Quick Writes - 9G English

I introduced the students of 9G to the idea of Quick Writes (this was something I used in previous classes at BNMS). A quick write is designed to get students writing. They are provided with a picture/word/sentence prompt and given 5-8 minutes time to write. The prompt is unpacked/discussed at the very beginning.

9G took to this form of writing quite quickly. They mostly enjoy humorous/adventurous picture prompts. The time limit set is usually from 5-8 minutes. I judge whether they are in the right 'head space' as to whether or not they get a longer period of time to write. 

Before 9G had speeches, I brought in the new expectation that they had to read their work aloud to one person in the room. At times they are resistant to this! With VMA or JFE in the room to assist, they eventually follow through. Sometimes, a student is willing to read aloud to the whole class (this option is always presented, but hardly ever taken up), and this is usually the same student time after time. As in the first picture below, he likes to read his story's to me outside of the classroom - I am always happy to oblige students who want to read aloud to me outside the class room. 

This has become a regular task completed in Thursday's period 5 class

Next term, my goal is to introduce them to sentence/word prompts. 

Professional Learning - Subject Choices

Professional Learning Subject Choices

JRA

SSEP (Secondary Schools Employment Programme) programme: 10 different employers that FFC is linked with – Year 9s get to see math in the workplace.  They also have links also with Smart Waikato who links with a wide range of employers across the Waikato.

Defence Force bus will visit school for Y9 and 10 students to check out.

STAR – Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource - Supporting students to explore their options for further education.

-      Funding is allocated based on student no.s (Year 11 and up)

-      Checking out Wintec courses for a day

-      Hands on practical skills

Gateway – Christine Cosgrove runs

-      Funding from the tertiary commission

-      Designed to strengthen pathways

-      Very few level three credits offered

-      Certain criteria needs to be met in order to be placed in the workplace

-      Gateway work placements are available to any Y12 and up student.

-      Students have to gain 20 credits on a work placement.

Wintec Trades Academy started about 6-7 Years ago. It has grown from 3 students (from FFC) to hundreds of students. Students end up being in a separate programme to the regular

Taratahi students are out one day a week

South Pacific Institute offers a beauty therapy and sports programme.

Vocational Pathways

-      Operates from Level 2

-      Awards are given for achieving a certain amount of credits

Senior Subject Choices Booklet for 2018

Students will be given this booklet tomorrow and given a fortnight to make their choices. Some selections are made for students, in terms of core subjects.

If students are thinking about going to university they need to think about whether their chosen subjects are university approved.

Friday 15^th Subject Choice Day – I will be available in the Library during Period 2 to discuss the senior TET course requirements and content

Year 12s and 13s do not have to take English unless they want to go to University!!!

University entrance does not require anything above level 1 maths!

Any questions – discuss with JRA

 

Professional Learning - 6th September

Professional Learning 6^th September

Intro by RCR, handed over to SAT: “Learning Advisory – apparently this name will not stick as the acronym is not …. “ Could potentially be LCT

DSU then took over and played Sam Cooke – What a Wonderful World as he handed out a task.

The point of this task was to think of something from the past that then gets recreated by personal perspective/experiences.

A song to do with autonomy:  was played whilst we continued with the second part of the task.

One task: un-jumble these two words sreplano mfllefltnui; which became personal growth.

“Setting up something we become comfortable with – when you have your last day of term: I need a holiday because I’m so frazzled to I’m looking forward to a holiday to spend time with my family etc. and recharge.” DSU, as quoted by SAT

LJA: Focusing in on “Our Artefacts” The iconography we use to display our values and school culture. Our task is to design a letterhead that expresses the values of FFC. Incorporate any or all of these phrases: I taku puranga hau; taku tuumanako (while I breathe, I hope); Dum Spiro, Spero.

What were some of the underlining assumptions you would put in a school letterhead: did you incorporate any of the languages? do you have an underlying value that places any of these languages above the other? Did you focus on a letterhead that displays what FFC is – images that represent maunga etc. How did you place these designs? what was the dominant item?

Reflection: I wanted to incorporate both Maaori and Latin quotes as well icons to do with the school – mountains/colours

An interesting Q was asked, if you won power ball tomorrow, what would you do? This relates to personal fulfilment and self-actualisation.

ARO: Focusing on Threads of Culture – consider our students; our classroom; and our school.

Values based system or pattern; relational existing within social interactions; culture is not static, but shaped by interactions and processes of the organisation

WRO: Values and principles or standards of behaviour, one’s judgement of what is important in life. They have major influence on a person’s behaviour and attitude and serves as broad guidelines in all situations.

I enjoyed the collaborative aspects of this professional learning session. I learnt a fair bit about some colleagues, both personal and  professional. Still non the wiser as to the the actual structure of 'Learning Advisory' 2018. 

Cyber Bullying Workshop

Constable Pete came to discuss cyber bullying with year 10's a couple weeks ago. The school felt it was incredibly worthwhile and arranged to have Constable Pete return to do the same workshop with the Year 9's. This occurred during period two when I have 9G for English.

Actual paedophilia case here.This case was used as an example of accepting random requests.

Ways to check out random friend requests:

- Google search their name

- Google image search their pics

- Check how many posts/images they have on their profile (limited and they are probably fake).

- Check if they have other social media accounts.

Examples of Cyberbullying

- calling people names online

- posting pics/information without your consent.

- Making mean comments on other's posts/pics.

- Threats or harrassment.

- Rumours spread online

- Catfishing

- Telling someone to harm themselves online

The definition: Online bullying (also known as cyber bullying) uses technology to transfer,

Students were shown a video of an English teenager experiencing bullying at school, in and out of class time. He was made fun of by his peers and then they started to harass him through text. He didn't talk to his parents about it and the bullying continued. He received verbal threats through phone calls and texts, as well as bullying on social media chat groups. A page was then set up by his peers to bully him through nasty messages and pictures. Had 'loser' chanted at him on the school bus. He was clearly distressed and made a video about his experiences - his mum saw this video and action was taken. Police visited the school, he received counselling. 

Questions they were then asked:

- Why do you think Joe was bullied to begin with?

- Should Joe have deleted the texts he received? 

- After Joe blocked *** what should he have done? 

- Who can you go to to talk about bullying issues?

- What effects did the bullying have on Joe?

- What is a bystander? Can they make things better?

- What could Rob have done to stop the bullying once it begun?

- What eventually stops the bullying?

- Why did the police turn up at the school?

Generated some really good discussion about the reasons why people are bullied, why you should keep evidence of bullying, feelings of suicide, 

Everything you do online leaves a digital footprint - police can get a 'production order' to retrieve any evidence they may need. 

Constable Pete discussed the times he has attended suicides - the reality of bullying.

"Your next message that you send someone could tip them over the edge."

A bystander is someone who is witness to bullying and does nothing about it. 

Harmful Digital Communications Act - It is illegal to send messages to post material on line that deliberately or intentionally cause harm or serious emotional distress to any person. The penalty can be up to 2 years jail.

netsafe.org.nz is a place you can go to if you are concerned about cyber bullying.

"Think twice before you post because it can affect your future."

If you notice nasty comments on someone's posts/pics ask one question - "Are you O.K?"

Facebook sharing settings:

- The world symbol means it is accessible by the world - i.e. public

- friend settings - which friends can see the post/pics

Observation - Y9 Food Tech

Feedback received from SCH has been very good. Organisation, relationships with students, check points, seating plans, responses during lesson etc. were all positive. Discussed challenging students and how I 'pick my battles' - reacting in a calm manner to avoid confrontation/anxiety for both the students and myself.
Sarah has been a wealth of knowledge and a fantastic support throughout my first three terms at FFC. I always look forward to her observations and feedback feed forward.

Assessment Week - Term 3, WK6

Having to wrap my head around the logistics of the Assessment Week Timetable has been a struggle! Faculty meetings, chats with colleagues, chats with students (senior textiles), instructions and blank timetables (SLTs) has made a huge difference to my understanding. I've been able to support my Whaanau students in organising their timetables. Looking forward to two hour periods with my textiles students! Food tech is all organised with two practicals and the focus on healthy eating. My English class is moving onto a weaving/Hangi themed topic where they will be researching/building their knowledge about flax collecting protocol, weaving techniques and hangi prep. I will also be seeing my senior Textiles student's on Friday for a two hour period , unless they are in an exam.

Professional Learning - NCEA

Article: How Many Triangles can You See?

An interesting article sent to all staff from A Kumar 27/6/2017. I came to the conclusion there were 18 Triangles! Almost wishing I taught a math class to give them this as a first up task. What I really appreciated about this article was that they provided an insight (through diagrams) of how they figured out there were 25-26. Here's the link to the article.

9G Co-Construction

Supporting in School Practices

My colleagues and I supported the Hospitality/Food and Beverage students by attending their morning tea's and rating the experience based on their service and the quality of the food. We were served sponge drops and a selection of beverages; tea, coffee and juice. The students' did very well with their level of professionalism and certainly worked hard to make the experience as authentic as possible. There was a small cost involved to help with the cost of the ingredients.
I enjoyed being able to support the students in their learning and hope to attend more of these throughout the year.
Here are JWR, JMC and I enjoying the students hospitality!

Supporting HOS200

The HOS200 class put on a small cafe-like experience where they served beverages and some light snacks in order to be observed and graded by diners - staff!
JWR, JMC and I went a couple of times to support the various HOS200 students. Overall, the experience was quite pleasant. We were served sponge drops (dairy free options available!), tea/coffee/juice. The student's service was quite good and we gave a gold coin donation to contribute towards the cost of ingredients. 
Looking forward to the next one and being able to also support the Food and Beverage students. 

Mid Year Reports - Juniors

Junior subject report comments are due on the 6/6 and Junior Whaanau report comments are due on the 12/6. I have made a start on tick boxes and thought about the types of comments I can use to describe/sum up the practical and theoretical knowledge that Y9 students in both Textiles and Food Tech have developed/gained. Faculty meeting last Wednesday helped to clarify some grey areas around comments for students that struggle/of a lower ability - the goal is to have something positive to say about every student! I'm confident I can get the comments completed in the time frame we have. I need to make sure I double check with Jen/Aimee in regards to the FT assessments and Aimee in regards to the Textiles assessments - making sure that I am following correct procedures when commenting and editing.
Ashok has provided some very helpful hints:

Professional Learning - Motivating the Unmotivated

Textiles Blog

My FFC Textiles blog is an incredibly helpful teaching resource to assist both junior and senior students through a range of topics. This is also a place where I am collecting resources to use for current and future classes. The picture below shows a range of useful sites (on the left) that enable the students to explore fashion on many levels and at their own pace. Thank goodness we have access to chrome books during class time! The Dio Textiles teacher, Amy, has been an amazing wealth of knowledge and support over the last few months. She is very inspiring and has allowed me to make links to her work on Pinterest.

Textile's Blog

The Textile's blog is proving to be a great platform for engaging the senior students. Currently, both the Year 11s and 12s are working on an assessment that requires them to analyse and then sketch their own dress/winter garment design ideas. I use the blog to engage the students in quick and simple tasks that require them to analyse garments with reference to the elements of design. The views on the left hand side indicate how many visitors there have been to the blog.

Quick Writes - Gail Loane

I have been introduced to Quick Writes. Looking forward to using the class blog as the platform to deliver this to Room 29.

http://www.gailloane.co.nz/book.php 

10 FOT (Food Technology)

I have had the chance to teach Year 10 Food Technology. I supported JWR in term one, one day a week. JWR and I would discuss where they were up to and what I could do to support their learning during my lesson every week. JWR would send resources via email and sometimes I would need to continue her previous lesson  because they would not have got through everything they needed to before moving on.
I worked hard to build reciprocal relationships with this class, which was challenging at times because I only saw them once a week. There was such a diverse range of students, from their abilities, to their prior knowledge and their motivation and commitment to completing tasks.
Every lesson I had with this class was a theory lesson and I was often asked - why don't we cook with you miss?! - JWR and I decided at the very beginning that she would do all the practical lessons with them for continuity.
Below is an image of the resources that JWR sent me. 
We started in February, with knife safety and identification and recapped what they had learnt in March. The students were making sausage rolls in a practical lesson with JWR and required a little more scaffolding before the practical lesson. 
We then moved onto bacteria and contamination.
Everyone of these lesson;s required a first up task as well as LI's and SCs. Someties WR and I discussed these and sometimes I had to wing it!
I was quite settled into the routine of teaching this group and enjoyed most of the tasks. When term two came around I was no longer required to support JWR with this class as JMC returned to work.

9G C0-Construction

Inter-Mountain Singing Challenge

Mountain Assembly 12:15 - 12:45

Introduced the song that has been chosen to Maungatautari today during mountain assembly - S Club 7: Reach
The reaction was mixed, but with the help of some senior students I have faith that our maunga will pull through. Here's a link!

The school Hymn will also be sung. Matua Colin added some actions for the first verse and the chorus , that align with the words being sung.

I am doing my best to join in and encourage students across all year levels.

Co-Construction Meetings

First round of Co-Constructions  meetings are coming up. I'm not quite sure what to expect - I understand that this is an opportunity for us to discuss learning programmes, star students and students of concern.

We are expected to take some evidence along - books/prototypes etc. 
Here's the schedule below...