Term 3 Week 7 Student Teacher

I had 4 student teachers last year and so said that this year I would give other teachers the opportunity and not take any student teachers into my room.  However with Courtney leaving, the first year student, Tristan Williams, who had completed one week early in Term 2, needed a placement for the longer 3 week placement.  He was assigned to Room 22.

e-version available at https://goo.gl/AfODrg

School of Education Te Kura Mātauranga  

Associate Teacher Report

     

     

	Date:  14th September
Student’s Name:  Tristan Williams	Associate Teacher: Christine Robson
School/Centre: Forrest Hill School	MoE number for payment:
Placement:      1      2      3      4      5	Age Level:              or           Year Level: Year 6
Days absent:                          Days made up:                         Total days attended:  15 Days
PRE-VISIT COMPLETED:        Y     /    N

This report is derived from observations of the student teacher, review of the Student Teacher’s goals, documentation and other required assignments during practicum in conjunction with discussions with the student and associate teacher. 

Please rate the student teacher by indicating where the student is currently against the three GTS assessed by practicum. Each point can be assessed separately. It is essential that you add comments to support your chosen rating and to indicate points for development that will assist the student move forward.

These sections are based on the Graduating Teacher Standards: Aotearoa New Zealand (see AUT University Practicum Handbook). The GTS can also be viewed at www.educationcouncil.org.nz

I recommend a meeting with the Practicum Leader to review concerns raised in this report.

Yes               No

Complete ONLY if student has an Individual Action Plan (IAP) – not GTS goals

Progress towards IAP goals:

Signatures:

(Please discuss this report with the Student Teacher before emailing/mailing to the Student Teaching Office and ensuring the student teacher has a copy)

Student:                                                                Associate Teacher:                                  Principal/School Leader:  

	Emerging	Basic	Proficient	Excellence
Standard Five: Graduating teachers use evidence to promote learning.	·  Understands that teachers constantly refine their practice using evidence. ·  Has an awareness that student learning and achievement drives practice and that students, teachers and family/whanau are a part of that process.	·    Describes their own practice, and what needs to be improved. ·    Assessment information is used in planning lessons, and is communicated clearly to the student.	·     Reflects on their own practice and the impact on students, identifying next steps for both. ·     Lessons are differentiated for different groups of learners based on assessment information. ·     Information is shared with learners to ensure understanding of the next learning steps.	·  Reflects on student learning and considers the implications for practice using research. ·  Differentiated lesson plans include explicit provision for formative assessment to inform practice and planning. ·  Collaborates with learners and others to co-construct next learning steps using assessment information.
Comments/Notes/Future Actions: Tristan has completed reflections on his planning, identifying what the successful aspects were in the lesson and where to take the students next.  He is developing his understanding of the teaching and learning cycle and demonstrated this in his All about Me sequence of lessons and math lessons, Tristan moved the students through their learning on standard form addition, building on previous learning experiences.

Professional Practice:

	Emerging	Basic	Proficient	Excellence
Standard Four: Graduating Teachers use professional knowledge to plan for a safe, high quality teaching and learning environment.	·  Has an awareness that the teacher is responsible for the  physical, emotional, and cultural classroom environment, and that more is required than knowing what needs to be taught.	·   Selects relevant content and designs motivating learning experiences to match. ·   Content and learning experiences take account of contextual information relating to the students. ·   Correctly pronounces and uses greetings in te reo Māori. ·   Demonstrates an awareness of own needs in English, Māori, numeracy and ICT.	·     Plans a sequence of learning experiences, integrating the values, key competencies and other aspects of the NZ curriculum ·     Demonstrates an ability to adapt that planning to the needs of specific learners. ·     Identifies specific strategies to support the physical and emotional safety of all students in the class. ·     Integrates te reo Māori me ngā tikanga into class routines. ·     Develops a plan for addressing own learning needs.	·   Sequenced lesson plans demonstrate in-depth discipline knowledge and promote the development of learning. ·   Planning explicitly takes account of the specific needs of learners and differentiates learning. ·   Risk-taking is supported and students are involved in the development of their learning goals. ·   Te reo Māori me ngā tikanga are integrated into planning for other curriculum learning areas. ·   High levels of English, Numeracy and ICT skills are consistently demonstrated.
Comments/Notes/Future Actions: Tristan was keen to build on his knowledge and ability with Te Reo by working firstly with the mihi and then on the actions for Tu Tira Mai. He had many ideas for possible directions of learning and, through discussion was able to hone his focus in on the learning direction.  Tristan demonstrated a good understanding of the learning steps needed with his small group during math with clarifying place value understandings and standard form addition.  Tristan worked with whole class as introductions to the learning, then worked with groups as the need was identified and individually conferenced by roving.

Professional Values and Relationships:

	Emerging	Basic	Proficient	Excellence
Standard Six: Graduating teachers develop positive relationships with learners and the members of learning communities.	·  Understands the importance of student-teacher relationships to learning. ·  Recognises the need to work as part of a learning community and not as an individual. Respects other cultures.	·    Is aware of own beliefs and those of the learners they work with. ·    Engages in professional discussions with colleagues and contributes acknowledges the role of parents in students’ learning. ·    Learns and can pronounce all student names correctly and identify the different characteristics of individual students in their practicum class. ·    Can pronounce names correctly and use basic greetings in te reo Māori.	·      Acknowledges own and others beliefs and values in interactions. ·      Engages in appropriate conversations with parents/caregivers/ family/whanau to further develop relationships with learners. ·     Integrates students’ interests and strengths into the learning experiences. ·     Adapts teaching style to adjust to individual student and group needs. ·     Includes te reo Māori me ngā tikanga in the classroom.	·     Manages the influence of own beliefs in the classroom and respects students’ and others’ beliefs in all interactions. ·     Effectively and appropriately shares learning information with students, colleagues, and family/whanau. ·     Develops a learning culture that is based on trust and supports risk-taking while respecting the culture, beliefs and values of the students in the practicum class. ·     Integrates  te reo Māori me ngā tikanga throughout the daily programme.
Comments/Notes/Future Actions: Tristan was able to build positive relationships with the students.  He focussed on learning names and finding out about the students so he could enter into a conversation with them.  The All about Me sequence of lessons gave a further opportunity to build a relationship with the students. Tristan coached a football team at morning tea and played handball with the students from the wider Year 6 team.  He interacted daily with the other two teachers in the Year 6 team and took a full part in staff meetings and team meetings. Tristan had a goal of interacting with staff by being in the staff room at break times and initiating conversations.

Principal’s Comment: (This was handwritten by John Marwick)

Additional Comments/Future Actions Next Learning Step:  Lessons are differentiated for different groups of learners based on assessment information.  Thank you Tristan for your willingness to be part of the Room 22 team. You easily developed relationships with the students and easily became part of the Year 6 teaching team.  You were reflective in your lesson planning and were honest in your self-assessment of lessons.  The very best wishes for your future career. Room 22 have very much enjoyed having you and are obviously going to miss you …. By the clap you received and the number of goodbyes!!

Term 3 Week 5 UDL Stunt Man

This week I was updating my Curriculum Vitae as there was a position at Whangaparaoa Primary I would like to apply for. My luck with getting a position at this school has not been good in the past - I have applied 3 times, met the principal once but have not actually been interviewed for any position. It is the closest school to where I live - less than 5 minutes walk away and this would change the work / home balance quite considerably if I wasnt spending 4 hours a day travelling.

Makes me question the teacher shortgage in Auckland? When I was applying in 2016 for postions closer to home, I had one interview from 10 applications - the rest were no thanks, without even an interview. I am an experienced teacher with considerable professional development behind me and a successful classroom background. All of this is outlined in my Cv, my referees are supportive and I balance my experience with relevant theory.  Teacher shortgage .... I dont think so.

In the process of doing my CV, I developed further my thinking around UDL. Universal Design for Learning.  This has been the basis of the SENCO projects I have een undertaking and the direction I have looked at for successful achievements for the students identified as below and well below in learning who have made it onto the SENCO register.

In Term 1/2 I designed the Stunt Man project. This was from an idea given by James from Boys in Schools that he had run at Coatesville a number of years ago. It was based with one group of Year 5 boys and a group of Year 6 boys. They worked once a week with James on making and then launching on a rocket a wooden peg stunt man.  The follow up was then with Pauline, a learning assistant for an hour. Follow up activities tried to keep away from writing so was more oral and picture based.

During this project there was considerable collaboration and communication that was needed between all parties - James, David and pauline, as well as the students. It was quite difficult to keep this up as not being released meant I was managing all from a distance.

Stunt Man Blog

The students were from my room and from Room 12, David Wood who I am also working on the Te Whare Rama with.

The project was successful for the boys in my room. The focus was on Key Competencies -  Participaring and Contributing / Managing Self. The boys completed a checklist at the beginning of the project and again at the end of the project and all boys rated themselves higher at the end of Term 2 than they had when the project started. I noticed a consdierable difference in the boys on the classroom in their ability to persevere, to cope with change and to manage when meeting challenges.

My project has been shared with the staff - the professional learning community and is part of the work I do with in my role as SENCO.

There was communication with parents as they had access to the blog and were welcomed in to watch what the boys were doing.

The project has moved in a different direction this term.  I am looking at addressing a different group of students with a learning need, and addressing different key competencies. These are students who are very quiet in the classroom and who would grow from the experience of small group teaching.

The Stuntman was a successful project.  However these are what i would change next time.

• The follow up needs to be done by me, rather than the learning assistant.
• The learning assistant needs to have complete buy in for this to work as sucessfully as it could.
• There needs to be more of a direct focus on the key competencies and for all parties involved to have an understanding of what the key competencies are and how we are looking to measure progress. 

Term 2 Week 9 Well being

I came across this entry in a blog I was following. It made alot of sense on a topic that was current at school - WELLBEING.  

We were all asked to make a time to talk with the principal about Wellbeing and how we were feeling at school and about school and what the stresses were on us.  For me I appreciate that I have a relative autonomy in what happens in my room. I work with colleagues who trust the decisions I make and who interact with me as a professional. For me, having the "brakes" put on me is detrimental to my growth, however I work in an environment where I am supported to take learning and teaching in a direction that I think my learners need to go in, and no "brakes" are put on me. This contributes significantly to my well being. 

During a recent team meeting we were discussing what makes you feel valued and how you show others that you value them. It had come from a middle management workshop that Courtney had been on.  We discovered that Courtney likes to give gifts to her team eg. bring in coffee, Sam likes time with friends and the social aspect of a team, and I like to be recognised for the job I do.  It was interesting how we were different and the team works successfully as we all bring something different to the way we work together.

I have highlighted the parts that resonated the most with me and gave me questions to think through going nto next term.


Teacher Wellbeing- some research highlights by Meg Gallagher

http://teach-learn-lead.blogspot.com/

As I write this we are in the last days of the end of the second term of the year, in the middle of winter where it is cold and miserable and the flu/bug    season seems to be incessant. Many schools have mid-year reporting happening, so there is the added stress and it shows for many of us.

Let’s be honest though, teaching as a profession is inherently stressful. We are working with people all day and human beings are complex, sometimes tricky even. And relating to people is only the start of what a teacher is doing as you all know, but I am not going to spend time talking about what stresses us for two reasons; 1. There is plenty of research and anecdotal data to confirm that teaching is stressful and 2. Spending energy on talking about what stresses us often feeds the problem and doesn’t necessarily provide any solution to it.

In the last year I have conducted a small study as part of my masters in education qualification exploring positive wellbeing for primary teachers in their mid-career. I propose that the findings are likely to be relatively generic although to confirm that I would obviously need to conduct a much larger study. I do think however it is worth sharing some of the findings here as food for thought and a possible contribution to the important conversation about teacher wellbeing. Don’t think for a second that teacher wellbeing isn’t important either, there is plenty of research to support the notion that happy healthy teachers have happier healthier classrooms with happier healthier learners who appear to achieve better- simply put, your wellbeing is important to the learners in your care.

So here’s some of what I found out about what may contribute to positive teacher wellbeing in our current educational climate: 

1. People-centred leadership practices.

How the school leaders work with their staff in the school can make an appreciable difference to teacher wellbeing. In my research it was noted that it was the small acts of kindness and appreciation that really mattered such as a sincere thank you, a surprise coffee or chocolate treat (or appropriate healthier option), noticing when workload increased and doing what they could to alleviate the stress in small ways. It really centred around relationships and ethical behaviour.

Consider: How do you enhance your relationships with your staff if you are in a leadership position? What are the small acts of kindness that you know will be appreciated by members of your team? How can you build relationships with the leaders in your school? 

2.      Supportive relationships.

It is said that teaching is about the three R’s, relationships, relationships, relationships. The relationships teachers have are numerous; students, colleagues, parents/caregivers, leadership, school management/parent committees, community members, PLD staff etc. The reciprocal nature of student teacher relationships is really interesting, when teachers are doing well their students tend to follow suit, and when students are succeeding that tends to support teacher wellbeing as well. Our relationships with our colleagues can be protective too, it appears that where teachers work in a collaborative, supportive environment that still allows for autonomy and individuality they thrive.

Consider: How do you build and maintain relationships with your students? What is it about your classroom environment that enhances wellbeing for all? How do you acknowledge your colleagues positively? What do you do to create a positive working environment at your school? 

Relationships - I think teachers are very good at building the relationships with their learners. The part that interested me was how to I build a positive working environment at my school - it is each individual staff members repsonsibility to address this.

3.      Strong sense of purpose.

For the people in my research making a difference to the learners in their care was clearly a motivating factor and something they returned to time and time again when speaking about what ‘filled them up”. Having clear beliefs about teaching and learning, then following them as well as sharing school values can be empowering for teachers.

Consider: Why did you become a teacher? What do you believe about teaching and learning? Do you share your school values? 

Do I have a clear sense of puropse about what I am doing in my classroom and how I am going about achieveing outcomes for the learners in the room? 

4.      Self Efficacy

Adopting an “I choose…” mindset appeared to have a positive impact for the teachers in my research. They acknowledged they didn’t achieve true balance much of the time, if at all, but they all stated that the way they worked/lived was a choice they had made. This seemed to be empowering, they were in control of what they could control and owned it. They were also clear about what was out of their control and found ways to shift their focus. Think about a time that was challenging for you, what lessons can you draw from it? This is one way to reframe negative experiences that appears to help stop these events eating away at your self esteem. Another way to build self efficacy is to be self aware, knowing your strengths and weaknesses as well as addressing your health and wellbeing needs. The teachers I talked to weren’t afraid to ask for help and could track how they steadily shifted and changed their teaching practice to meet learner needs and improve management of their own personal resources.

Consider: What choices do you make around how you work and why? Are these choices working for you or do you want to change anything? If so what? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What can you share with others to help them improve their practice? Who can you ask for help when you need it?

Am I responsibe for my choices? Do I own my choices or do I allow someone else make the choices for me? 

Basically teachers, like most people I would suggest, need belongingness, connection, a sense of identity. This, for me, is like our essence that we can come back to when we are decision making, when we are under stress, when something doesn’t go right. The people around us can have a huge impact on how we feel, as can the stories we tell ourselves.

The words "stories we tell ourselves" stood out here because I firmly believe in self fullfilling prophecy  - if you tell yourself it cant be done, then it cant be done, A self-fulfilling prophecy is a belief that comes true because we are acting as if it is already true.- this can be positive and negative.

As I stated earlier, your wellbeing is important to the learners in your care so I hope that you will do what you can to help yourself to be the happy healthy teacher you know your learners deserve.