Education Investigation

It is drawing close to that time of year when you:

a) Look back on what you have done.

and

b) Look forward to next year :+)

Well I have been thinking . . . . . My school has given me the chance to go up to a Year 6 class (10 year olds) and I have some new ideas. BUT before I get ahead of myself (as I do when I get excited) I need to do some weighing up.

Here are some questions that help me evaluate my teaching and the activities I immerse my students in:

1. Did the students love the lesson?
2. Does it engage creative thinking?
3. What did it teach them……..REALLY?
4. Could I have done it a better way?
5. Was the effort/stress worth it in the outcome?
6. Could the ICT activity be done better on paper? (or vice versa)
7. Was I doubling up on anything?
8. Does anyone else do it differently?
9. What does research say about it?

What questions have been helpful for you?

However to deal effectively with any of these questions I need more than my 5 minute shower reflection time. I need rest (so that I can think creatively - mountain tops work well for me). It really comes down to time.

I noticed that Jeff Utecht has shared on his blog “The Thinking Stick”

“I would love if every teacher got 20% R&D time.”

If we were given time to do some Research and Development our efforts as educators would be more effective and we would feel more rewarded. This is also how we can help keep ourselves and our school on the cutting edge of education.

I know I was blessed to have 5 days this term looking into Inquiry Learning. I felt so rewarded and so much more confident as an educator.

Are there creative ideas out there as to how our schools could incorporate more R + D?

Picture Authors: 

“Footprints” - http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/beware-your-digital-footprint-is-your-resume.html

"Question Mark" - http://www.sbac.edu/~media/hurricane_preparedness.htm

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A couple of weeks ago my colleague and I were given 5 days study leave to develop an inquiry model for our school. This was a fantastic opportunity as:

1. We got to dig deeper through research and better our understanding of inquiry.
2. We had a brilliant time chatting with other educational lectures from BTI.
3. It was terrific to be able to work with a colleague. We were able to problem solve much faster and reflect on things together.

We foraged amongst many readings of which one stood out: “Head, Heart and Hands” by Dennis P. Hollinger. He states

“Education philosophy and research has demonstrated that we do not learn by mind alone. Our deepest affections and our emotional states have a significant bearing on what we will open our minds to and how we actually process knowledge. And of course we all know what research demonstrates: we learn by doing.” (pg 184)

This reminded us that we need to engage the whole person in our inquiry journey; their head, heart and hands. We have come up with a draft model that includes these elements as stages in the inquiry. They will also guide us in our assessment.

Now because the model is a draft it needs to be presented to staff before it is critiqued and finally accepted. So I thought I would give you a peak at what has come out of our study. Below is a pictorial symbol of the inquiry. I hope to post about the rest early next year :+)

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Ok I had other ideas for a post but after reading Wesley Fryer’s post “The Ouboard Brain, Memory, Transfer and Learning” I have to ask the question - Who has hit the nail on the head when it comes to teaching spelling? What works best for you?

In his post Wesley says “The fact that my own children are regularly taking spelling tests at school continues to both trouble and irritate me as well. There is virtually NO academic research I read or was exposed to in my masters and doctoral graduate coursework in education which suggests giving students spelling tests of decontextualized words on a weekly basis improves their abilities to spell, read or write. The real skill related to spelling is WRITING, and the best way to improve writing skills (according to the body of literacy research reviewed by Dr. Stephen Krashen of USC in his excellent book, ““The Power of Reading, Second Edition: Insights from the Research” is to encourage students to READ prolifically.”

Options I have used in the past include:

1. Giving Parents a list to go through with their child.
2. Using Essential Spelling Lists and then placing these new words into children’s homework books.
3. Progressing through spelling activity books where children complete fun games that teach them to learn how to spell and use grammar correctly.
4. Taking misspelt words out of their writing and placing it into their homework books.
5. Teaching spelling as part of my “Word of the Week” feature where I hit an English rule once a week eg: “When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking.”

In all of the situations above there is a test on Friday with the teacher/buddy to monitor progress. Sometimes we graph the results so the students can see a trend.

I don’t feel I have hit the nail on the head yet - does anyone else have any other ideas??

Picture Author:

"Classroom" - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart

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