Gaylene Young Professional Blog

  Math PD - Curriculum Refresh, 2023 I had the opportunity to attend a Mathematics PLD which covered information about the curriculum refresh.  As a whole, I'm really liking the direction in which the curriculum is shifting - embedding the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, identifying the overarching focus and essential pedagogies within each phase of a student's learning pathway, will in my opinion help teachers moving forward. My understanding is that schools have until 2027 to familiarise and build teacher knowledge and understanding of key changes. Our school aims to implement regular meetings and discussions to build teacher capabilities in mathematics.  We hope to be more focused and intentional in our lessons for our students.  Math moderation, sharing of effective practice and/or lessons will hopefully instill inspiration in our teaching practices.

Professional Growth, 2023 - MATHEMATICS  Rationale: 2023 brings an abundance of new changes to the NZ curriculum.  This includes NZ Histories; Literacy, Communication, and Maths Strategy; The Common Practice Model. Therefore , I feel it would be beneficial to our kura, colleagues, and whanau to gain a better understanding of these key changes. As a result of the many changes happening, I’ve decided to focus on being an ‘agent of change’ and support teachers through this process. I have decided to focus on one key curriculum area - Mathematics.   Strategies to achieve successful outcomes of mathematics. *Become familiar with the changes to the Curriculum in mathematics *Support the change of mindsets. *Build teacher knowledge and capabilities for each of the respective phases of mathematics. *Become familiar with the assessment processes and tools for Mathematics. *Facilitate math moderation with Staff, and design moderation templates for teachers to follow. *Observ...

 Kia Ora Koutou, I was tasked with digitising a tracking system to gauge the progress of our students within Level 2 Te Reo Māori.  We wanted a way of knowing whether the students were: Manawa Taki - Needs a modified programme Manawa Āki - Working towards National Expectations Manawa Ora - Achieving National Expectations. Manawa Toa - Exceeding National Expectations. The trickiest part to this process was knowing that our students were arriving within our senior syndicate classrooms at different stages. For example, a new student to Tautoro School in Room 6 would start at 0.0 - 0.6 (less than 6 months) regardless of whether they started at the start of the year or halfway between.  However, students who have been at our school since Year 5, in the same room would be learning at 1.0-1.5 (between one and one and a half years). As a result, we needed a way of easily identifying individual goals and expectations for Pānui, Kōrero, and Tuhituhi. Below you will find a google ...

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...

Finding solutions while navigating in an online learning platform. Thinking outside the box seems to be a regular occurrence for the students in Room 7.  We are constantly trialing new things to support their individual learning needs.  Take Jamboard for example.  We needed a digital whiteboard to help us explain our thinking - particularly in mathematics.  The only issue was, we couldn't seem to figure out a way to transfer that learning to our individual blog sites. Two great things eventuated from coming up with solutions to these problems.  One we learnt how to download to a pdf, which helped our students who had access and internet issues use drive offline and continue with their work.  As well as download as a pdf and embed the Jamboard into their blogs. Maybe this post will help you in some small way.  If you come up with another solution, please feel free to share in the comments.

Jamboard...New Whiteboard Function for distance delivery? Tēnā Koutou Katoa, We've recently started using Jamboard.  I needed a programme that had a whiteboard element, particularly when meeting students online for explicit teaching sessions.  Jamboard allowed me to do that.  I particularly like the collaborative functionality.  It also allowed me to download as a pdf, so I could ship it off to students who had limits to internet data and access.  If work needed to be completed individually, that was easily done also by giving them a copy each. I encourage you to give it a go and see if it works for you and your students. Nga mihi Na Whaea Gaylene