Learning Intentions & Success Criteria...and 6 weeks to go

Perhaps, it's a little too late for this but Learning Intentions & Success Criteria are the new buzz words in my school. Not that it wasn't there before. Teachers have different approaches to when it comes to conveying Learning Intentions to students.

I remember my first year teaching in Australia, I was introduced to the WALT, WILF and TIB. It was the first time I had heard of it and I had been teaching for about 9 years! I loved the WALT, WILF and TIB and when I found these signs by the delightful Mrs Pancake, I made sure I used it in the classroom.

Aren't they cute? Last year, I came across this post on Jen's blog, Runde's Room. (Runde's Room was one of the first blogs that I chanced upon whilst surfing and I have to say she is such an inspiration. I'm just in awe of her...but I digress) Anyway, I really liked the idea of displaying Learning Goals and I really LOVED how she had created posters for all of the learning goals based on the curriculum. So before the 2014 school year began in Australia, I set about creating a set of posters based on the Australian Curriculum.

I got as far as doing the Numeracy, Science and History posters for Year 3 and 4. The intention was to create more as the curriculum year progressed. I was also meant to set up a display board...and I tried...and then I got side-tracked and I never got to creating the board...until about 2 weeks ago with about 8 weeks of school left. (Yes, I know but better late than never, right?)

In a Thursday afternoon PD, my principal was talking about Learning Intentions and Success Criteria and set us a task to try it out in our own classrooms. We had been using I CAN statements in the classroom, but I probably didn't really talk a lot about success criteria with my students. With the help of my Canadian sub-teacher/friend, I finally set up a Learning Intentions board. I used half of my whiteboard and this is what it looks like.

The board is titled OUR LEARNING GOALS & SUCCESS CRITERIA

This is still a 'prototype'. I only have space for Numeracy, Reading & Writing.
I would have to think about smaller signage I think.

The students and I developed the success criteria and I quite liked the idea of how I didn't
have to come up with the success criteria. By asking the students, what they think they would need to show to achieve success, it got them thinking as well and that way they are taking responsibility for their learning.

I'm quite happy with my first attempt at this board. I'm not sure if I would create more posters to display the learning goals, it just seems a lot easier at the moment to write up the goals and criteria but I might change my mind for next year.

What do you think? Do you have any suggestions as to how I can make this better? I would like feedback, especially if you have something similar in your classroom.

5 weeks to go, I'm in the process of testing and doing reports at the moment. Not long to go now.

November Currently...

This really wasn't how I envisioned myself as a blogger. I began this blog for all the right reasons and at this point in time I have stopped blogging for all the wrong reasons. It's been a rough couple of weeks for me. A family member is seriously ill and I've had to struggle with some inner demons. I'm trying to overcome it and perhaps this November Currently link up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade will help me feel better.

 

 

Listening - English soccer, Australian soccer, Indian soccer...You name it. SJ, my husband, probably watches it. He coaches the Under 10s team at a local club and if I do say anything...which I usually don't because I'm working when he watches soccer, he says he's learning. Fair enough. He doesn't hog the TV or anything like that. The moment, I'm off the computer we do watch something together so that's alright.

Loving - No school yesterday. A Curriculum Day, which meant it was a student-free day and that's always good. I don't mind Curriculum Days...especially if I've learnt something that I can bring back to the classroom.

Thinking - Six weeks...that's all I've got. 36 days and I'm done with the school year. I am going to miss this group of students. They are good kids. Probably the best cohort of kids I've had in the years that I've been in my present school. I'm a bit anxious about next year. Who I'll be teaching with? What grade level? I like...let me correct that...love my teaching partner and we would love to work together again next year but I've never had the same teaching partner twice thus far...so it's to be seen.

Wanting - Since I've been on the iHerb website, I've been really wanting a bag of Djorn Mustard chips and I CAN'T find any in the supermarkets here. I've had a chip craving for the longest of times and I have yet to indulge myself...very, soon.

Needing - Alright, this is the bit that's gotten me down. I received a summons on TPT for a product that I thought covered all the copyright. It was a series of posters that I had made for the 7 Habits of Happy Kids and when I got the warning and my strike, I felt I should have just been sent to prison. It wasn't intentional, in fact I had no idea I was violating copyright. There were so many other resources bearing the same name. It was bad enough that I had begun to doubt myself as a teacher. I mean, I think I'm a really good classroom teacher but then reading all these blogs, I just began to feel I wasn't as good as I thought I was. I didn't know what to blog about, I wasn't creating any resources and then I received the strike and that's when I had some serious doubts. I take great pride in what I do. This just threw me off. I decided then I didn't want to be reading any blogs because I didn't want to be influenced by what was out there. But then there was no inspiration and all the updates of all the wonderful resources that were being created only made me feel like a LOSER! Then I found out a close family member had cancer, it was all I could take.

Reading - I'm in the midst of reading Whole Brain Teaching and also doing an Indigenous module. I'm learning more about the Aboriginal and Maori culture to help me teach Inquiry this term, seeing that I'm not Australian...well not at the moment anyway. But I am hoping to use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom next year so when I'm done with my module, I will be hopping back to the book.

Please do leave a comment. It would really help me to know, someone's actually reading this.

The Science Lab

I sit here comfortably seated on my armchair as I type this, looking forward to the two weeks break ahead of me. It's been quite a hectic week. We had a Science fair on Tuesday and an Athletics Gala on Thursday.

I knew right away when I found out we were indeed going ahead with the Science fair that I didn't want my students to be showcasing what I term as the "over-experimented experiments". I did not want to see another volcano or a mentos and coke experiment.

When we began our Science unit, we watched lots of Steve Spangler clips and my teaching partner, Felicity and I, knew we wanted to conduct Science experiments using common household items, that were simple and fun.

We began our Science Inquiry unit, looking at different scientists and their contributions. This resource by Christine Statzel was so useful. I love craft activities and Christine's resource had the scientists and the craft/literacy activities to go with each scientist. Below are some of the activities that I used in my classroom.

All About Einstein

Mona Lisa as drawn by my Picassos

As mentioned before, I knew I would scream if my students did another Mentos and Coke experiment, so we thought along the lines of creating a similar "wow" factor when one watches Steve Spangler on Ellen. Well, at least we tried to...

These were some of the experiments that we tried out in the classroom and then decided to showcase it at our Science Fair.

This is one of my favourite experiments - "Leakproof Bag". Students had to use a sharpened pencil to poke through the zip-lock bag and the faces on the Prep kids were just priceless when they saw the pencil go through the other end without any leaks. Of course, we still needed to be prepared for the occasional mishap.

 

We had the students write about the experiments that we had done in the classroom in their Inquiry books and displayed those books during the Science Fair.

 

 

 

"Who done it?" - Having a closer look at the patterns on fingerprints

YM and CE showcasing their lung capacity in Soda Can Jump

 

 It was an exciting day for the students and as exhausted as I was by the end of it all, when KP, a student of mine told me "This was such a fun day!", it made it all worth while. The kids had fun, the parents got to do the experiments and we all learnt something at the end of the day. But for now...I'll go back to putting my legs up and just enjoying the 14 days of bliss that I have ahead of me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



  



And So...

There has been this immense pressure lately with this blog. It's a pressure that I have placed upon myself. See, this blog came about because I felt I had something to offer. I felt that if I had a blog like everyone else, I would be this teacher that had all these awesome ideas, could make all these awesome resources and be able to do all these awesome things in my classroom that I could share with the rest of this world.

Except...the more blogs I read, the more I felt like I wasn't so awesome. I'm beginning to think I don't have it in me to keep this going. I keep thinking I'm not like these great teachers out there who are really making a difference but ... wait a minute...isn't that my tagline? Making a difference one class at a time. Oh boy...I might have to change that.

I've decided on one thing. Perhaps, I should let this blog be about me as a teacher. Not me in competition with the rest of the teacher bloggers and perhaps, if it was just me blogging about my experiences with my students and what I was doing to change their lives, to inspire them to go forth and achieve their dreams...perhaps, just perhaps...I might actually feel I wasn't so bad after all. (I'm assuming that's what all the other teacher bloggers are doing anyway...) So I'm going to give this another go. And if by chance, you are reading this...please come back. I will have something to offer soon. A comment or two, is always great as well.

My First Currently...

I wrote my first post about two weeks ago and then it got all quiet. I need some inspiration at the moment...it could just be that I'm really tired. So anyhow when I was reading Farley's blog Oh' Boy 4th Grade and found out that she had posted the August Currently, I knew I had to join the party.

It's my first Currently and I am SOOO excited. I used to see this on the blogs of people I admired and now I have posted my OWN Currently.

 

I'm looking forward to writing a blog post about a collaboration between my class and another primary/elementary school in Singapore this weekend. So watch out for that.

 

 

Love

My First Post...and Brag Tags!

As I sit here on a Saturday afternoon writing my first post for my blog, I'm experiencing lots of feelings - excitement, anxiety. I just can't believe that I actually have a blog now. And a blog that looks so awesome. Thanks once again to Barbara at Ruby Slippers Design. I remember telling her how important this blog was to me. Perhaps it doesn't seem like much but I  have been so inspired by people like Barbara and the other awesome educators who teach by day and are bloggers by night. I am in awe as to how they juggle everything. A month ago, I told myself if they can do it, I can get on board and do it as well.

So here's my first post.

I heard about brag tags when Ashleigh made a mention of it on her FB page. I googled it right away and loved what I saw. My teaching partner FC and I were on the lookout for something new and exciting to use as part of our reward system. So when I told her about the brag tags, and showed her what it looked like, we ordered a pack right away.


Brag Tags from the Paw-some Pack with our names.

Our students get a 'raffle ticket' (the tickets are actually post -it notes. We have loads of them from their books packs at the beginning of the year!) for bringing home their take home readers, completing their tasks on time, neat work etc. Basically they get rewarded with a 'raffle ticket' for modelling good behaviour. These tickets are put in a bag and at the end of the week on Friday before the students go home, we pick the winners of the raffle tickets.

This reward system, although simple, has worked really well for us. Our students will do anything for a raffle ticket. We used to give Slushie tokens which the kids could get from the school canteen but we knew at some point in time the novelty of it would wear off and we would need something new.


We've taken to picking three winners now from our weekly raffle because the brag tags are in such a demand right now in the classroom.

Raffle tickets from last week

Brag Tag on the school bag of our raffle winner

 

I'd be interested to find out how other teachers use brag tags in their classrooms...Well that's my first post. If you are on this page, thank you for reading this and please leave a comment or two. It would be greatly appreciated.