Tash's Blog

Mathematics: Spacial Visualisation Challenges

20/2/2014

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Using 3D grids to present views of 3D shapes.

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Math is How We Organize Ourselves

19/2/2014

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Inspired by Leigh Ann's blog post, Math In A Unit Of Inquiry, I thought I'd also share my struggles to find an authentic way to bring Math front and centre to a unit of inquiry.

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Designing Our Summative Assessment Together

27/10/2012

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I've been trying out and thinking of authentic and effective ways to centre Student Voice within our inquiry planning. So when we were about to embark on our Summative Assessment during our first Unit of Inquiry this year I thought, "Aha! This is the perfect opportunity for you Natasha to put this into action." I'm not sure about you, but uncharted waters are where you dive in and have to figure out where your going, how your going, while your going "there" wherever that actually is. But not being one to balk at a challenge, I dived in. A good place to start is by visualizing, asking yourself, "When all my students responses are piled on my desk, what evidence do I want to find within them?"

The overall result was a crisp Summative Assessment which each student owned and was fully engaged in, as well as, clarity for the teacher from the initial question through to how the student's response is connected to the curriculum.

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Why is Spelling Important to Teach and Learn?

10/9/2012

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A Spelling Inquiry Sample

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During our introduction to the Writing Process at the Editing stage, following the proofing reading marks, I encouraged students to circle words that needed spelling to be checked. I explained that they will use only 2 of 3 reason to place a circle around a word:

circle words that you want to be sure you spelt correctly
circle words that you know you struggled with and you feel are spelt incorrectly
I will circle words that you don’t know you have spelt incorrectly

So as part of the Editing stage, we pause for a Spelling Inquiry. This also needed an introduction. I had planned to model how to inquire into your own spelling but stopped myself once I was standing in front of my students, I felt that the first step I took would set the direction, tone and importance of what we were learning about and I thought, “Why was this important enough to teach and learn?” So that is where we began. We had an open discussion, sharing our thoughts, feelings, experiences, understanding and knowledge of spelling.

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Inquiry and “Technology”: Constructing Meaning through “Technology Integration”

28/3/2011

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Within this post, technology is mainly referring to the use of computers.

Tuning In

One of my students brought in a little device to share with the class made of two old plastic cards, sticky tape and a single rubber band. When stretched open, folded over and released it snapped and jumped into the air. We dubbed it the Card Clapper. Another student happened to also bring in a solar powered fan cap.

This had direct relevance to our Central Idea, Energy comes from many sources, exists in different forms, is changed, stored and used in different ways. I immediately took a picture on my iPhone and posted it on our class Weebly website posing, “How does it work?” as optional homework.

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Reflective Learner meets Effective Group Work

21/3/2011

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I’m in the process of reading a paper Restructuring the Classroom: Conditions for Productive Small Groups (1992) by Elizabeth G. Cohen (click on the green text to go directly to the external link) because I have been questioning the effectiveness of group work during Inquiry. Although I still have much to read on this topic, I have began to make changes from what I have l learned so far. I am also consistently trying to improve my practice and understanding of the reflective learner.

I began questioning the usefulness of self reflecting on the quality of your own participation during or after a task. Wouldn’t it be more powerful to begin a task with a plan on how you were going to participate? By having a clear purpose and a particular mind set at the beginning, wouldn’t that then shape your achievement?

I’ve taken the Participation Pie, often completed during or after a group work task, Inside/Outside Circles and Teacher Conferencing to now use as reflective planning tools at four junctures within an Inquiry. (Please feel free to click on the green words Participation Pie and Inside/Outside Circles to follow the link to our other posts that explain these tools).