Students with learning disabilities give their
teachers some heartfelt advice.
Friday, 6 November 2015
Saturday, 24 October 2015
October 23rd Professional Day
For our professional day yesterday I attended a conference in Surrey. The topic was around a new buzzword in education, SEL.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
"CASEL"
Making Social a Superpower in the Classroom - keynote speaker
Being overly social in the classroom is often a punishable offense, yet our brains are wired to crave social connection, particularly in adolescence. Social neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman shows how we can leverage the brain's social urges to enhance learning in the classroom. The brain's network for social thinking is actually an untapped resource that has a remarkable gift for learning. Dr. Lieberman will reveal how to turn social from classroom kryptonite into a school superpower.
TED Talk https://vimeo.com/76357496
Modelling SEL: Actions Speak Louder than Words - breakout session
Dr. Amori Yee Mikami is an Associate Professor of Psychology at University of British Columbia, where her research focuses on peer relationships among children and adolescents. Her research findings show that SEL instruction extends far beyond the time spent on SEL lessons. Rather, through their day to day interactions with students during academic instruction, discipline, and casual check in/transition times, teachers have significant opportunities to reinforce the SEL curricula in their classrooms.
"2015 Encompass Conference"
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So, how does this relate to my teaching practice?
-it reaffirms my belief in the power of forming meaningful and loving connections with my students
-presenting myself as human models social emotional learning
-that having students over a span of 2 or 3 years fosters deep teacher-student, and peer relationships
-a reminder in the power of students helping others learn in a multi-age classroom. Research shows that the human brain is social: When people were asked to remember what they learned in order to teach it to someone else (as opposed to memorize these facts for a test), achievement was greater.
I know there are more connections, but these were just a few that stood out. The research based suggestions that were given for teachers have always been common sense for me. It has simply been the way I have taught and interacted with my students. So, knowing that there is evidence to support my philosophy makes me proud:)
*****
I know there are more connections, but these were just a few that stood out. The research based suggestions that were given for teachers have always been common sense for me. It has simply been the way I have taught and interacted with my students. So, knowing that there is evidence to support my philosophy makes me proud:)
Monday, 19 October 2015
Cuisenaire Rods
In math, the students have been introduced to an amazing manipulative called Cuisenaire rods. The proportional relationships between the pieces and the colour wheel connections make Cuisenaire rods both aesthetically pleasing and mathematically significant. The first thing we had to do was to make the connection of each colour to a number. The students played games to become more fluent with finding the rod to match it's value.
We even came up with some ways to help us remember some, such as:
4 - bubble gum
5 - bee hive
6 - green stix
7 - lucky licorice
8 - ate the chocolate
9 - waves
Here is a link to some videos showing the many ways that these rods are used to teach math in fun and engaging ways.
http://www.cuisenaire.co.uk/index.php/home/videos/cuisenaire-rods-in-the-classroom
Sunday, 18 October 2015
Growth Mindset
When people in positions of authority, like teachers and parents, focus on outcomes/achievement over process, we can influence a child to hold a more fixed mindset in that area and thus impact their overall motivation and perseverance.
At the Annex, you will hear us praising our students for their hard work in order to help them develop a growth mindset.
The following article is about growth mindset in math. Although it refers to high school students, it could easily be applied to younger students as well.
http://community.mindsetworks.com/blog-page/home-blogs/entry/i-don-t-understand-this-yet-combating-fixed-mindsets-in-math-classrooms
Sunday, 11 October 2015
I am grateful for...
This past week the entire school took part in a Group Language lesson around the theme of Thanksgiving. We thought it would be a perfect connection to tie it into our Gratitude Statements that are done at Assembly. Trish read Thanks for Thanksgiving and the K-2 students filled out a frame that read:
I am grateful for __________ because __________.
They glued this frame onto a piece of construction paper and cut out a leaf shape around their statement. The grade 3 students wrote their gratitude statement on an outline of a person which they coloured and added details to. All of the work was then displayed on a tree form in the main hallway.
The school has cards with children around the tree in the school park. We explained that this card is often used by staff to show our gratitude and thankfulness to people...another great connection.
I am grateful for the incredible community that I work in because I feel respected, supported and loved.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Afternoon Program Vote
Our P.M. Program epitomizes our school’s student-centred approach to teaching and is only one example of how we have been living the new B.C. curriculum for some time. Two afternoons a week, staff and students explore learning topics that are chosen by students. The process is as follows:
Step 1: The students discuss and brainstorm topics they are interested in studying.
Step 2: Students cut out our brainstorm lists and sort the topics into categories.
Step 3: Students then vote on the subject areas they most want to learn about.
Step 4: Students generate questions they wish to find other answers to.
Step 5: The questions generated by students guide our planning process.
We find ways to link key ideas from B.C.'s curriculum to the topic chosen by the students. Next steps...it depends! We strive to create opportunities for students to learn in a variety of ways and to share their learning in different ways. We assess student understanding by:
-observing students during lessons
-looking at completed work
-listening to students talk about their work
-having students complete self-assessments
-interviewing students
This past week the students voted on which subject they wanted to learn about. We reviewed the 8 topics and used the upcoming Federal Election as a framework to have our students cast their own votes for our Afternoon Program.
This past week the students voted on which subject they wanted to learn about. We reviewed the 8 topics and used the upcoming Federal Election as a framework to have our students cast their own votes for our Afternoon Program.
A voting ballot was made.
Students were then provided with their photo ID (library cards).
They took their ID to the poll clerks who located their name on the list of electors and crossed it through.
Students then proceeded to the voting booth to cast their ballot.
Finally, the ballots were put into the ballot box.
Here
is a complete list of the categories and the final vote count.
Animals -
54 votes
Fossils
- 29 votes
Humans
- 4 votes
Army-ish
-24 votes
Human
made - 14 votes
Sea things/the ocean - 23 votes
Fall Art
Last week we went into the garden searching for dried leaves, plants, and such. Here are some examples of how the students displayed their items in a vase cut out from old wallpaper books.
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