Foundation Phase - Shayer Lesson Reflection from a UNW Potchefstroom Newly Qualified Teacher

 

Mentee's own lesson reflection

The lesson went well however there are a few things that stood out for me:

• Student's attention:  Their concentration and cooperation was not a hundred percent which is one of the things that had an impact on their learning.
• The state that the student's are in plays a role:  In this case they went hiking (physical education) and after physical education it was lunch.  We then continued with the Maths lesson and this had a huge impact on their concentration level.  The children were tired and it was difficult to get their attention.
• Me giving a Shayer lesson for the first time: It was a challenge to think of ways to pose questions because if I tried breaking down the question into easier statements or questions, I felt like I was giving the answers away. This was identified when the students didn't understand the questions I prepared/planned.
• The lesson was a success because the students reached the lesson objectives/outcomes. However, Episode 2 was only partly understood.
• The problems I identified with Episode 2 is the types of groupings the students chose. Most of the students chose groupings of 2 and 3 without thinking of other ways in which the objects could be grouped, such as in groups of 5 and 10. They were concentrating on giving their objects partners, without thinking of different groupings that could be arranged.

Mentor and mentee reflection (together)

•  Students' attention:  Over using certain behaviour strategies makes the strategy lose its impact. In order to get the learners attention, different styles and techniques can be used, such as using some of the strategies from Teach Like A Champion or whole brain teaching by Benjamin Franklin. Using these different styles/techniques will help students to listen attentively.
• Setting clear instructions:  Make sure that the students understand what they have to do. This could be done by asking learners questions based on what you have just asked them to do. Doing this gives the teacher the idea whether the students understand the instructions, or not. There are several ideas that the teacher could use to find out if the students truly understand such as recalling, repeating, etc.
• Reading instructions carefully:  It is always important to read the questions carefully. The outcomes of Episode 2 were partially reached due to the fact of misinterpreting the statement. In this case the students had to be given two identical diagrams in which they identify two types of groupings (grouping objects in two different ways, using the easiest types of groupings such as one in groups of 2's and one in groups of 3's), the objective/outcome was not reached because different diagrams were given to the students to complete. Hence the students came up with only two types of groupings and didn't think of other ways they could group the pictures. They were only concerned about giving each picture a partner.
• Partner work: The students were not interacting with one another, they were working individually rather than in partners. This is due to the fact that students are not used to working in partners and sharing ideas as partners. In order to improve this we should engage students in partner work more often and make them aware of the importance of partner work and listening to one another.
• Time:  The time spent on the lesson plays a role, as a deliberate intervention, aiming to enhance the student' attention and concentration. Try to minimise the length of the lesson by increasing the pace of the lesson, asking only a few learners to give feedback and carry on with the lesson.

'Stand and deliver' - a share fair from many

Here is the plan for our cell times.

•  Mon – 19 AUG – Joe and Heidi  - Teaching drug awareness and drug use prevention to Gr.9 students at Lebone – Presenting lesson data and findings
• Mon – 26 Aug  - Kehumile Masala – Teaching environmental awareness in a multilingual society  - Presenting lesson data and findings on language development
• Mon  - 2 September  - Brain Slater – Scaffolding the acquisition of IT skills  - Basic to complex  - The ZPD and Bloom’s Taxonomy in IT – Presenting lesson data and findings
• Mon – 9 Sept  - Joe Cossa and Mpho Nkwana – Integrating experiential learning into the LO classroom – Planning for facilitating the transfer of Life Skills learned at the Gr.10 camp. – Planning for learning
• Mon 14 October – Joe Cossa and Mpho Nkwana – The gr. 10 camp – A reflection on experience and data gathered during the camp.
• Mon 21/28 October  - Planning for teaching EQ – The use of experiential learning in the LO room – Designing a learning script:
• What are we teaching this for? – Lesson outcomes /
• What are we actually teaching? – Lesson content /
• When is the right time to teach this? – Developmental timeframes/
• How do we teach this? – Method and strategy of teaching and learning/
• How do we know what we have achieved? – Assessment.

Hope it fits into the bigger picture  - Basically we are giving opportunity for presenting on various lessons and learning experiences that are already in process  - ether in a design and development or presentation phase.

Setswana students and their reaction to a 'hook'

Our group met on Monday. Onnica brought her ideas about the lesson she will teach (2 lessons, actually). We discussed the concept of the “hook” and shared some interesting ideas on this. Onnica would like us to concentrate on the students in her class and document their response and reaction to her lesson. Marcia will film one lesson and Nhlanhla the other. We will watch and discuss next week.

Big 'Shout Out' for the IP Team

[As part of our new curriculum TEAM IP chooses 1 or 2 Habits of mind, values and concepts to give depth to students' learning. This magnificent team leads their students by example. This past week teachers have completed summative assessment and worked on unit 6 planning.]

Dear IP Team

 Thank-you for the innovative summative assessment ideas. Laura and Thembeni put hours of work into a successful Energy Expo. Caitlin and Bruce got students to do  experiments with household chemicals. Petra and John got their students telling stories to a wider audience for the first time. Thanks to Gladys and Lizzie for setting up a Setswana reading system. Thanks to Herme for exposing her students to events that they haven't dreamt of and putting Lebone on the map with her extreme sports.

 As I left at 4:30 on Friday I noticed  Laura and Thembeni working as team designing lessons for unit 6 and making arrangements to be back on Saturday to set up the classrooms before Monday. Caitlin was typing up all the English and Unit planning that had been discussed to share with Bruce whilst Bruce was coming in on Saturday to set up the Maths. On Sunday morning I received a delivery of ingredients from Caitlin  to make modeling dough for the class I sub next week. Petra and John had spent Thursday evening and Friday afternoon encouraging their students to present their stories to their parents after hours of preparation. Gladys and Lizzie have worked hard at unit 6 and sent the well organised prep to go onto the TD planner. On Friday Herme and Petra coordinated a successful cleanup operation with EVERY  member of the phase present to do their part!. TEAMWORK AT ITS BEST

The Lebone values of dedication and passion are not only being explored by the students but being lived out by the teachers. You are 'AWESOME' . Thank-you for extending time to IP PD team - we welcome Gladys and Lizzie who have complimented the team by acknowledging that they too are learning from you.

Special thanks to Therese, Karmi, Sue, Elize and Candice who are passionate about the arts - we don't see enough of you but the students love your lessons.

This year has been one of change as teachers are adapting from PYP to our own curriculum. As I am collating your planning onto the TD planner 6, I notice the continuity of learning and how much thought has gone into setting out your year plan.

This brings me to the final concept that has emerged through all your hard work - that of distinction. Although we are still a young department you all strive for excellence by  making what you do differently into more than what is expected. Each of you have brought your distinctive qualities to our team making us successful.

THANK-YOU

Ursula

Matric Art Lesson

 

The Grade 12s had to research resistance art - each were given an image of an art work and they had to present their work to their fellow students.

They had to research their artwork and artist, and place it in the context of the socio-political issues of the time, e.g. one student researched The Butcher Boys by Jane Alexander - resistance art (picture above)

Students were given an outline to anchor them:

• Description: Describe what you see?
• Analysis: How is the work organised?
• Interpretation: What is the artist trying to communicate?
• Judgment:  Is this a successful work of art?

Concern:

• Students were not well prepared - they did not research their individual art works well. They made excuses that they could not find any information or did not make the effort to analyse their artwork in depth at home.
• The student who was assigned the The Butcher Boys described it in terms of  the Apartheid Era.
• But her interpretation of the artwork was in total contrast to the intention and point of view of the sculptor. The images, according to her, represented black people who were treated as animals.

Yet:

• This sparked a lively conversation, as another student commented that the artist of Butcher Boys meant the sculptures to present the oppressors, thus anti-Apartheid art. The title refers to the people who were sympathetic to the cause of apartheid. The casual stance of the figures in the statues show that they don't care. They don't have ears, as they are not sensitised to what is happening to the oppressed people. Hence the title  Butcher Boys - they are acting in an inhumane way, condoning the butchery, by doing nothing. Their demonic heads add to this meaning.

The Teacher:

• Challenged students to study their sources critically to ensure that the intention of the artist is well understood before presenting a point of view to the class.
• Asked good guiding questions, e.g. by leading a student to an understanding of the connotations of the title of the artwork Bulldoze the Black Spot.

 Strategies to help students:

• Teachers who observed the lesson felt that strategies could be put in place to help students cope with exam questions such as these which require knowledge of an entire artistic movement
• Knowledge: students should draw mind maps and summarise the characteristics of the different movements and eras in art and their representative artists
• Skills: analysing art works should be practised and reinforced until students get it.

 Planning the next lesson:

• Students were asked to do in-depth research about the same artist.
• They have to bring their research to class.
• Each student must set a lower order and higher order question on their art work - with a memo
• Students must be well prepared in order to ask questions and to field questions from other students.