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TEACHER INQUIRY

The Ti Kouka team undertook a teacher inquiry based around student engagement, with the three of us all focussing on a different aspect of engaging learners. My main focus was working with parents and using one-on-one personal conversations with selected learners, on whatever topic(s) they wanted to talk about, to enhance a relationship of trust and openness. Here's a link to my aspect of the inquiry. I felt that this approach was very rewarding, although it was quite difficult to manage within time frames and because some of the children I chose, I do not actually teach very often. However, children were better engaged and they were more pro-active in seeking me out to chat.  This rapport meant that a relationship of trust built and this in turn meant that, when difficult conversations about behaviour had to be held, children still knew I cared about them. I think this is a great, and very simple, strategy that is well worth utilising again.
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TEACHING PRACTICE REFLECTION

Teaching Practice, Assessment, Authentic learning , Student engagement and 2017 Targets With my team this year, we created a Learning Intent which we returned to and reviewed regularly. We worked with SENCo to develop programmes supporting at-risk learners. We reviewed core curriculum groupings at the end of each term and made adjustments that we felt useful, eg moving some children into a different group. Assessment was completed on new children and they were placed accordingly. I also undertook regular assessment with groups of children, eg PATs, running records, GLoSS, writing samples, e-asstle assessments, etc, and ensured team members also did this and that data from the team was collated and considered with a view to teaching and learning practices. I learned heaps of new skills around the use of devices and apps, all of which were unfamiliar to me, and I gained in confidence to push learning and tasks out to the children via devices and to use hapara to monitor work....
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TERM 3 FEEDBACK

Again at the end of Term 3, we sought feedback from our learners on how they felt things were going in Ti Kouka. We were pleased to hear that they felt things had improved socially since Term 2. Here's a link to a summary of the feedback
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ORAL LANGUAGE PD

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On Thursday 30 March I attended oral language PD based on the new The Oral Language Book  by Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey, with Julia and Louise. The ideas in the book really energised and engaged me and I intend to incorporate some in literacy/library time. Particular things I want to follow up with initially are: * developing listening skills * using drama to enhance oral language
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FIRST AID REVALIDATION

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Yes, it was that time again - time to re-validate my first aid qualifications.  So I booked in with Red Cross and was off to Birmingham Drive in the Term 2-3 holidays. It was great to see that I had actually remembered so much - it's amazing what comes back to you. There were a couple of  teachers from other school on the same course, so it was good to exchange ideas, etc.
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FEEDBACK FROM THE TI KOUKA LEARNERS

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At the end of Term 1 and again at the end of Term 2, we surveyed our learners to see what was working well for them and what they would like to change if they could.  Here's the feedback they gave us: End of Term 1 feedback End of Term 2 feedback On both occasions, we were pleased to read of so many positives from the learners.  We took on board what they said in Term 1, and included more sport and PE in Term 2 and also more device use, as this really engages them. From Term 2's review, we saw that we needed to keep changing it up, offering choices for the children and continue to work on the engagement and focus of the Year 6 boys, as their behaviour choices impact on the whole community.
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BACK TO WORK IN TERM 2... and LOOKING BACK TO TERM 1

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Back to school for the start of Term 2 tomorrow. I have to say I am both looking forward to it and apprehensive! Term 1 was such a long, busy and tiring term that I really felt I had totally lost steam by the end of the term. I hope to manage workload and downtime better this term. On the positives, I feel that Carolyn, Aaron and I have achieved some really good things with the Ti Kouka community in Term 1. Our space is looking good, with lots of the children's work up. I am delighted to finally see the cupboards doors that the children had painted, back up again - what a great student-driven process and learning! I am looking forward to more great collaboration, fun times and learning this term in Ti Kouka! There's lots to sort out for this term!
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