Writing- 22nd March

Today we discussed something new that we have tried in writing this week. Here are some examples:

Susie-

Nicola: 

Ximena:

Writing- Monday 19th March

Teams got together to discuss their Teacher Inquiries.

Template: Writing Inquiry Planning

Writing Session 7- Proof Reading V Editing

Nicola's Notes from Alison Davis: Effective Writing- Section on editing and proof reading

Success Criteria? WALT? Learning Questions? How do kids know what they are learning?
We split into two teams

1.
Gillian
Shona
John
Gabrielle

2.
Suz
Scott
Ximena
Anna
Nicola

Notes from session:

Gillian: Visual editing card co-constructed
Developing by focusing on one element at a time (eg. finger spaces)
Some students, as they become more able can deal with more.
Has begun using some visual cues related to genres.

Shona: Using SC on the board at the start of lessons. Some focus on surface features, Capitals and full stops
What we used last year - similar set for a while

writing tasks are kept tight
Feeding forward before they write - setting a goal along the way comments in the book
editing visuals
editing card visuals


Anna is using - checklists
tools that kids can use as their own success criteria
editing checklists
green light orange light - focusing on just this
“He is my buddy when I don’t have one”
Questioning - learner attributes - making links to LA through writing
Editing card for HFW

Editing is ‘Being a Thinker’ by………..
IYT Coaching - You are being a thinker -
Helping Circle - need to be more explicit
What did we do today to make our writing better?
Matrices - which ones do kids understand?

How could we re-word - more concrete ?
Can we see a Progressions of editing/sc/tools across the school.
Are we proof reading or editing ? or both ? 

Editing as they write - Gail Loane

Scott is using:




Seniors are using: Poem Success Criteria

Goal setting folder: Goal Setting

For next week. Try something new. Bring along photos and share what has worked/ has not worked. 

Something to think about...

Writing- Session 6

We got into our Jigsaw groups and shared what we have learnt from our readings. We did presentations to our group.

Suz, Scott- Alison Davis- Chapter 4, Different writing instruction

Alison Davis- Chapter 4, Different writing instruction

Nic, Gabrielle- Jo Boaler/ Growth Mindset and Assessment

John, Gillian - What do writers say good writing?

Ximena, Anna  - Effective writing (Murray Gadd)



Shona, Susie - Teachers as readers and writers (apologies)

Coaching

“Coaching is a collaborative personalised process that facilitates new thinking to cause positive change”

Outcomes for the session:

1.To reconnect with some of the principles we have discussed in the past

(or if new to it to introduce you to some principles and theory- a bit of background)

2. To practise listening and ‘summing up’ what has been said in coaching pairs

3.To have everyone active, researching, refreshing and contributing to the session

4.To prepare the ground for the upcoming coaching pairs.

Coaching partners are:

Gabrielle/Shona
John/Ximena
Scott/Anna
Gillian/Susie
Suz/Hayley
Nic/Carl

(As Carl isn’t officially starting until Term 2 and /Hayley is not here every day there will be a mix of sometimes Suz/Nic and sometimes not- depending on what makes most sense at the time)

James/Therese- this may be something you would also like to engage with.

Our brief for the session:

"You will find a number of key concepts that support coaching conversations - from 2017. You will find your name beside a concept.
Your task is to be ready to present briefly on this topic at the Thursday morning meeting, in relation to coaching-please keep notes as they may be a useful reference later. The word is briefly as we need to move swiftly.
Your coaching partner needs to engage their listening skills and sum up and feedback what has been said- clearly and concisely. This helps us get to the essence of what has been said."

Coaching- Minutes by Gillian
Partners present to whole group, then the other partner summarises

Occam’s razor--Ximena
If it meows like a cat and looks like a cat, it’s most likely a cat
Simplify something that may appear complex by looking at the most likely cause
Look at the simplest cause/solution/idea likely be most effective

John’s Summary
Simplifying the complex
The least steps/fewest variables


The power of storytelling in Coaching--John
We all have a story. Narrative therapy. How can you be the best version of yourself? Those who do not have the power of the story of their lives ... truly are powerless

Ximena--Dwell in the positive to change the narrative

Reframing questions in response to stress--Gabrielle

Stress is a normal positive thing and the concern is the lack of recovery. Successful leaders schedule recovery time. We need things that decompress. In coaching, always being kind and keeping that positive lens and help someone have that time to recover. Using the right framing.

Shona’s Summary

Looking at stress which is normal and positive and keeping it positive

Appreciative Inquiry--Shona

Asking questions, valuing what’s been successful and looking for potential in possibilities. Looking at what’s already working and what could be. A good questioning culture. People like to talk about success and they gain confidence.

Gabrielle Summary

Get people to reflect on what’s going well, their successes and focussing on the positive and what is possible


ARA model--Suz

Coaching model. Aim, Reality and Actions that are going to move you closer to your goal. There are clear roles for each party. Coach is prompting and asking questions for precision and clarity and paraphrasing. Coachee is trying to work through.

Hayley Summary
Framework to get precision for coachee and coach.

Situational Press--Hayley
The environments effects the goals of the coachee. As a coach we have to look at their environment to help them.

Nic’s Summary--
People behave differently in different situations funeral v. classroom

Jude--
How we might we frame some of our questioning? Who can help you? Where do you find your supports within your team?

What coaching is and what coaching isn’t--Nic

Coaching is about drawing in rather than pushing out. Strength building rather than problem solving. Building enthusiasm, it’s not monitoring.

Suz Summary--Coaching is encouraging the coachee to come up with their own problem solving, not teaching modelling directing.


Cultivating a growth mindset--Scott

If you’ve got a growth mindset you praise the effort rather than outcome. It’s about thriving on challenges, not shutting down from fear of failure
Embracing imperfections
Viewing challenges as opportunities
Trying different tactics
Replacing failing with learning
Process is valuable, not the end results

Anna Summary

2 options to approach a task--either looking at achievement for being successful as in getting something right so you only do things you think you can get right, or valuing the process and learning

Celebrating the growth, not the end result

Power of questioning--Anna

In coaching we are questioning so that we stimulate, provoke and inspire the coachee to come to their own next steps. Don’t assume or make it feel closed or make your coachee feel sad. Why promotes a defense response. It makes you feel us vs. them. Rephrasing the questions from why … to what, how… makes the questions open.

Scott Summary--stimulate, provoke and inspire. Beware of the why.

Coac

Reframing questions in response to stress by Gabrielle

Looking at stress with a new lens - Tal Ben Shahar

What is stress? Is it bad?

Actually it’s fine. Eg stressing muscles builds them. Problem is not the stress it’s lack of recovery. Physical or psychological - stress makes us more resilient and stronger. Best leaders punctuate their day with multi-level recovery - conversation with friends, social lunch, deep breathing, meditation. Just not all time, hence in our busy lives being mindful allows us to step out of stress. Create some of this time for yourself.

Radical forgiveness


Everything (problem) in our lives we have brought to ourselves as an opportunity to grow and in accepting that and being grateful for it we can move through it more quickly.

Change your approach to stress by changing your thoughts

When we consciously choose to find something positive in a stressful situation, we call this “positive reframing”.
Positive reframing is associated with lower levels of psychopathology, stress, and depression.
When trying to cope with a stressful situation, if one tries to see things in a more positive light and to look for something good in what happened, it can help us to cope more effectively with the event and most often results in greater satisfaction at the end of the day.
Along with positive reframing is a similar psychological construct called cognitive reappraisal. It refers to reframing an event in order to change one’s emotional response to it.

Small acts of kindness lower your stress

Questioning - focus on positive, stress provides next step in personal learning
Be gentle, help buddy with recovery time
Recognition and gratitude are the fundamental building blocks of positive relationships - remember to be active constructive
We all have the power to choose how we respond to any event.

Appreciative Inquiry by Shona
It is looking at the whole system and inquiring into that system’s strengths, possibilities and successes.
It is about asking questions, exploring and discovering by recognising the best in people and the world around us, by valuing what has been successful in the past and looking for potential and possibilities.
Start with “What is already working?”
Use a spiral…. Inquire into what is working…...Imagine how good it could be…...Imagine how good it should be…… Commit to what will be (an image of where you are heading)….
And then the organising focuses on what you want to happen.
Important that all participants have an image of the future, that there is a questioning culture, where questions are encouraged and answered, that the questions posed are positive
How does it work….
People like talking about their successes

In sharing, they gain confidence in their ability… and they have ownership because it is their successful experience, not somebody else’s.
Including lots of people in the positive discussions, raises the participation (and probably commitment) in making positive changes.
It generates a positive image of the future, which influences our behaviour to act on the positive expected result
Note: It is important that everybody has a chance to share a success, else it can be demotivating.

Writing- Session 5 (Planning for Triples)

Minutes by Ximena

Present: Jude, Suzanne, Shona, Anna, Ximena, Susie, Nic, Gillian, Gabrielle
Apologies: John and Scott.

Triples planner: The work will be for ongoing sessions.
You will need to complete planner (see doc)
This might link to your TAI but other things may pop up.

Discoveries:
Anna- Triples as a Kaizen step to TAI. (Both can be used as evidence for PPG).
Gillian- Good to have this time to chat, ask questions and clarify how triples, TAI and PPG all fits together. Also good to share context of TAI so others in the group get a clearer picture of the aims.

Action:
Have lesson planner ready before observations next week.

Writing- Session 4 (The Hunches)

Minutes by Nicola

Scott: I am sharing writing from an EEL . I am really impressed with this writing. I like how he did not follow the structure. He has shown imagery and is in the scene. He is gaining lots of vocab. He is orally ready.



Anna: I am sharing a child’s writing. We read Rata and the tree and took on different character from the story. He has taken on board feedback from mum on Seesaw. The editing that he has done is punctuation and has taken out one word. You can see personal voice from the forest people. Philosophy and ideas are strong. He has the purpose and audience.



The Writing Hunches

Anything you think is not relevant or anything to add?

Maybe our students already have an audience. They share with each other. There is Seesaw and there is us I think it is better when there is an audience. Looking out for more opportunities. The Minecraft video is a good example. There are different levels of audience and purpose. Feedback from parents is always rosy. What are we saying? Peer buddies give accountability. Everyone is heard.

Parent engagement in writing is difficult. Looking through a feedback lens- how much do parents know? What kind of feedback is given? Getting parents involved is light at the moment.

Sometimes teachers/ students need to say why they are posting or add articles.

Assemblies are a good time to share and use opportunities to say why we are doing what we are doing.

The purpose/ audience needs to motivate writers. Sometimes writing can be flat and meaningless.

How do we differentiate cognitive load for the different writers in our group? How do we extend the willing writers? How do we value the oral language? How much is linked to oral language? Anticipate the planning process…

One thing at a time…

Making it small and visual and manageable. They need to do one thing at a time. There is a lot of modelling and thinking aloud.

Make a community link. Writing would be more purposeful if it is seen at home.

Session 3- Writing (Teacher Inquiries)

Minutes by Shona

WWW in writing so far this year.

All the Y5 and 6 have taken off from where they left off last year.
When my writers are given enough time, they are editing more- underlining words.
Purpose of a plan.
Results of our survey- children helping each other to complete survey- more relaxed getting feedback with peer support. Cool linking bet reading and writing
Discussed “What a good writer does”- didn’t give up.
Playing with words.
Simplifying the criteria.
Fun seeing what kids do write.
Letter formation on whiteboard every morning- helps with flow and ease of mechanics
Creative writing- originality
Goal setting meetings- kids know next steps
Megan sharing writing after goal setting was great- knew why she was sharing her writing.
Conversation around purpose and audience at goal setting meetings very useful.

Targets from last year.
Look at in own time.
Page 7 Data and disparity info. New targets (in blue) now that Nat Stds gone- “acceleration”- tightening up targets. The ones we are monitoring are girls not meeting expectations, maori not meeting expectations, boys not meeting expectations. All names will be included and a small target group will be identified. Use 2017 data for baseline data. To be completed “together”.

Individual TAI- look at writers in group and see what they are already doing, to determine own TAI. Plan for next week’s writing- who needs a stretch? who isn’t where we thought they were? Think about a shorter TAI- eg termly. ERO recommendation. How much alignment might there be between TAIs with teachers? Could pass TAI on to another group if appropriate.

Purpose of today_ get info ready to share with teams- what are needs of specific kids- eg. how goal setting at beginning of sessions affects writing.

Teams for TAI discussions.

Writing Inquiry template from Nic- make a copy for own inquiry.

Identify focus- done today.

Create own TAI and aim to complete by mid term 2 therefore 3 TAIs in a year completing each mid term (2, 3 and 4). Is this making a difference or not? If not, then change.

Aim for the “LIfting it up”- sharing mid term.

Think about “Hunches” for Thursday. Do you agree?

Questions we want to Inquire into:

1.Do our students know have an audience to write to/for?  

  Are they clear about the purpose for writing?

  Do we plan for ‘audience’?  

2.How do our attitudes towards writing influence our students?

  How would developing the literary culture amongst staff affect         achievement?

3. How can knowledge of themselves as learners (learning to learn)    impact on writing achievement?

  How can we develop student agency in writing?

  What is the impact of having clear writing goals and regular reflection?

  How many goals at a time?

  What is the impact of feedback on development of writers?

  How can students develop their critical eye as writers?

  

4. How do we extend willing writers?