Numeracy Planning

Lancs Weekly Planning:
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/math/index.php?category_id=968

Primary Framework Blocks:
http://www.teachfind.com/national-strategies/primary-mathematics-year-6-block-unit-1-%E2%80%93-counting-partitioning-and-calculating-

Geog 23-11-11

Meanders explained (v technical!)

Source, tributary and flow of water in River Forth


Animation of a meander.

A river is a stretch of water flowing towards the sea. The beginning of a river is called its ___________. The ___________ is usually on a mountain or hill and can form as a result of meltwater from a glacier (a frozen river of ice), or it can start flowing from a lake or from a spring. Springs are formed when rainwater seeps out of the ground and flows down the side of a hill. Rivers usually start small and gain energy and extra water on their journey to the sea. The point where the river meets the sea is called an _________, or a ________. Rivers rarely follow a straight course and twist and turn in ____________. as they flow down hill. Small rivers join the main river and they are called ____________. The point where a tributary joins the main river is called a ____________.

Thames Head: source

Tyne: Mouth

Thames: Meander

Barton on Humber: Tributary

Literacy 22-11-11

Slide 5
Rescue at sea!

Dramatic scenes occurred on Wednesday night when the storm of the century hit the Atlantic coast. Loss of life was narrowly avoided.

Children in Rescue Drama


The Off-Shore Lifeboat Service was once again at the centre of a dramatic rescue when it was called out last Wednesday night. Three children had been spotted drifting out to sea by a passer-by. They were in a small boat as the weather deteriorated. They were named as Jack Morris (10), Jonas Leech (10) and Sam Patel (11).

Slide 12 / 13

When: Last night

Who: Mr. Andrews

Where: on holiday in Greece

What: rushed to hospital with bad sunburn

Why: fell asleep in the sun.

Good para

A man was rushed to hospital late last night, with suspected third degree burns from bad sunburn. He had been relaxing by the pool whilst on holiday. It is thought he fell asleep in the sun. The man has been identified as Mr Andrews.

Bad para

Mr Andrews had to go to hospital because he got really bad sunburn. It was sunburn all over his arms and his legs and he even had a sunburnt nose. He couldn’t sit down without it hurting. He couldn’t stretch without it stinging. In fact, Mr Andrews couldn’t even yawn without his sunburn causing him pain.

Health and Safety of Pupils on Educational Visits

http://bit.ly/tripshs

Comms with Parents Session (16-11-11)

Keeping notes of contact with parents is important.

Getting Parents Involved

Workshops for parents to find out about techniques that are used in school in, for example, guided reading. However, the parents that will sign up for it are often the parents who won’t necessarily need it. The barrier is parents’ own memories of school and their own school experiences.

Is good work being reflected higher up the school, in terms of integrating parents? 

Certainly if you start earlier on it is less daunting a prospect for parents (in EYFS setting it is less about straight literacy and numeracy)

Family Support Workers going beyond the classroom such as financial benefits and housing.

Heavily involved parents can be your best help in bringing in less positive parents.

Parents Focus Group with reps who will decide what they would like to raise with the Head (PTA Lite).

Formal systems like Home-School Books, Parents’ Evenings, Reports etc.

Transitions points are key times.

Why is it important to communicate effectively with parents?

- In order to know the chn.

They know their chn the best. However, they might not know how their chd reacts in large groups at all. Chd maybe a right pain at home but angels in school, or vice-versa. It’s about building a bridge between these 2 places.

For example, the chd who can’t deal with being in a group of 30, be it because they are over-stimulated and act out, or because they become introverted and shy.

There is also sometimes no basis of comparison for parents, so they might not have picked up on things like Autism in their chd. Reception and Nursery teachers especially need to be on the look-out for this kind of thing.

• So parents can follow-up and support their chd’s learning.

• So chd see parents and teachers working together: disagreement between teachers + parents in front of the chd or implicitly is not effective. Reinforcement with a common message is effective.

Communication

- Listening and speaking: communication is 2-way.

Parents will often leave the most important thing last.

• Can be formal or informal- informal meetings are what seal the relationships, in order to cement you as a human being.

Condidentiality

- Who is the prime/designated carer? Who has the right to information?

In the case of a dispute, in-laws might be trying to get evidence that the other parent is not doing their job properly.

• Should not be party to gossip in any sense about families (such as giving information).

Barriers

• Language

Solution is ring-fenced sum of money from EMAG for working w/ chn w/ EAL. In order to pay interpreters when it’s important to do so.

Perhaps other chn for day-to-day interpretation.

Groups for parents with EAL: such as those resourced by outside agencies, Further Education agencies or groups specific to particular ethnicity.

More documentation in home language. Dual-language resources, books going home.

Important to preserve skills in home-languages of pupils too.

• Past Experiences (i.e. parents’ own experiences of school)

Need to show them you’re a nice guy. Maybe the parents will come along to festive things rather than nuts and bolts meetings etc- take these opportunities to wish them well, thank for coming etc.

Parents who had bad experiences will have a long list of excuses not to come into school.

Family Support Workers can do Home Visits in these cases, if needed.

- Apathy

Solution is having the confidence to know you are acting in the best interests of the chd and pin down parent when you know they’ll be in school, and arrange a meeting, making sure you make yourself as available as possible (early mornings, lunches, evenings).

• Denial

Parents who don’t want their kids having labels; parents who do want their kids labeled.

• Parents Working Hours
• Parents with mental health problems

Should chn be present at meetings?

What parents need to say to you that may not be appropriate to be said in front of the chd: if they think there are issues that aren’t appropriate, arrange a separate moment (‘Is there anything you wan to talk about privately?- be careful you ground this in evidence, such as a chd mentioning trouble at home)

What do we need to communicate about?

- Attainment

Report is very hard thing to do- they are not there to have you explain areas that could be misconstrued etc. Arrange a meeting before sending it home.

TIP: Go to parents as early as possible to say you are anxious about a chd finding difficulties w/ something. Do not over-dramatize, perhaps give the parent something for the chd to focus on at home. Then when something more serious emerges, you have a background, and you have been involving parents from the very beginning.

- Attendance

Increasingly big thing. Different policies in different schools.

Give 100% attendance stickers to chn at the end of each half term (encourages pupils to not stretch illness out- this occurs lots with younger, protective parents)

Make sure you ask chn where they have been when they are absent- this makes it clear that it matters to someone where they are and also helps build the relationship with the pupil.

• Health and Medical Needs

There should be a Health Care Plan setting out everything in school. Need to know health issues for your class.

Be aware that parents may not prioritise this information, or may forget to inform the school: ask the questions and don’t assume parents will give you this information.

• Special Needs

Myth of SEN chn not getting a place pervades amongst parents.

• Behaviour

Raise concerns early, like w/ attainment.

• Starting school

What is policy?

Family Support Worker liases and preparation is made.

What can you do?

Explain to Parents how the day works. Make a point of inviting them in and building a relationship. Do Home Visits for the littler ones. Running Parent Workshops for parents of new chn. Proactivity is best, especially in September.

• Pastoral Issues

• Referrals to other professionals, Working in partnership with parents and professionals

Think about this one- if it in-school (e.g. SENCO), should be ok for this to occur without explicit consent by parents (unless you have concerns the chd will tell their parents), the same way if you had a supply teacher in there wouldn’t be need for permissions.

If it is an Outside Agency, you must get consent. If you have problems with this, get the School Nurse involved as a neutral party that parents might trust more.

Tricky part is when there is a professional looking at Chd A and you are tempted to ask them to observe Chd B, who you might also be concerned about. Keep focus.

• Child Concern and Child Protection Issues

You must tell parents about referrals, unless you are afraid it will endanger the chd if you do so (e.g. if a chd has been hit and you risk the chd being hit again when you tell the parents you’ve referred it).

• School trips and school journeys, practical aspects of transition (who the new classroom teacher is, where it is- is there a day in summer when you can have the parents in to roam the school and kids can show them their areas?)

When and how do we communicate?

Put positives in- if the parent always hears bad things they’ll stop listening.

Use, ‘I just wanted to have a word...’ to prompt positive communication as well as bad. Feel free to call to say if a chd has had a really good day and no other message.

Think about e-mail and texting (downside is families will never tell you when their number is changed).

If you say you’re going to do something every day, you must do it. (Better to say, ‘I will write a note in your Home-School book as often as possible’)

Websites, MLE, FRONTA- somewhere kids can access class resources.

Before and After school, remembering about family issues.

Talking to Parents

Be honest, but not too honest. Word appropriately. Use neutral phases (he is struggling with; she finds it very difficult). Don’t use value judgements (good and bad), get a feeling of working together (we need to...), always be professional, think about expectations what ‘professional’ means in your school (grooming, dress and presentation), be on time (warning parents at reasonable notice if you have to cancel, be prepared with the background for any particular case.

Expressing Concerns

Get to know your parents the same way you have to get to know your children.

Offer a further meeting.

Depending on how formal the meeting is, find the time to write a letter or email to thank parents, and also to lay out what was agreed in the meeting.

Dealing with Difficult Parents

If you mess up, fess up. Be brave and tell someone before you see the parents. Let someone with more experience help you get out of the muddle. You will say silly things and forget things.

Listen and listen and wait til the parents have said everything they want to say. Refrain from defending, arguing things- as soon as you do, you enter an argument rather than a professional discussion.

Where parents feel their chd has been bullied, they will want to see the bully hung-drawn and quartered. Tread carefully when discussing bullying issues. Don’t be afraid to have them see it from the other point of view: ‘I wouldn’t discuss your chd with another parent, so I’m afraid I really can’t discuss this chd with you.’

You have a right to say you think something should be dealt with a senior member of staff (if you feel out of your depth).

Good news sandwich. 

Think of body language: nod so you’re non-threatening, forefinger touching your thumb pinch (suggests you are saying something worth listening to) rather than pointing a finger (threatening).

Make an effort to understand Parents’ Perspective: Now tell me about ---; do you think he is happy at school?

Important to listen and show you’re listening.

Links arising from Special Needs in Reading chapter in Gross book

http://www.thrass.co.uk/

http://bit.ly/renebootebook

English 2: Reading

14-11-11

See slides print-out and resources on Westgate.

Poem a Day project: ‘Your Dresses’, Carol Ann Duffy

With musical instruments.

Benefits of exploring poetry this way: giving them ownership of it, making it fun and engaging, cross-curricular links (in this case: dance, geography, DT and making things to represent images, writing the next verse), exploring the rhythm, rhyme and composition of it by focusing on individual words and how they all work together, bringing mood and emotion of poem to the surface, inclusive activity (collaborative exercise, pupils are given option to choose their role- speaking or non-speaking- etc).

Oscar Got the Blame, Tony Ross

(Illustrated by the same).

Older child interprets words on the page using relevant colloquialisms that are age-appropriate (where a teacher might not be so skilled at this).

Focus on the pictures and repetition without correcting the younger child.

Looking at Rose Review quote

‘Language-rich curriculum’:

Magpie Wall: stealing words from other Word Walls, sharing words around the school. A couple of kids forage for words each Literacy lesson (wearing a magpie mask).

Encourage discussion and use of ambitious vocab, refer to new words often and celebrate them. Speaking and Listening to bridge gap between comprehension and application.

Role-play and Drama.

Reading Areas, class or school libraries.

Simple View of Reading

Most up to date model of reading we have. Language Comprehension (LC, Overall understanding, meaning-making)  and Word Recognition (WR, Phonics and Decoding).

Terms of the model (‘good’ and ‘poor’) are imprecise and subjective: you would not call a 5 year old high-achieving reader a ‘poor’ reader, but a ‘developing’ or ‘inexperienced’ reader.

Elements of WR and LC appear on the EYFS Communication, Language and Literacy Area of Learning (see slide).

Book Start- check this out online.

NC and PNS

NC: statutory.

PNS: non-statutory, split into 12 Strands. 

First 4 are Speaking and Listening strands. Strands 5-8 are Reading strands. 

Important to link these strands to the Simple View of Reading: strands 5 and 6 are about WR, while strands 7 and 8 are to do with LC.

Strand 5 is blank in Year 2 onwards (implication is chn should have adequately developed their WR skills). 

Using screens

E-mails, reading LOs, using Film (in order to ‘understand and engage with text’ i.e. a script read aloud, an oral story passed down, the story of a film) to fill in gaps etc- check up British Film Institute for ideas in the classroom. 

However, this shouldn’t replace reading from books. 

Phonics

Systematic means it is sequenced/ordered and meets Core Criteria (see web link on slide).

Most popular programmes: Big Cat Phonics, Jolly Phonics, Letters and Sounds and Read, Write, Ink.

3 Key Principle: phoneme may be represented by more than 1 letter, same phoneme may be spelled in more than one way and the same spelling may represent more than 1 phoneme. See examples on slide.

Analytic Phonics: analysing a word for common chunks. Uses onset and rime. (thinking of ‘cat as /c/at/, whereas in synthetic phonics you would segment /c/a/t/. Children will naturally move on to analytic phonics, but the govt prefers synthetic)

Onset- sound you hear before the first vowel. If the word begins with a vowel, then there is no onset.

Rime- everything from the first vowel onward (in chips, it’s /ips/; in sing it’s /ing/).

The idea is that children pick up on similar rimes and notice that words rhyme and can use their knowledge to decode new words.

Clackmannanshire Research

Divided chn into 3 groups and taught them by different methods: analytic, phonological awareness (like Phase 1 of Letters and Sounds) and synthetic phonics.

The third group completely out-performed the others. However, wasn’t a fair test at all.

Video- Leading Partners in Literacy

Model teaching of Phonics: very fast pace, slick use of actions and accurate pronunciation, encouraging them to get up and act out the actions, good resources (bringing in actual objects- popcorn for /p/ etc, boxes in the classroom for each phoneme), patience with kids to allow them to try out the sounds themselves but keeping them on task when she wanted their attention etc.

Reading by Six report: Ofsted examining 12 outstanding schools and finding out what it is in the schools that made Phonics so successful- see slides.

Reading and Comprehension

How do we do it? Inferral, looking at generic tags (using prior knowledge), using contextual clues.

Understanding, engaging with, critically evaluating the text, making connections with existing knowledge + reflecting upon responses (yours and others’- hence the importance of discussion).

What is the teacher’s role in pupils’ reading comprehension?

Modeling correct skills to engage with different types of texts, demonstrating, questioning, giving them particular strategies to help understand what they are reading.

‘Active strategies’ in reading comprehension- have them respond by keying them into a text, speaking and listening activities (hot-seating, conscience alley, debating etc), writing alternate endings etc.

‘Literature Circles’- chn are each given a role. (Character Profiler, Illustrator, Summariser, Discussion Director, Passage Selector, Word-Finder)

Think about how to adapt this for different age groups: changing the names of the roles to be more easily understood, changing the nature of their tasks, prep the chn with these roles; take one role as a whole class activity; pair up the chn with 1 role).

My role- reading aloud. Instantly thought about how to organise and order the text so that I could direct the group to which point I wanted to read out; started thinking more clearly why I liked certain passages (therefore a higher level of questioning skills about comprehension), and a good range of responses from word, sentence to whole text levels.

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver (?)

PNS, Understanding Reading Comprehension, Guidance, Curriculum and Standards.

Think about putting Guided Reading at the start of the day 0900-0930 (need to be organized and have questions for chn prepared and groups settled so that chn know where to go straight away).

Another Active Strategy

The Mirror from Short! Kevin Crossley-Holland

1. Brainstorming the word Mirror for associated words and stories that use mirrors. See slides for more.
2. Read para 1
3. Draw, imagine setting, ask central question
4. Read para 2
5. Make predictions
6. Read to end
7. Suggest alternate titles

Shared Reading and Guided Reading

Shared Reading: a whole-class, teacher-led activity using an enlarged text (big book or Overhead Transparency - OHT- , IWB or poster).

Advantages of IWB- you can highlight key words, move text, jot notes, edit, underline etc.

Advantages of big book- navigating the text (turning pages to reach glossary or index) etc.

Balance necessary.

Teacher’s role is to mode aspects of the reading process: inferral etc. 

Chn are actively involved in the process (discussing, engaging with the text, thinking about which words are most important...) Problems emerge with differentiation (to prepare against this, prepare the text and group chn to read out specific parts). If pupils are struggling so much they can’t access he text, put the emphasis on them listening to you reading instead.

Main objective is not to have the chn reading aloud with you.

Aims of shared reading

Developing their understanding of stories- interrelation of beginning, middle and end, intricacies of plot, themes and issues that emerge and any contingent discussion points.

Pointing out features of the text (blurb, title, contents and index).

To make it a cross-curricular routine- shared reading in other subjects e.g. textbooks.

Think about LC and WR and how you can incorporate this into Shared Reading.

Guided Reading: teacher-led, differentiated group activity with chn working independently (i.e. they’re doing the reading but you’re moderating and overseeing) on the reading task (reading passed over to chn).

Enable you to focus support in a small group (of usually 6 or so kids).

Chn experience reading as a social activity (they feel secure as they work with chn of similar ability).

‘Book Talk’- exploring responses to the text by looking at illustrations, author, characters etc.

Chn should each have a copy of the text to give them a little ownership.

90-94% accuracy of reading is a good level of reading material for the group.

Planning Sequence of Guided Reading

Introduction: 

Warming up the text (text, sentence or even word level) by activating chn’s prior knowledge (‘Have you read any other stories by this author, What do you know about -title- What happened last time, What words cold we pick out that were of interest, What does the front cover tell us, What difficult words can we isolate from the cover or blurb...)

Give the chn a focus for their reading drawn from the LO.

Designed to grab attention and gain enthusiasm.

Strategy Check

Review strategies for WR and LC (What could you do if you get stuck on a word - look at tricky word wall, look at sounds +blend etc)

Independent Reading

Teacher’s role is to circulate, monitor and intervene where necessary, identify strategies chn are using and note for assessment purposes.

Return to text: Discussion and Recap

Ascertainment of comprehension, word recognition, chance to share strategies that worked. Chn self-evaluate. Set targets.

Ideas for Guided Reading: Comprehension Cards- laminated cards with passages and questions on them. Play games with words. Use Literacy Circles.

Difficulty of quiet in the classroom: carrot of Golden Time (display the words and turn over letters day-by-day with accumulation of minutes.

Looking at Guided Reading Planner and a video, The Tortoise and the Hare

The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, Philip Pullman.

ICT 2 (11-11-11)

bit.ly/webteach - lots of links to lots of sites.

Ideas for schools with poor ICT facilitis: get the Head on side, canvas parents for companies getting rid of old PCs, consider Smart Phones, Partner with other schools.

Control Technology
Be Box, Pro Box, Logo, the LEGO NXT robot
http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_control_index.cfm
From the Curriculum:
'Developing Ideas and Making Things Happen'

Stuff like this:
http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/News/ReadMore/Default.aspx?id=227417

2 Simple: big software company. Check whether we have a 2 Simple Software license.

Scavenger Hunts.

Maths 2 (10-11-11)

Maths

Subject knowledge and teaching us to teach maths are 2 different things. Mark is teaching subject knowledge.

See Action Plan at the back of Maths Audit: Task no. 2. 

Ideas for Action Plan: Go to colleagues at school, e-mail Mark, go to BBC bitesize site and others, get a copy of LET’s guide

Nets

Looking at a net of a cube, making as many nets for a cube as possible (see handout).

- Refrain from saying, ‘We’re going to look at something really easy’- if a kid can’t do it, their confidence will take a knock.

Regular Shapes 

We call it ‘sides’ w/ 2-D shapes but ‘edges’ in 3-D shapes. Lots of problems- cannot just skim over these problems, must address the language used.

Blindfolded Activity

Lots of similar activities like this to get chn to start talking about shapes and using correct terminology. Chn will use a mixture of maths terminology (sides, angles, parallel lines) and informal language (it looks like a rabbit’s head / boat / tent). Use coloured cardboard and then place it face down (so there is a uniform colour, and say as soon as you touch it, you take it).

Multi link (bricks)- very manageable resources. Have a ready made 3D shape in a box and have one child come and describe it to other kids, who will make it with his instructions.

Make it harder: use different complexities of shape; instructor has or doesn’t have visual cues of seeing classmates correctly or incorrectly interpreted instructions, instructing kid only feels the shape rather than seeing it etc..

Do the same with whiteboards and have chn draw it.

Odd one out

4 kids stand shoulder to shoulder w/ hands behind back. Put shapes in their hands and give them time to describe the shape to each other. They find the odd one out (if there is one). Self-assessing; promotes kids talking and arguing about language of shapes.

Shapes leading onto Symmetry

2 kinds: Rotational (talking about order of symmetry) and reflective (talking about number of lines of axis of symmetry). 

Reflective is easy to prove, using shapes used for the blindfolded activities; so is rotational. Let the kids have a part to play in turning the shapes. Once you have put them altogether they make impressive displays. Putting in different colours to the shapes makes it more difficult (alters the symmetry)

Teaching rotational symmetry: don’t count the start point (think of the Merc badge and turning it around 360 degrees to prove rotational symmetry order 3).

Move away from regular shapes to weird ones.

Triangles

Look closely at vocab: ‘triangle’ indicates number of angles, rather than number of sides. So why do we describe a triangle as a three-sided shape? Kids will have encountered the word ‘tricycle’ so might have an idea about this.

Scalene, Isosceles, Equilateral. There is no such thing as right-angled triangle- it is either a right-angled scalene or a right-angled isosceles triangle. It is another term to further define the triangle (anaolgy of finding a girl in a class, and further defining who you’re looking for by adding hair colour etc).

Quadrilaterals

Attributes of 2D shapes are sides and angles. 

Organise by sides: can organise an average irregular quad. to a parallelogram, then onto a rhombus (all 4 sides are the same length), to diamond.

Organise by angles, and you turn a quad. into a parallelogram, to a rectangle/oblong.

Square is a very precise rhombus, parallelogram, and quadrilateral.

Quad.

    Parallelogram

Organise by Angle   Organise by Sides

(make the same) (make equal in length)

Oblong/Rectangle Rhombus

Organise by Sides Organise by Angle

Square

Trapezium (quad’s w/ 1 pair of parallel sides) and Kites (no parallel sides, 2 pairs of sides w/ equal length, but instead of being opposite and therefore parallel, they are adjacent) are the other 2 shapes.

Explaining parallel lines: two lines that will never meet (have kids line up, making sure they are exactly the same distance from a line like a football pitch line, then ask them what they notice about the lines- will they ever meet?).

Making Kites

Use different size paper to make smaller and smaller kites- then put them together to create larger shapes with the same lines of symmetry / angles (‘similarity’). Prove that angles are the same regardless of size. Congruent shapes are the opposite.

Tesselation

Kites ‘tesselate’. So do M.C. Escher’s drawings. Also see ‘Gift-wrapped by Artists’ for Tesselated sheets. 

Cut out bits from a square and add it to the other side. The new shape will tesselate as well. Mount the new shape on card and you have a template.

Making Shapes

 Use pre-made stencils, piled on top of each other to draw shapes. See Purple sheet.

Tangrams

(Making candlestick, E etc)

Task no. 3: Euler’s Law: Topology (e.g. Underground map- not accurate, not to scale, but you can still get where you want to go. Sometimes called rubber sheet geometry, where things are distorted)

Konnisburg Bridge Problem: two islands in the middle, can you cross all the bridges without crossing same one twice? Same as drawing an envelope without taking your pen off the paper. The bridge one, it can’ be done.

Important for people in Logistics: moving lorries tightly while minimising travel to make economic sense- or a newspaper round.

Platonic Solids (5 x):

Regular shape, equal angles inside (e.g. dodecahedron, cube, triangular based pyramid- the TetraPak)

Resources/Associations

Should be member of a society in English, Maths and Science. Lots of resources you can buy form them.

ATM (probably better for Primary School)

Maths Association

Skills Test

Get in, do it, then worry about passing it if you fail. You have to get on with it and try out so you’re at least up to speed with the format.

Mental part (first). These are harder questions. Only need to get 7 out of 12 right- so you can afford to ignore up to 5 questions.

Longer Qs (calculator allowed). Tend to be with Statistics. You can’t take your own calculator in- you have to use the one on the screen etc.

You are competing for slots with all student teachers- you will find it difficult to book them.

First Block / Second School Placement (09-11-11)

Find Evaluation of Lessons Pro forma (for me evaluating my own lessons afterwards). App M.

(Teaching and Learning Section)

Term 1 folder

First Block in Second School Experience Folder

Term 2 on return folder

Final Assessment files: 3 x folders for each of the 3 pieces of evidence

Assessment Profile (App K) (like QTS Standards Evidence checklist) - this is for when you put in your evidence as you go.

Targets sheet is on the back of App K. This will feed into Term 2 Training Plan. GTs will write this  in consultation with ST and based on Generic Training Plan.

Appendix 3 of Appendix F Training and Learning Log (Directed School-Based Tasks checklist): some of the things on the checklist are not applicable to all the tasks. Mentor just signs off just on the relevant ones.

Any experienced teacher can give formal feedback, wither in our host school, or in our 2nd placement.

Even if you’re doing Group work, it counts as Teaching time (but you should be planning and evaluating this group work, working to the Class Teacher’s plan).

We are not teachers: we are in training. Therefore when we are observed, we should be graded as a Trainee. See App O: Grading (Stage 2 on this form at the end os for Term 3). Observers could refer to/use as format App O for every lesson.

Arrange meeting at the end of Term to assess everything and come up with Targets for one of the forms back there.

Training our next generation of outstanding teachers document- published yesterday (08-11-11), 1 year after the White Paper. Amongst it is ‘School Direct’- allows schools to control access to funding of ICT.

‘A Portfolio is not necessary, as long as there is a QTS Standards checklist indicating where the evidence can be found in the different files’ : False statement. What is the difference between ‘portfolio’ and ‘(evidence) files’? (Check presentation of Ann-Marie’s files).

TDA SEN Resources for ITT website- (with self-study tasks) -see slides for website.

Teachermedia.co.uk - start thinking about Christmas activities now.

Stonewall.org.uk: homophobic bullying campaign:

Top 10 tips for fighting homophobic bullying- see Westgate for slides.

Assessment (09-11-11)

See slides for much more information (v wordy slides).

Need to know how assessment is going to work in your second school placement as well as your base school.

Central Issue: assessment is part of a cycle and it’s pointless unless you use the assessment data to plan the next part of studies, to inform your practice. It’s not just putting a number in a box.

Definitions

1. Assessment of Learning is Summative (i.e. marking SATs; seeing where pupils are; used to be called Summative Assessment). Usually occurs at the end of a block or work. What you would use for Parents’ Evenings. 

2. Assessment for Learning is Formative (informing your practice). What you do in the classroom all the time to assess the chn’s needs- what you need to do to satisfy this. e.g Questioning chn at the start of the lesson about something to find out what they need to know. If used very well, this will enable pupils to take ownership of their learning and if used very well, it will lighten the burden on teachers. Shirley Clark is the guru on this.

1. Assessment of Learning

Need to assess to measure yourself against National Standards. Day-to-day, Periodic (once a term), Transitional (see slides).

Recognition + celebration of progress. Chn need to know they are making progress (telling chn or not their levels; another way of providing them evidence they are progressing) The curriculum provides the context for this assessment.

Set a level in July to achieve by the following July. Targets are matched  to the curriculum and informed to parents. Individual targets for Maths and Literacy. Important that the chn know what their targets are, and that parents know.

Whole school tracking- check against target set at the end of previous year (might bump it up); if they are not going to meet the target, then you put in place intervention strategies. Every child discussed.

Profile Points (PP) and the P-Scales

Profile Points (PP)

EYFS: 9 x Profile Points (these points are not related/progressive- they are different areas within the Areas of Learning) in each of the 6 Areas of Learning. Some of these Profile Points are not really appropriate for older chn- hence the need for something else leading into the regular Levels (i.e. P-Scales).

P-Scales

By Xmas Yr1, chn not achieving at 1C, will go onto the P-Scales (nothing to do with Profile Points). There are 8 points on the P-Scales and they are progressive.

Some people use W- this shouldn’t be used as it doesn’t really tell us anything about the chd’s progress.

• Below Level P4 is very rare in regular schools- below this level it is chn with real learning difficulties (can’t communicate apart from blinking etc). There is no real expectation of number of sub-levels to move, because each case is so idiosyncratic (according to the learning needs).
• PSHE is a whole nother world for assessment.

Statutory Assessment

Must give evidence for these assessments.

EYFS- through observation. Statutory to record it against Early Learning Goals.

‘Learning Journeys’ (not statutory but common in schools, as you have to provide evidence).

KS2: If a chd is ill, they cannot sit the SAT paper another time but are given a Teacher Assessed Level (not formally recognised).

Science is given a Teacher Assessed Level but is not examined at SAT level.

SATs markers are full-time teachers too. Can they do a good job bearing in mind their regular duties + responsibilities?

CAF

Measures a range of things, not just learning- social, mental, health etc. Where the needs are more complex (and involve agencies outside school). Major assessment, often done in conjunction with the school nurse. People must be trained to write a CAF (SENCO, Child Protection Officer, Head, Deputy etc).

Primary Progress Toolkit

i.e. Target Tracker.

Many different systems but all are open to abuse: for example, with CVA (Contextual Value Added), schools started putting more pupils on the SEN register knowing their CVA rating would be boosted.

[CVA scrapped now].

Average Points Score (APS)

Another internal system of measuring/evaulating progress.

Records a number of points. Ofsted look at it.

Indicator of the school, not the pupil. 

Based on pupils Levels of English, Science and Maths. A Class/Year score is generated from this.

RAISE online

External: SATs and EYFS PP scores are number-crunched by DfES. Then these are benchmarked against other schools taking into account FSM etc. 

Password protected: need p’word from Head Teacher.

Gives a great picture of school. Has to be looked at with a bit of knowledge, otherwise you may draw the wrong conclusions (therefore the School-Directed Task is to look at it with your Assessment Coordinator). 

Some schools are reluctant to share RAISE online info with GTs. It benchmarks schools against each other.

APP

‘A structured approach to periodically assessing mathematics and reading and writing’.

Assessing Pupil Progress. Set up against Frameworks, which have now been scrapped.

1. Assessment for Learning

• Drawing houses with or without targets + marking schemes

See slides for definition. All came from the ‘Black Box Documents’.

5 Key Principles:

• Provision of effective feedback to Pupils (verbally, marking, tying up with target setting and Net Steps),
• Active involvement of pupils in their own learning (chn taking responsibility- not spoon-feeding them),
• Adjusting teaching to take account of the assessment (what do they need to do next to progress to C, then putting that into the planning),
• Need for pupils to self-assess and understanding how to improve (thumbs up and thumbs down etc- this is not enough, pupils need to then know what to do next)
• Recognition of profound importance assessment has on motivation + self-esteem of pupils.

Key Elements

Make sure pupils have time to read what you have written in books as marking.

Good modeling is showing what you’re thinking and why you’re doing: not just modeling how you want something laid out.

Provide feedback. Pupil self/peer assessment.

LOs

Early in the lesson or not? If done at the start, are you spoon-feeding them? Can you do it better by grabbing their attention and hooking them with a great start, getting them thinking and involved?

Can we not display the LO throughout lesson? (Based on Shirley Clarke’s most recent advice?)

You have to work with what your school says. Ensure you prepare who is going to be observing you and account for why you are not going to display the LO throughout the lesson and you are free to do whatever you want.

Ask chn at end of lesson what they feel they have learnt (good system of reviewing learning)

Plenary must reflect the LO in some way.

Success Criteria and Lo need to be available for chn throughout the session.

Lessons often go wrong when teachers don’t really know what they want the pupils to learn. Lo comes first in planning and should be in your head, even if you are not telling the chn.

Success Criteria

A checklist (Have you used Time Connectives? etc). Checklist should be used as part of Editing process too. Model this in plenary perhaps, looking at good work and bad work (not one of the chn’s work though).

Make sure you explain they are not instructions for carrying out task.

Strong process element for Success Criteria.

Phrase, ‘What makes good______’ is good. ‘What makes good sitting?’ Have the chn tell you. ‘What makes a good Science Investigation?’

Can support differentiation: different ability groups have different success criteria in place.

Experiment with chn generating success criteria themselves.

Keep success criteria as a classroom resource (e.g. when you have cross-curricular stuff like writing a diary entry in History, you can refer back to the Literacy success criteria you do before).

Phonics (07-11-11)

N.B. See Handouts.

Problem: English is not perfectly phonically decodable.

Phonics applicable across the board through EYFS, KS1 and KS2.

What does phonics mean to you?

• Learning to read, learning to write (decoding + encoding),
• Finding correspondences between graphemes and phonemes.

Experiences of teaching phonics?

Should you withdraw chn from class in Upper KS2, or take the brave approach of teaching whole-class phonics?

Phonics Gospel

Purpose: ‘Why am I learning these sounds?’ (e.g. Helping me to pick out the box of cornflakes I like)

Passion, Positivity, Praise: positive behaviour mgmt strategies, Pace: Keeping chn engaged.

[Flashcard for ‘Said’ placed onto Word Wall]

Synthetic Phonics

Keyword- it is a ‘route’, a pathway to reading and writing. Does not exist as a special subject in its own right.

Letter Names

Teaching letter names used to be a contentious issue. People argued the sequencing of names of letters and sounds. Now it is understood that they should be taught together- chn can come up with more than one piece of information (‘That’s a pig and it says oink)’. Don’t understand chn. Make a firm link between having a name and making a sound, like the animal example.

Whose problem is handwriting?

EYFS: just happy to write letters.

KS2: already ingrained by this point.

Judie believes this is EYFS, when phonics is largely taught. Important to note different schools teach this differently. Also, gross motor skills are learnt before fine motor skills: if a chd struggles, have them do it with a bucket of paint and a giant paintbrush outside, then return to classroom.

What is a phoneme

Do you call them ‘phonemes’ or ‘sounds’? @ Belleville they use both and advise not to get tied up in the minutiae.

Correct articulation of phonemes

Don’t fall into the ‘man’ trap. Over-enunciate (mmmmeh, ahh, nnnneh) and it comes out Manner.

Instead, try mmmmm, aaaaa, nnnnnn. 

Speed Sound Chart

See Ruth Miskin’s Speed Sound Chart- a precursor to the Belleville Speed Sound Chart (separate sheet). Placed everywhere, even at child height on the back of the doors in toilets (anywhere advertising has decided is a good place, is a good place).

Stretchy (go on for as long as you have breath) and bouncy sounds.

Sh the naughty sound because your tongue comes out.

ng- the /g/ is not articulated.

Bouncy sounds should be very short.

p has a very soft eh  on the end. Watch out for w  and y

ure is one that belongs on the chart but chn could learn pure and cure.

x  and qu are problematic (there are 2 sounds in each: /xs/ and /kw/)

• Voiced and unvoiced variations are taught together as the same phoneme (th, v, f, z)
• See Youtube link on handouts for extra practice.
• Advantage of putting the chart in Yr 6 classrooms as well: e.g. when spelling ‘bridge’ and make a mistake (‘brij’), pupils have other options of spelling this sound in front of them.

Mixing abillities 

Highest HA and Lowest LA do not mix well: highers will get bored and answer on behalf, lowers will take a back seat. Instead, split class into 5 and group 1/2s, 2/3s, 3/4/5s.

Point, Prompt, Praise

Must be modeled at length with TA. Start with a group at the front to further entrench pattern.

Next stage is spelling: point to several sounds, have the chn hold them in their heads, make a gesture to indicate the word is finished and you want them to say it. 

N.B. Blending the sounds to make a word is a big leap and you will have chn who cannot bridge this gap. For these chn, you must play games (I went shopping and bought bread, I went shopping and bought bread and cheese....) that force chn to hold things in their head and put it altogether. Start with Memory Games...if they really struggle, note it down and start to consult SENCO whether or not perhaps there are greater needs.

Encourage chn to use their ‘spelling voices’ (i.e. RP). For the purposes of spelling. Don’t correct dialect anywhere else. The key is that chn understand the link between saying and spelling (chd who says a northern up and spells it oop needs to be addressed; one that says up and writes up is ok).

The Jolly Phonics Actions

@ Belleville, explicitly taught in Reception, and still taught in Yr 1. Chd instinctively drop the actions when they are no longer needed.

Very important that chn can identify individual phonemes (segmenting) and push it all together (blending).

‘The Missing Link’- knowing that squiggles mean and sound one way and what to then do with them.

Illiteracy is a stigmatized subject amongst Adults, but not inability in Maths (ok and common to say you’re crap at Maths as an adult). 

Learning to Read is now taught as a code-breaking activity with a Key and encoding and decoding.

Breaking Words down into individual phonemes

Adults are bad at thinking of words in sounds. Kids are good at it.

Count out number of phonemes on your chin.

4 phoneme challenge

Food- toast, jelly 

Country- spain, ghana

Body part- willy, belly

Colour- purple, black

Use ‘sound buttons’ (dots for each phoneme). Then write the grapheme. Then ‘press’ the sound button when reviewing. Write a line for long vowel sounds (blue ones on the chart under Vowel Sounds).

When encountering tricky spellings (such as the /ea/ in ‘bread’), with younger chn it’s no problem but with older chn, go back to the Sound Chart, ask if there is another way of representing (spelling) that sound (phoneme) and find /ea/ right underneath /e/.

Robot-speak

Important that the toy is not a puppet (so that the class looks at the CT’s mouth rather than the puppet’s mouth) [‘Fred’ can hear sounds but cannot blend them.]

Using a mirror to convince kids they are not enunciating as you model it is a good tool.

Chn use toy to segment words (do robot talk). 

Use picture prompts for words to be segmented.

Fred talks about (his weekend)

Also use ‘Fred’ speaking to the teacher in their ear and segmenting words for the chn to put together: this will enable you to instantly see the chn having problems putting together (blending).

Eye Spy with Fred

‘Fred can spy with his phonic eye _-_-_-’

Whoever blends the phonemes gets Fred to segment something else Fred can see with his phonic eye.

Fred says

Just like Simon Says, but the command is segmented.

Be selective in what Fred says, because otherwise it will take ages.

Communication with Parents

Write newsletters from Fred telling parents which phonemes are being studied that week so they can reinforce at home.

Follow me game

Pictures of words. Starter person has a star at the top of his/her card. Final person has a star on the bottom of his/her card.

I have ---. Who has _-_-_-_ (segment)

I have --- (blend). Who has (segment) etc.....

Problem: pictures must be easily decipherable.

Also, once people have finished their card, they may be easily distracted so better sometimes to use small groups.

Also relies on people being able to read the word that has just been blended.

Break Technique

At a natural break, hands out, cross arms, link hands, in and breath in, out and breathe out.

Support for Spelling document- meed to know this one (National Strategies)

Spelling

Does Spelling Matter?

YES	NO
For precision	It can be deduced by context (although counter argument is that this sets a dangerous precedent
Contextual reading sets a dangerous precedent in language of encouraging imprecision.
Society will judge you by your spelling (why is  literacy a benchmark of intelligence?)	Can inhibit ambitious use of language (using ‘big’ not ‘enormous’)- it can become a barrier to communication. Anecdote of making a ‘curry’ rather than a ‘casserole’.
Provides skills of editing, reviewing, reworking that are important.
What happens in the digital devolution?	There’s spell checker.
Elitist and non-inclusive.

Spell checker are only as good as what you put in (like calculators)

Have an ‘Always Correct’ word bank per year group of words you will not let get away misspelt.

AGAINST Spelling Tests: they test short term rather than long term memory; they are not individualised so chn may be writing out words they know very well etc.

Individualised Spellings, using peer review and being highly organised is the best way to tackle this: ask lecturers for recap on this.

What makes a competent reader?

Good reading habits (knowing that it looks wrong),

Fostering attention to spelling (role of parents here),

Speaking another language and an interest in words themselves,

Coming up with your own strategies ( + your own logic),

Strong visual memory (knowing that it looks wrong),

Dictionaries (although how can you find it if you can’t spell it..?).

Geog no. 3 links

Grand Canyon River Panorama

Lit stuff, 08-11-11

Complex Sentences from Planet Prison

LO: I can manipulate main and subordinate clauses in complex sentences for meaning, using punctuation.

IWB Examples

• ‘Her intention was to enter Earth, a place where she had never been.’

• ‘Although they had never met before, Cad thought she looked strangely familiar.’
• ‘Cad thought she looked strangely familiar, although they had never met before.’

Activity Sheet Examples

• ‘One hundred years ago, humans lost the first Great Intergalactic War.’

• ‘The terrifying Celban Law Activation Warriors, known as CLAWs, took over.’

• ‘He had been killed three years earlier, when Cad was eleven.’

• ‘If the CLAWs ever caught up with her, she would be imprisoned.’

  ‘She would be imprisoned, if the CLAWs ever caught up with her.’

Simple Sentences.

Cad saw a van. She jumped onto it’s roof. There was an open window. She slid through. Inside was a young woman. They had never met. The woman looked familiar to Cad.

Complex Sentences.

Spotting a van on the street below, Cad jumped onto it’s roof. She quickly slid down though the open window and found herself face to face with a young woman. Although they had never met before, Cad thought she looked strangely familiar.

Independent Activity (MA/HA)

LO: I can manipulate main and subordinate clauses in complex sentences for meaning, using punctuation.

Have a go at manipulating the clauses in these complex sentences.

a. Identify and underline the subordinate clause.

‘Her intention was to enter Earth, a place where she had never been.’

b. Change the subordinate clause.

‘Her intention was to enter Earth, a planet shriveled and ruined by centuries of pollution.’

c. Move the subordinate clause.

‘A planet shriveled and ruined by centuries of pollution, her intention was to enter Earth.’

d. How have you changed the meaning?

Always think carefully about where you put your comma(s)!!

1. ‘One hundred years ago, humans lost the first Great Intergalactic War.’

2. ‘The terrifying Celban Law Activation Warriors, known as CLAWs, took over.’

3. ‘Cad lived in hiding, so that the CLAWs wouldn't catch her.’

4. ‘If the CLAWs ever caught up with her, she would be imprisoned.’

Independent Activity (LA)

Can you put the main clause and the subordinate clause together to make 2 different sentences?

Don’t forget a capital letters and full stops!!

	1	2	3
1	her intention was to enter Earth	,	a place where she had never been
2	humans lost the first war	one hundred years ago	,
3	,	Cad lived in hiding	so that the CLAWs wouldn’t catch her
4	If the CLAWs ever caught her	,	she would be imprisoned

Varieties of Subordinate Clause

(Drawn from English Grammar and Teaching Strategies)

Noun Clauses

• Can be replaced by a noun phrase.

‘I shall always remember that you have helped me (your help).’

Adjectival Clauses

• Often being with who, that, which, whom. Can be replaced by an adjective describing a noun in the main clause.

‘The hat, which is a lovely blue, suits her very well.’ (‘The lovely blue hat suits her well.’)

The duck swam across the pond that is in the village.’ (The duck swam across the village pond.’)

Adverbial Clauses

• Most widely used. Do the work of an adverb. Tell us how, when, where, why. 8 x varieties.

‘I will tell you when you sit down.’ (Time)

‘Can you tell me where you bought that funky brown smoking jacket?’ (Place)

‘He will help you if you catch him on a good day.’ (Condition)

‘They went to Outer Mongolia because they heard the grass is wonderful this time of year.’ (Reason)

‘The children worked as hard as they could.’ (Manner)

‘The child was reprimanded by the Deputy Head so that he would never bully again.’ (Purpose)

‘Although he was big, he could run very fast.’ (Concession)

These boys play football as well as a group of invertebrates.’ (Comparison)

Lit 08-11-11 Links

Dilemmas

The football flew through the air towards the window.
+ Fortunately, the windows of Mi5 HQ were very strong; the ball bounced off.
- Moments later there was smashed glass everywhere.

She was sure she had lost her diary!
+ After a frantic search, she found it at the bottom of her bag.
- She ran back into the classroom to find the teacher reading it.

The truck ran over the cat.
or another cat
+ 'Damn. I'll have to buy the dog a new toy,' thought Tom.
- Tom was devestated; he had owned that cat since it was a kitten.

2ndary Placement

- Topics?

- Background Reading? Homework Policy, Behaviour Management Policy, Child Protection Designated Person, School Day routines.

- Copies of Planning (pro formas?). Scheme of Work they follow?

- Assessment Data.

- What do they want of us (in terms of teaching time, following the course or going away from it- negotiation here).

- Talk to the kids!