CAME in the IP: spotting Piagetian levels

The IP Mathematics programme includes 24 Shayer lessons to promote cognitive acceleration. Each grade has been allocated 8 lessons for the year which amounts to 1 per unit. Since all 3 grades need to teach the first CAME lesson of the year, we decided that our focus on student learning, for the 3-week period, would be through these lessons. Each set of grade teachers has spent time discussing the objective of the lesson, the cognitive preparation, the episodes and have prepared the lesson material . We plan to video each lesson and edit the recording so that we have clips that can be used to observe and reflect on learning that took place. We aim to focus on spotting the Piagetian levels as set out in the manual and note how students may/may not switch to a higher level as the lesson proceeds.  The Grade 4 and 5 lessons each have 2 episodes and the Grade 6 lesson has 3 episodes. Grade 5 and 6 will develop the episodes over more than one period.

FP: agreeing on the details of our mentoring programme

As a follow-up to our formalised 2-day workshop on mentoring, Reception and Grade 1 mentors and mentees perused policies from around the world to discover best-practice mentorship programmes.

Various segments of what is soon to be our own Lebone Mentorship Action Plan were divided among the relevant staff. These included contracts, checklists, needs assessments and collaborative logs.

Once staff have completed their allotted assignments, the segments will then be formalised and collated into a working document.

We look forward to our very first formal mentor/mentee meeting next week!

PP enhances student 'voice' - looking for honest relationships

Although we presented the lesson to other teachers it was still a bit difficult to relay that lesson to the students. We experienced technical difficulties and some of the teachers did not come to the ‘lesson’ and so did not know what to do. 

In our reflection there was no clear evidence that learning was taking place. The nature of our group does not allow for learning but rather understanding of the process to follow in order to complete the pro project. In today’s discussion we decided that the only genuine source they have is each other. They are all experiencing the project and having to complete it. We, as the teachers, are not. It has been very teacher centered in the past couple of weeks. Despite our hooks and CFU’s we were doing all the heavy lifting: student work ratio has been minimal. 

We realised that is time to hear their voice. Therefore, the next couple of weeks are going to be student centered and collaborative. We will observe how much more or less of the required tasks they can understand and complete, without us ‘interfering’ and dictating all of the time. Again it came up that the only way to encourage learners’ thinking, to push themselves beyond themselves, is if there is a positive relationship between Advisors and Advisees. This remains the teacher's responsibility to create. You have to trust yourself and trust them just as much as they have to trust you. This will empower them to ask the challenging questions, to take a leap and know that we are there to break their fall. It will also empower us to know that they will be honest with us about their learning.

Poetry for social analysis

The Language cell will use Chinua Achebe’s iconic poem REFUGEE MOTHER AND CHILD a a focus for this week's Lesson Study. In addition to a traditional poetry analysis there will also be discussion around issues such as poverty, malnutrition, refugees and social responsibility. A ppt with images from TIME and LIFE magazine will reinforce the central concerns. There will also be debate about the merits of foregrounding the rhino crisis as opposed to the human one. Learners will also write their personal response to the poem and the issues raised. Lesson observation to take place this week.

Visible learning through 'gaming' in the Science Department

Still focusing on making science visible in the class in order to facilitate better understanding. Planning a 2 period lesson around PRC in Life Science for Grade 11. The introduction to this topic is an on-line game that learners will play in the IT lab. (http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/chemistry/pcr/ ) The purpose of this game is to open up the content in a very visible, gamey way before actual teaching of it will take place. The hope is that learners will retain the actual content better if they go through it individually before traditional classroom teaching starts. The second period will be used for teaching the topic and CFU / metacognition in groups and individually.

Humanities core agreements

Today in the Humanities lesson study group we started with a bit of a reflection on the first cycle.  Virginia shared some of what she learned in the first cycle about using the Promethean software. The group thought that preparing a regular questionnaire and then using the clickers for student responses is a pretty good way of getting started, when using the software the first time. We also agreed that it takes a lot of preparation the first time and that we will try to incorporate it more in other lessons as we go through various lesson study cycles. After some initial reflection on the first cycle we moved on to what we want to focus on in the next cycle. I shared some of my observations made in watching Marie Reynolds facilitate a Mathematics cell group that has been running successfully for the last two years.  We also looked at some slides unpacking and explaining some important elements and principles of Japanese lesson study. After some discussion and collective brainstorming we settled on the following ideas and principles to guide us in our actions going forward.

• We will all collaborate on planning, executing and assessing 
• Whatever the actual learning area, all contributions to the lesson are welcome whether it is content, methods, strategies or outcomes – everyone contributes what they can to make the lesson as effective as possible. 
• We want to plan thoroughly and make sure that this particular lesson - our lesson, is of good quality. We do not want to rush into teaching it before we feel it is ready. 
• We will first “teach” the lesson in a sort of a “dry run” or “pilot study” fashion, to each other, before we teach it to the students – this will be done as part of our collaborative planning sessions before actual presentation to students. 
• We will make video recordings of lessons being presented to student, as far as possible, to facilitate thorough reflection and de-briefing. 
• Notes, classroom scripts, formative and summative assessments are all responses by students to the lesson and will be considered as forms of “data” that can tell us something about the learning that took place.

After teaching the lesson once we will, reflect, re-plan and re-teach the lesson to a different group where it is feasible and helpful. All and all we agreed that lesson study takes more time, commitment and planning than we have been giving it up to this point. Although we feel that we have learnt a lot and it has been valuable we also feel that we should give ourselves time and space to really focus on the detail and see if we can improve our process. In the next 4-6 weeks we want to collaboratively plan, execute and reflect on a Gr.9 LO lesson on peer pressure and addictions. Everyone in the group agreed to bring some “lesson content” like articles or worksheets to the group next time we meet. When we meet again we will each share what we have found around the theme of peer pressure and addictions and will begin the process of collaboratively “scripting” our lesson.  

Language Cell: "do nows", games and addressing the big rocks

Discussion about Ronelle Lochner’s lesson that she presented last week - on advertising.

• The lesson started with a Do Now, which engaged students immediately and gave them something to do straight away.
• The group work format allowed all students to engage, even though not all had to share with the class.
• Groups were also allowed to discuss in Setswana if they wanted to and then share in English.

Amanda Goosen will present her lesson for observation on Thursday at 08.50-09.40.

• It will be an introductory lesson to Afrikaans idioms.
• Amanda will play a game whereby groups need to match the idioms to their meanings.
• The second part of the lesson will be on how to apply the idioms in everyday life.

The next lesson will be prepared and presented by Gala Makodi.
Thebe Morake will send his timetable to us as an invitation to observe him too.
We also spoke about the big rocks and how to target those within our lesson planning cells.

PP progress

The past two lessons have been analysed and the way forward discussed. We realized that its very difficult to gauge student learning in the big group of 75 students. Each PP supervisor has been allocated a section to plan using our lesson plan template. Each supervisor will present that lesson to the other PP supervisors, modelling the way it should run with the learners in the smaller groups. We will observe each other in these sessions and provide feedback the next week. This process will run for the next four weeks to ensure that all PP supervisors will be able to effectively launch the PP so that learners can work more independently until their first deadline.

Colleagues reflect on a Middle School English lesson

• Managed to engage with students and has developed an effective relationship with the class. 
• Sometimes we make the assumption that students know the language we use, e.g. explain “Super Bowl Sunday” and hold to the same high standards for the lesson objective. 
• Picked up that if one child can’t hear at the back of the classroom – classroom management / disruptions might become an issue. 
• Excellent practice of walking around classroom – checking 'over the shoulder' that students are working well. 
• Integration of IT into lesson – wonderful! 
• Never accept a "yes" – ALWAYS ask why! Drawing them out.
• Interesting lesson- can use ideas from the English Dept. in Setswana Dept. Cross pollination!
• Lesson related to their “world”. Content was brought back to their “world”. 
• Do now – always gets the students focused at the beginning of the lesson. Works well.