Humanities / Technology 1: next steps for "scripting" a lesson study

Here is the summary’s of Monday's cell meeting 4.03.2013 - addressed to cell members:

Great job identifying a clear objective for the lesson! Now let’s send Heidi some tasks to “script into” our first draft.

I think it is important that each of us make a concrete contribution to the learning script  - so may I ask that we pass on our various contribution to Heidi (as per our original plan)  by this Friday 8/03

• I have asked Heidi to compile a first draft  - we can pass it on via e mail next week
• When we come back after the holiday we can have a “pilot run” with Joe and Heidi presenting the script to us so we can make final recommendations before we roll it out to students week 2/3 next term
• Give some thought to  - How will we assess the learning we hope to facilitate?  - How will we know what/that students have reached the objective/outcome we have identified?
• Can we come up with a summative task/rubric at the end of the script that can serve as an “instrument” for assessment of the learning we have facilitated?

Please CC me in when you send your contribution to Heidi.

Let’s keep talking…

Hanno

Language B use template to note observations

It has been a wonderful experience discussing lessons and sharing ideas. Unfortunately not all of us were able to have a chance to observe all the lessons. It has again been unfortunate that we were unable to capture these lessons on video because of the factors we had no control over.

We are going to observe one last lesson for this term, a Grade 3 Setswana lesson with the continuation of Big Book activities by Sisi Malebye on Wednesday at 09h30 – 10h30. We planned to videotape the lesson because there is a dire need for all to watch the lesson and get everybody’s input. We will try our best to swop our lessons with our colleagues to be able to observe the lesson. 

Among other things, we will be observing the following aspects of this lesson:

• The different learning styles used.
• Quality of discussions in various groups.
• Resources used  - variation?
• The engagements in various activities, and
• Evident growth in the students.

We will give a short individual feedback but the group will watch the video and discuss the points above.

IP reflects and sets goals for Term 2 CPD

We felt that:

• We should continue, but perhaps change the format; example:
• teachers come up with their own question, what they would like to observe in their class and base the lesson on that.
• use our literature circles as they are enjoyable – same ability children from different grades in one group.
• It was constructive as
• we were in a reflective mode.
• the lessons were what we could use in the class at that time.
• we learnt from each other.
• The planning and the doing of the lessons were good.
• The recording was not so successful; we couldn’t hear properly and were not sure what to look for when watching a clip.
• Talking about our experiences was more successful.
• More teachers to watch an actual lesson would be ideal – difficult because we would need substitution.
• We could watch across grades, talk with that teacher about the lesson and report back to the phase. 

Reflections from an English poem: Refugee

Reflections from Richard Sibeko's lesson:

• Poetry lesson Refugee

• Relationships with students vary – made it difficult for RS to “connect” with the class because he was not teaching his class

• Children come from an environment where the child has no say at all, making it difficult to get a response from them

• Called on students to recall the elements of poetry – Good thing

• CK – Guiding questions to guide the students with analysis.  There is no right way to do things esp in English

• OM – this does not happen with all young teachers – being able to control the class and deliver your lesson

• KM – share the “idiots guide” for poetry – share with the Setswana Dept

• Rephrasing of the question – there is something wrong with the question if you are not getting a response from the children – begin with “How do I feel?”

•  Standing in the middle of the class – disengaging with the rest of the class

• Bring material down to their level without dropping the standard - excellent

• Students translating the poem to their mother tongue, however, they ask for the English translation in Setswana class

• Making the lesson memorable. Make a picture and bring it back to their personal experience

• Don’t be afraid of having FUN!

• Young teachers – role model for the students

Science deals with student learning idiosyncrasies

The simulation program ensured that all the learners were completely involved in the lesson. They could work at their own pace and go back to parts that they were not sure of. The learning preferences of students were also illustrated as you could see who preferred to learn auditory or visually.

What have we learned?

Important to cater for different learning styles and also to allow learners to work at their own pace and to go back to parts that they did not get the first time. How often should we check for understanding ? What do we do if they do not understand? Do you go back and re-teach? Learner self – assessment is not always reliable as a CFU.

Special teaching strategies need to be implemented for learners who are very teacher-dependent in their learning or who need to continuously confirm their knowledge verbally to the teacher. Possible strategies include: allowing them a limited number of questions per period, giving them a checklist to go through before they ask a question or let them write down the questions and then answer it after the lesson. Loretta Giorcelli suggests teachers create a routine, reinforced by a visual prompt (classroom poster) that reminds the students to "1-2-3 before you ask me...":  

1 – Ask a friend

2 – Look around you (your book, the room, the board)

3 – Think about it... only then ask the teacher.

Arts cell plans for Term 2

·         The most important issue at this point for the group is to have time to do curriculum designing (especially for subjects such as the Electives that are new)

·         We would like to have a Monday or two to work on it (on our own) and then bring it back to the group for discussion

·         As part of this we feel strongly about figuring out “How to write a rubric”. We need to get the learners involved and feel that simple is always better when assessing. Without knowing exactly what we are assessing,  no lesson plans will be successful.

·         We also feel that there should be a central space available (like the z-drive) where teachers can share resource sites.

·         Visiting other classes (outside of our subjects) and Johannesburg IEB schools - Theme based: we will pick one of the following themes to observe during these visits (video taped):

                                                               i.      Classroom management

                                                             ii.      Differentiation in the class

                                                            iii.      Assessment

                                                           iv.      Social curriculum (Values, Bullying, etc)

                                                             v.      Mentoring (Therese and her team are well into a solid programme)

                                                           vi.      Etc.

·         We will then take this theme into our own classes, video tape it and discuss with the group the following week.

·         We can also have various lesson focuses, such as IT in our lessons. Christine can come to the group and do a workshop with us on how to use the Ipad in class, etc.

·         The group can go to one of the various Creativity Conferences around the country, such as the Groot Marico or Klein Cariba ones. They are usually during school holidays and will benefit us around creativity in the classroom.