotorua Intermediate School where I have been for the past eight weeks. I am very sad to be leaving and will miss this class greatly. They have helped me to grow and develop as a professional teacher and have really broadened my perspective of what it means to be an effective teacher. I have formed strong positive relationships with every single student and I know I will be back to visit this school and class in the future.

As one of my final professional development activities with this class, I selected a range of students to complete three sentences:
* The way Whaea Nicole helps me the most is...
* I enjoy working with Whaea Nicole because...
* One piece of advice I have for Whaea Nicole is...

They either worked independently or in groups to complete each sentence. Each student clearly felt valued that I was seeking their opinions and advice. They gave clear and honest feedback, which has helped me to identify my strengths and areas I can further improve on.

The most common piece of positive feedback was the way that I always take the time to explain concepts clearly and support every student with their own individual learning needs. It also became clear that they have enjoyed the learning activities and resources included throughout my teaching.

Students seemed hesitant about giving advice, however those that did mentioned that I need to 'growl naughty kids more.' This made it clear that I still need to progress towards my behaviour management goal; this will always be an area with room for improvement and will always be dependent on the students I have in my classroom.

I truly value seeking feedback from my students. They are always at the centre of learning; their ideas and opinions should be sought, acted upon, and valued.

Week Six - Curriculum Areas Reflections & Assessment

It has become clear that students learning is progressing steadily in numeracy, however it seems to be more challenging in reading and writing. This could be due to the interest levels of students in these areas; they all enjoy maths and lack interest in writing. It is also a result of minimal full classroom days this week. On reflection, it is clear that next week needs to again have similar learning focuses in reading and writing (continuing with the thinking hats and wrapping up persuasive writing). In numeracy we can move forward into finding fractions of amounts and try to wrap up the fraction, decimal & percentage unit with a form of summative assessment.

In terms of my teaching, the biggest success was in getting group rotations sorted and finding a way to manage these effectively so I can maintain targeted group learning. In numeracy this has been very beneficial. I now need to work towards how I can improve targeted group learning and maximise their discussions and justifications within these sessions.

Here are links to the reflections and formative assessment in each main curriculum area.

Writing ; Reading ; Numeracy

Week Five On-Going Curriculum Area Reflections & Assessment

Here are links to my reflections and formative assessment processes from week five planning. Multiple adjustments were made to original planning based on engagement levels and interruptions throughout the week. Overall these topics are taking longer than I plan for, so once again this weeks planning has overlapped into week six plans. Better to over prepare than under prepare!

Numeracy ; Writing ; Reading

Week Four - Curriculum Area Reflections & Assessment

Here are links to my on-going reflections and assessment for each major curriculum area - Reading, Writing, and Maths.

Writing ; Reading ; Maths

Week Three Reading Group Reflections & Assessment

Here is a link to my reflections and assessment of learning from week 3 with my reading group. Next week I begin full control so will not be able to complete specific individual student assessment. I will still be tracking their progress but in a more simplified way.

Reflections & Assessment

Week Two Reading Group Reflections & Assessment

Each week I will post the ongoing reflections and modifications I make based on the original plan. Here is a link to my ongoing reflections of the learning and my teaching in reading from week two. It also includes formative assessment of each student against each learning intention, based on my own judgements.

Reflections & Assessment

Reflection On Students' Learning - Decimal Maths Unit

Here is a link to reflections from each lesson in the decimal unit.

Reflection One ; Reflection Two ; Reflection Three ; Reflection Four ; Reflection Five

Reading Group Observations and Assesment Week One

Here is a link to the initial group discussions I had with my reading group. The discussion was based on my associate teacher's overall plan, and gave me an insight into how I can extend their learning; this group would become my reading group.

Week One Reading Assessment

Examples from planning - Second Year

This is a unit I planned during my second year practicum working with year one students at St Mary's School Rotorua.

Year 2 planning - Measurement unit