As soon as I started reading page 30, Jen's words " We should be doing these activities." kept entering my brain. Constantly in my marginalia the words 'Let's Do This' are written next to the strategies and analysis of the data. Then the statement 'stay small stay focussed' crashes the party and I take a deep breathe and remember the importance of those small words.
Having said all of that I find it intriguing that the examples on page 30 - Ensuring learning intentions and success criteria are differentiated between surface, deep and transfer levels' it seems to have been written just for us. (A similar feeling often enters my head when listening to homilies) We have definitely started to embed the LI and SC in most classrooms so how fitting would it be for this action to be our next sep forward. It also works in beautifully with our focus on ASSESSMENT - FOR, AS and OF learning.
Using the SWOT Analysis and discrepancy Analysis sound doable to me and I would be interested to see how we use it to determine next year's Action Plan goals, as we have often commented on the need to have these goals based on the needs of the staff , rather than only being our perceived needs.
I also like the script found on page 33 and see this as a great opportunity to use when reflecting on the module meetings. This would lead beautifully into the 'Tweets' around the module meeting and would also allow us to see people 'Theory of Action'. Maybe we could add it to the space in the teacher's room so we can all see and engage in it as part of the PL sessions.
All these thoughts come to my mind and inspire me to take action now. Then those small words 'stay small, stay focussed' reenter my mind and I am reminded of the importance of small steps but please let's step together - today!
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Chapter 3 delves deeper in the difference between the 'Bypass' and 'Engage' approaches and also reinforces the need to reduc... -
The first chapter focuses heavily on reducing change to increase improvement. The most interesting point I took out of th...
The first thing that resonated with me was the Learning Intention written at the three levels and how as a staff we possibly need to explore each of these levels working on specific examples. Do we write Learning Intentions for each level with success criteria? Do we ALL ( i know year 6 does) explain what this means to our students?Perhaps I could do this with our maths this week?
ReplyDeleteWe also always talk about 'next steps' but do we forget if we undertake the next steps what happens? I like the use of the word desired. It implies we know where we want the students to be, we know the outcome and we know how to achieve it.
What do we all think of our strategic plans? Do we have too many? Are we small and focussed .?? We have RE,Literacy, Maths, new S and T, PDHPE to investigate, Inquiry with all KLA's and linked with Learning Pit, teachers personal learning goal ....... Can we do a simple " once upon a time " script for all this?
I would like us as a leadership team to look at Q2 and 3 and 6 during our meetings and really be specific on what matters most in our plans in order to be more fluid in our development and not jumping back and forth between the many things we want to do.
Hi Jen, In year six we have the Learning Intention as one but the success criteria is at the different levels. Green for surface, blue for deep and pink for transfer. We always use those colours and we always do the unpacking in orange. need to make sure it is consistent so students can transfer without problems
DeleteOnce again it is so good to be guided in self reflection through this text. I couldn't agree with the above blog more - thanks Leanda! I love the concept of 'stay small, stay focussed' and I believe being able to articulate this focus is key to success. The examples of the narratives on pages 33/34 was my favourite section this week. Modifying example III provides a good basis on which to integrate our shared thinking of the importance of clarity and feedback/assessment I think.
ReplyDeleteThe idea to display our thinking as a staff in the teachers Professional learning room a suggested above will be positively supported by staff because the idea has actually been articulated by other staff already. This is always the best way as staff then own the work. I like the way in Example III the shared thinking commences with student progress in learning rather than teacher strategy first. Data driven means that it can be measured as being effective or not. eg my ToA is that if both the teacher and learners are clear on the learning and that the movement in the learning is monitored and propelled by timely and effective assessment and feedback - then learning growth will be optimised. The challenge is the shared ToA.
Regarding the surveys I have personally found from TTFM and Appraisal data that results can sometimes be surprising. Digging deeper into the responses and not making further assumptions assists to work out what is being said.
looking forward to our discussions
I agree with the responses from the blogs so far and Jen B you made me stop and think when you when you mentioned our strategic plans, I believe this is a worthwhile discussion. The major points from the text have already been covered by the above blogs so I won't repeat.
ReplyDeleteI many be alone with this, but I am personally struggling to connect to this text, and when I read responses by Leanda and Jen B, it makes me ask myself "am I missing something". I understand the concepts being spoken about but I struggle to connect to the learning without unpacking it with the group. Hopefully tomorrow's meeting will shed some light for me.