Gaylene Young Professional Blog

As part of Room 8's Pānui Programme, I realised that students needed multiple opportunities to engage with the texts they read, as well as increase their reading mileage.  I found the perfect resource - available online through TKI, 'Te Huinga Raukura' .  The only issue I discovered, however, was the lack of access to digital resources that allowed my students to practice and consolidate the skills they'd learned during our reading lessons. For every text the students read, I created supporting resources to consolidate their learning.  The plan is to create a resource bank for many years to come.  Below are examples of resources we'd expect the students to complete weekly.   * He Pānui Whakaharatau - Reading Practice (reading groups, audio tape support) * He Mahi Takitahi - Independent Practice (without audio support), can request a conference with the teacher. * Hei Mahi Tiriwā - Cloze activity * Hei Mahi Whakaraupapa - Sequencing activity * Hei Papa Tāk...

This year I have decided to focus on how to design and implement an effective literacy programme in Te Reo Maori. Rationale: My colleagues and I are struggling to deliver an effective Level 2 Te Reo programme. I feel that this year we’re going in blind without having a strong content base of knowledge, strategies, and expectations in Panui, Tuhituhi, Korero. Level 2 is a huge step up from Level 3. I'm also finding examples online of what other Kura use and do, which is extremely difficult. This is why I have decided to focus on designing and implementing an effective literacy programme of Te Reo Maori at Level 2. The programme will then be a crucial resource for all teachers of Level 2 going forward. Strategies: Over the course of this year I will implement several strategies and capture their effectiveness within my classroom. I will share my successes, struggles and general reflections. These include (but are not limited to...) Becoming familiar with the Curriculum documents...

Building Proficient Writers # Bookmarking101 Motivating my students to write can seem at times a really difficult task to accomplish.  I've started to use mixed ability groupings, and encourage them to all write within a shared document.  This approach enables my struggling writers to get the support they need from their peers really quickly.  I'm not sure if you find yourself in the same situation, but my reluctant writers tend to take in the words given from their friends more than they do from me.  My proficient writers also love being able to give that help and guidance. We've worked really hard this year on building that strong, supportive culture within our classroom.  Self-management is a key goal we strive to instill in all our students also.  Building Leaders comes as an added bonus! In our shared writing documents, you may find yourself in a situation where they have tonnes to write about, which leads to the students having to scroll th...

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy? Today we delved deeper into the meaning of 'share' as related to the Manaiakalani kaupapa. What resonated was the accelerated learning achievements in reading and writing from students who are actively blogging and sharing their learning. Students are motivated and inspired to share with an authentic audience - people (within the classroom, school, locally, nationally, even globally) who choose to click on their blog; people who choose to listen to what they have to say. NOTE TO SELF: Get Blogging! What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional? It's funny, I have these expectations of my students to be able to use screencastify to demonstrate their learning or capability in a certain area or to create a rewindable resource for themselves and others. What I didn't think about and was reminded of today is that it is really...

Every teacher can appreciate the importance of utilising every second we have efficiently to fit in and achieve as many tasks as possible.  I will wholeheartedly jump on any quick tips or apps that will help me manage my workflow, my life, my sanity really. Thankfully, Kerry & Michael (two really great tutors) had handy hints and tips to allow me to manage myself more efficiently.  This included: Taming your tabs. Organising your gmail account. (Did you even know there was a new gmail version?) Managing multiple calenders. How to use Hangouts or Hangout Meet. Using blogger labels. I personally really appreciated being taught how to filter emails, create labels and forward emails (such as electricity bills to the husband) automatically.  This is something that needs to be taught, particularly if you're receiving hundreds of emails daily. Creating events, sharing calenders, and discovering ways that you can organise your life may take time to set up, but ...