26/11/24 PLD Refreshed Curriculum, 3

In this session, we applied our analysis process to the Writing part of the English Curriculum (leaving aside Handwriting, which we have already tackled separately).

Our current programme is outlined at the top of the sheets, while the new Curriculum requirements are added below.

Key observations:

• Writing quantity: we talked a lot about how the year 1 curriculum now stipulates only one or two sentences, but is very clear about the quality of the transcription and spelling skills being taught. We speculated that, currently, we may rush children on to writing too much before transcription skills are embedded.
• The years 4 - 5 curriculum has progressively less about transcription and more about text types, content, language, audience etc. We discussed cognitive load: ideally, if children are proficient transcribers by year 4, they have more capacity to develop their content, structure and style.
• We noted that the transition from the old to new curriculum may leave more students than usual needing teaching to support their transcription skills so that they can access the year 4-6 content. Writing passports should help to pinpoint what our students need from day 1, but we may also need to capture now who is going to need what add/sup support.
• We noted that, while we're already teaching a lot of the content here, we need to be very clear about expectations at each year group and making sure in a blended class that we are attending to the skills progressions needed.
• Handwriting: do we have a unified stance? Is the NZ Handwriting Challenge the way forward.
• There is a lot to fit in here, needed a careful analysis of how we are going to use our time and how we can save time (e.g. quicker transitions).

PLD 12/11/2024, Refreshed Curriculum 2

Mapping teaching and learning: Handwriting and Reading

In this PLD session, we began some practical thinking about how learning will look in our classrooms next year. As this is a big project, we are going to break it down over the next few weeks. 

Alignment and consistency are emerging as themes when we talk about improving how we support our students AND how the new curricula work. We agreed to apply these lenses to our discussions by taking a closer look at two specific curriculum areas.

Our process was: 

1. Map how these subjects are being taught currently across our school. The aim here was to get a clear view of the journey our children are on at the moment.
2. Cross-match our current practice with the journey described in the new curriculum. 
3. Examine this to draw conclusions about PLD needs, scope for alignment and collaboration, what's new and needs our attention, what needs a little extra polish.

We chose to focus first on Handwriting (which gets more of a spotlight in the new English curriculum) and then Reading. 

Handwriting

Some key reflections: 

• Phase 2: what might handwriting look like in years 4 - 6 now? What's appropriate for some/all?
• Resourcing: books, lined/unlined paper, tables, pencils (or not?), programme?
• What's the gold standard: seating position, 'slope', pencil grip, resourcing (writing with what, on what?)

Essentially, we need to know more about evidence-based handwriting practice. We don't yet have a shared understanding about what best practice looks like at each stage. 

Reading

Key reflections:

• We're keen to understand what's different between years 3 and 4, and also what is different for the year 4s as compared with year 5s. What do the year 3s bring with them - and what ways of reading are they and their whānau familiar with? 
• Equally, what do we notice as year 1s progress on to year 2 learning? What do they bring and what ways of reading are they familiar with.
• We noticed that year 3 and 4 might involve more learning to recognise what features are being used in a text. In years 5 and 6, the shift is toward analytical thinking about how and why writers choosing to do what they're doing.

PLD 5/11/2024, Refreshed Curriculum 1

 

The Big Picture

The overall outcome which we will aim to achieve over the next 4 meetings : 

• Understand what is supposed to happen each year (bearing in mind that we will need coverage, but we have mixed-year classes etc.). This is where Matrices. will come in handy.  

• Identify what's the same, what's different.

• Interrogate what's different: a certain amount of this is about what and when (we already teach these things, but need to be explicit about what we're covering and when, according to the new curriculum sequence). A few things are brand new and will link to specific PLD.

• Collaborative problem solving of how as a whole team, resulting in being able to design a scope and sequence for Term 1.

• With these new/similar progressions : what are we expecting? What does this mean in terms of transition?

Session 1

Having taken some time to read and explore the new English and Maths curriculum documents, we came ready to begin our collective sense-making and planning. 

Here's the plan for today:

First Impressions of new curricula

We are noticing:

• More detail, less guesswork
• Emphasis on the science of learning
• Exciting - but ambitious!
• 'I can use this to assess more accurately'
• Will help us to prioritise what we do, how we spend time
• Flexible, creative, critical thinking: definitely in English; also in Maths?
• Breaks content right down
• Still allows for 'the art' of teaching
• Parents will appreciate the clarity - new reporting?
• The word 'mastery' comes up a a lot
• Spiral - returning to previous learning to secure it
• Planning year by year is a minimum requirement (rather that working within) 
• Maths vocabulary knowledge
• Word problems - what is this asking you to do? Which strategy will you choose?

Differences/Similarities

First thoughts about the 'how'

The aim here was to open up up the conversation about how we might implement the curricula and what we may need to consider.

These are first thoughts, which we will build on in subsequent sessions.

• What does action for learners requiring addition support look like in this context?
• Certain parts of the curriculum will need to be timetabled daily (e.g. core skills, PHoM). Might collaboration across spaces help (as will BSLA)?
• Hour a day literacy/maths - how?
• Differentiation for several year groups in one classroom (when new curricula very much based on year by year progression)
• What does an integrated curriculum look like? E.g. if we are using Pos Ed or P4C as a context for Literacy learning, how do we apply the Literacy curriculum, differentiate appropriately for different learners etc.
• Assessment - formative, summative. What and when?
• How can we use each other as resources: problem solving, skills building?

Finally, projecting forward to this time next year:

Next Steps

We agreed that, in our next session, it would be useful to begin to get into the specifics of how what our timetables might look like and how we will plan and implement these curricula next year. We can use our first thoughts as a starting point.

2024 Kura Ahurea - August 2024 - TOA Wānanga Hui Summary

 

2024 Kura Ahurea - March 2024 - TOA Wānanga Hui Summary

 

2024 Kura Ahurea - May 2024 - TOA Wānanga Hui Summary

 

PLD August 2024 - POSITIVE EDUCATION - 3 Weeks

 PLD- Week 1 we looked at some techniques for shifting states. Week 2 The Triggers Toolkit.......which is all part of our Pos Psych- Learn it....Live it before the Pos Ed teach it......

Trigger Toolkit Document

1. Take a deeper dive into that word that's bandied about- Resilience- by listening to a clip with one of the Resilience experts- Dr Karen Reivich.......I think it's a good idea to be really clear about what we mean as time has moved on and thinking around resilience has changed. It's also a word we use with whānau alot- so let's get on the same page!