Play Based Learning Development - Transition Focus

Play Based Learning Development - Transition Focus

Rationale:

At Waipawa School, our school charter has asked for us to develop more hands-on and authentic learning opportunities and to do this by developing Learning through Play practices.

Situation:

The New Entrant/Year 1 teachers are hesitant about adding Learning through Play into their practices and have highlighted the following reasons for being on top for them:

• Not understanding the developmental stages and the place in Learning through Play
• Concerned that guided group work will change and unsure of what this will mean for student achievement
• Not feeling confident about the role of the teacher in the play

Plan of Attack:

• Take each class for Learning through Play sessions outside with my class as older role models to the 5 year olds
• Highlight the need for resourcing with loose parts and having it set up invitingly.
• Model the 'spray and walk away' technique with academic coaching to lift the play.
• Model the descriptive commenting for academic and socio-emotional teaching.
• Write learning stories for target children in each class as examples of the learning and reporting.

Progress being made:

• Teachers are making time in their weekly plans for this play to happen - commitment!
• Teacher aids are interested in this and have been fully participating in the process.
• All students have enjoyed the learning through play sessions and plenty of photo montages have captured the learning.

Next steps:

• I have organised for the teachers to visit Eskdale School to work with Jill Skottjrup from Longworth Education around play based practices for transition purposes.  I am hoping they will see this in practice with same age children in a different context and will have the coaching to help establish why this is so important with children starting school.
• I have put the support staff on Incredible Years training to strengthen the academic and socio-emotional coaching practices in our junior classrooms.

Implications for my practice:

• Continue to look into practice based coaching methods.  Start by looking at the P-BLOT tool for coaching playbased learning in particular.

DMIC PLD - Talk Moves

TALK MOVES

After launching a problem one of the first talk moves to use is repeating.  In the coaching sessions that I have been a part of, it's proven to be the best talk move to use when teaching students how DMIC mathematics sessions work.  Keeps everybody paying attention!

Once we have repeated the information to a point that I am happy we have understood the story so far, we use the 'add on' talk move.

I found it really hard once these two talk moves were used, to move the lesson on in a way that wasn't me owning the talk and therefore learning.  I began over questioning and Generosa was able to 'pause' me and show how we can simply 'revoice'.

At this point in the learning process for my little guys, it seems that to keep momentum in the lesson I can say, "So, what is it asking us to find out?".  I need to focus on the concepts not strategies.  

Wait time has been so important.  In my coaching sessions, the really great examples were Blake, Grace, Sarah and Deja.  Deja cried and then managed to self-correct herself so she could rejoin the lesson by just being given proximal silent support.  Blake was able to continue to repeat his explanation without the teaching taking over his idea.  Sarah was unable to repeat but by staying quiet, Lacey was able to help her - peer support and more child talk!  Grace proved to be a lot more confident that I thought she would!

My next step:

This will be further down the track for my students as they learn this process but I will keep modelling this so when they are ready, they have been used to the language.

I also need to set up the scrapbooks and have them ready to go.

Plenty of maths eyes posters and the protocol for doing them as well as maths games are ready to go for the second group not working with me.  I'll reassess this once the week has finished as what the group 'not with you' does will be critical.

I also want to focus mostly on launching a problem correctly.  Especially writing the problem - you want it relevant but not too specific to the children as they get lost in the specifics of the memory etc...

Digital Technology Curriculum

Victoria Macann
Learning Architects
Waipawa School
Teacher Only Day
30 January 2019

Digital Technology Curriculum

Rationale:

To unpack the Digital Technology Curriculum by first focusing on understanding the Computational Thinking strand.

Evidence:

Teacher Only Day Slideshow

What does this mean for my practice:

Decomposition – breaking down the problem into smaller, more manageable parts

Abstraction – focusing on the important information only, ignoring irrelevant details

Algorithms – developing a step-by-step solution to the problem

Logic/pattern recognition - looking for similarities among and within problems

I am going to begin by looking for this type of thinking in the different areas throughout the school day so I am building my awareness of these areas within the learning.  

I will add this information into the Learning Stories that I write.

Marry up the decomposition skill with the Talk Moves skills that we learn in the DMIC PLD.  Breaking down the information in a word problem and adding step by step information to the word problem is all decomposing and supporting computational thinking.

TAI CONCLUSION - 2018

TAI CONCLUSION - 2018

My findings around the need for fantasy in the classroom to aid engagement and therefore achievement are summised in my Prezi presentation.

Keeping it Magical link

I spoke at the Joy of Play conference on January 23rd 2019 on this subject.  Sharing my findings.

An excerpt of feedback from the seminar.

SPIRAL THREE - Play Planning Template

Play Planning Template

SPIRAL THREE - Play Planning Template

Rationale:

To have a play planning template that allowed for all the links to the curriculum, urges and school values to be tracked.

What works:

• Great for reflecting on what is happening in the play and linking with the curriculum.  
• The information around urges and play types keep the resourcing and provocations personalised for the children and what they are interested in.

What needs tweaking:

• Add in school values.

ERO case study 2017 #07

Waipawa Primary School
Teacher Only Day
Paul Jamieson

Fully engaging children in learning through an innovative curriculum

Sylvia Park School is the school focused on in this case study. 

The ERO team looked at the following areas of success at this school:

• Schools Curriculum -
  Inquiry learning through a localised curriculum
• Pedagogy (Developing teaching practice)
  Student achievement and how this was targeted through Inquiry learning.
  Community and Whanau involvement
• Success for every child
  Growth mindset
  Visible learning techniques (evidence, feedback, sharing of learning, student voice)
  Partnerships with home.

Take away points that resonated with me:

• Outcomes of the learning were visible in the environment and many outcomes were helping to improve lives for children and communities.
• Innovative teachers think about their children, work with their community and think about the place they are situated in.
• Children involved in decision making - direction of inquiry/possible answers.
• Celebrations 'big reveals' of learning involved community.
• PLD was abolished if it didn't work.
• Leaders made it clear to PLD facilitators supported learning and didn't just impart knowledge.  Money was invested in coaching and gathering evidence by releasing teachers to work in each other's rooms.

Nelson Park Coaching - Term 3, 2018

Introduction Meeting - 03.08.2018

Today I had my first introductory meeting with the N.P. School teachers in the middle syndicate.  Both M and I were both keen to meet the different individuals and work out who our teachers to coach would be.  By the end of the session we decided that S and L would be with me and F and G would be with M.  This was subsequently changed to allow for the introduction of T to the coaching programme in Week 5.  

Stacey = L, F and T.  M = S and G.

Key points made in meeting

• The skills learned in learning through play is actually the facilitation skills needed to run age appropriate inquiries and many other modern teaching and learning approaches.  Jump on board - these skills are useful.
• The coaching process is about the relationship between the coach and the teacher.  This is not an official part of your appraisal and our coaching notes will not be passed on to leadership without teacher permission.  However, using the notes we write up and emails we send around what we observed will ink to your teaching portfolio.
• Relationships are key for change so try not to stress about us coming in!

Reflection points for me

• The team seemed friendly yet reserved.
• Trina is a new team leader and will need support to make change and preserve the new relationships she is trying to forge within the team.
• M has a long history in leadership and leading change with learning through play.  She is also keen to share her ICT skills as her previous school was an Apple distinguished school.

First observation - 07.08.2018

P-BLOT assessments to be taken on all teachers today

My first teacher to observe was L in Room 10.  She introduced me to her class and continued with her Monday routine.  The children came together on the mat in a circle and lit a candle to do the class whakatauki, roll, and then shared something from the weekend if they chose to.  Very relaxing!  The children then moved onto handwriting, basic facts and then Takaro Time.  Takaro Time is a 'mini-discovery time' where the children ease into school with independent crafty activities.  This leads into morning tea time and the discovery time continues after morning tea.

What I noticed:

• Children were settled and scored highly on the P-BLOT with the way the respected classroom environment, noise control and the resources.
• The children show a lot of construction play, however it is the only type of play that is resourced.
• L has a great relationship with the children and they enjoy her calm presence.
• Takaro Time activities at this stage is a focus on craft.  Steps for L to resource her room for other types of play would allow for this time to begin to open the door to deep play appropriate to this year level.

After lunch coaching session

• I took the opportunity to focus more on building relationships with Lou and therefore start with resourcing as the focus.  As Sarah suggested, we co-constructed this from the checklists by using the P-BLOT scores and transferring these scores to the corresponding learning goals on the teacher's checklists.  This is a great way of feeding back to teachers the results from the P-BLOT whilst keeping the results positive and in teacher speak.
• I explained to L that resourcing is the basis of all the other learning goals and we decided on the introduction of 2 loose parts per week and an action plan was agreed on.

Reflection

• I am happy with the relationship forged with L today but am wondering if I have struck the right tone with her - time will tell with the movement she makes with the action plan this coming week.
• The P-BLOT was suprisingly easy to use but this was probably because both teachers observed today are not far into their Learning through Play journey.
• F scored similarly to Lou and is great practice but not a focus teacher due to her reliever status.  When I observed F it was Discovery Time for the whole syndicate.  Discovery seems to be a hands-off approach for the teachers and focused on construction.  Lots of boxes, sellotape, hot glue and paint.  No dramatic play promoted.  This was the case syndicate wide.  

Second observation - 14.08.2018

This session focused on the teachers improvement against their action plan.  The teachers swapped observation times so F was observed before morning tea and L after.  This allows me to see both teachers in their own class and in Discovery Time.

What I noticed:

• L had sourced driftwood and pumice for Discovery Time this week.  The children were given playdough and craft knives.  They began whittling the driftwood.  L tried to encourage making driftwood families in the playdough and set one up on the table for children to look at.  Nobody took it up and chose to continue whittling.  It drew a crowd!
• Other children were painting rocks.
• One small group of boys were building a gokart out of cardboard boxes.  They showed interpersonal skills as they divvyed up jobs to get the gokart looking its best.  L sat next to me during this time and I was able to commentate the learning happening at the box.  L was aware of the lead student's interest in all things planes.
• F had introduced no new loose parts for this discovery time as she had previously obtained hoola hoops and bean bags and some had gone missing so she had taken them back.  Children were using metre rulers to roll marbles down the centre for her new loose part.

Coaching session

• This coaching session was a little more deflating as the teachers hadn't made much effort against their action plan.
• L had introduced driftwood and cleared some shelves for storage.  And F as mentioned above.
• This little progress meant the action plan rolled over for another week.  I emailed out resource lists and information around the importance of loose parts to help give ideas.  I also mentioned having a look in the junior play based classrooms at this school for inspiration.

Reflection

• There was less improvement made than expected but M found the same thing with her teachers.  However when we chatted about our coaching sessions, M had taken a far more directive approach whereas I worry I haven't been as directive and the teachers have either wiggle room or not a clear picture of what's expected.

Third observation - 21.08.2018

Sarah was in today to work on the P-BLOT with me with Trina this time.

Key findings today:

• T's room reflected a teacher conflicted with inquiry, STEAM and play.  The focus for this term is really going to be streamlining her thinking so she isn't spinning so many plates!  Her P-BLOT scores showed how she is a competent and confident teacher of play in NE/Yr 1 however the Yr 3/4 cohort is proving more difficult.  The first step is going to be working on lifting the play invitations to a higher level in the curriculum.
• Both F and L continue to make no progress with the loose parts/resourcing for play and no movement was made from last week.
• It was decided that we would meet with T and S (principal) to discuss this in the afternoon whereby we asked to have Discovery stopped or moved on the timetable while we were in school.  This would allow us to model the play invitations and move on from resourcing.  Hopefully by looking at quality invitations and the learning that comes from them, the teachers would be more motivated to continue on the quest for finding them!

Reflection:

• I am beginning to realise that my coaching style is too buddy buddy.  I have focused so much on having the teachers feel like I am not intruding in their room that I haven't imparted my knowledge effectively.  
• Trina got in touch with us 2 days after this observation date and remarked on the improvement from some of the teachers in the syndicate.  L and F remained the teachers that were less agreeable to play changes.
• Next session I am going to be more direct in our conversations and front foot the question of why there isn't improvement happening in these rooms.  Hopefully the invitations for play will change the coaching process and puts me in a vulnerable position and gives L and F a model.

Fourth observation - 28.08.2018

Key findings today:

• T's next steps were more around supporting inquiry with play.  We talked about the need to model quite directly the invitations around play for Level 2.  Play does not mean we have anything other than high standards!
• Maybe the social emotional coaching could be around resilience and pride in our work - discipline!  All great entertainers had discipline to perfect their craft - hard work!
• Swapping inquiry and Takaro Time around so chn had a more focused and academic lens towards their play?
• Product vs. process.  We discussed how students can have their eye on a goal for their learning and work towards it while the teacher keeps them honest to the learning process and focused on the inquiry process.  This way you are building a work ethic and resilience whist making sure that you keep the assessment focus on the process not product.  This was an a-ha moment for T
• L was focusing more on finding the curriculum within the play today.  We talked about how if L continued the play tomorrow she could pick the play up from where it left off today and that would in effect be the making of a collection of mini inquiries.

Reflection:

• The modelling session today allowed me to have a more direct approach with L this afternoon.  She was able to picture what I was talking about and see how the learning could follow through.
• I was impressed with L's diligence to the action plan as she provided evidence of a provocation that she introduced this week.  She showed the children's interaction with it and evidence of their learning.  L was able to identify 3 different urges in the room and some possible curriculum links.

What next:

• Email notes from today's observations to the ladies and ask them to continue to work on some next steps ready for Monday.
• L - show evidence of this week's invitations and what learning happened.  Give an example of the teacher input that could happen to 'lift' the play.
• T - consider timetabling Takaro Time and Inquiry at different times in the day to help with keeping the children more engaged in their learning at play time.  Complete some reflections and observations around engagement as a result. 

Fifth observation - 04.09.2018

Key focus today:

• Today in T and L's classrooms, I modelled a play session.  It was great to see the children from L's class take on board the different provocations.  Equally, it was great to see that some provocations were not "picked up" by the chn and this was a vital point for L to see.  The level of play was high and the only chn left with box construction as an activity, were those that were genuinely engaging in higher level play with it.  Key urges were able to be observed with L, and she could see the different types of learning beginning to appear in the programme.

Reflection:

• Today's session was rich in play pedagogy and it earned me some 'street cred' with the teachers to be putting myself in the teaching role.  although not necessarily 'sold' on play, L was able to see that the play of recent weeks that she has initiated was not rich and that the learning in the types of provocations that were put out today was of a higher level.

What next:

• Teachers to continue working on action plan steps to move their provocations and resources forward.  

3 final observations - 11.09.2018 - end of term

Key findings:

• Teachers are beginning to be swayed by the power of play and have shown some improvements in provocations particularly with a maths focus.
• Modelling was the key turning point for the teachers.
• Resourcing and provocations overall still need to be worked on.
• School focus on inquiry is 'muddying' the waters and stopping teachers from 'jumping in' with the play pedagogy.

What next:

• Tidy up final action plans for the teachers.
• Send off conclusion email to wrap up where they are at.
• Meet with T in the school holidays to advise with planning.

Email sent:

Hi Team,

Thank you for having both Michelle and I in your rooms this term.  We realise that once a week was a very regular basis to have visitors in your room and we appreciate the way you carried on and allowed us to see what really goes on in the Tui team at NP!

This term we have enjoyed seeing the conversations around play deepen and it's been a pleasure to be able to discuss with you where this approach to learning can lead for both teacher and student.

We have seen you all grow in awareness about resourcing and how this looks different in a learning through play space.  The open ended nature to these resources have endless scope for Learning through Play/Inquiry.  Both Michelle and I have commented on how your thinking around resources has branched away from construction alone and the developing role play/fantasy play in the rooms is pleasing to see.  You certainly have a bunch of creative kids looking for outlets to share their ideas!

Resources and the invitations/provocations to play (as per your action plans) is the foundation for the all important observe, invite/provoke and teach play cycle.  To be able to spot the curriculum in the play, enhance and develop that learning and resource accordingly, all starts with resources and engaged kids!  

Therefore, during Term 4, Michelle and I believe continuing to strengthen your invitations to play and the observations that come from this to further inform the learning is key.  Your immediate challenge would be to see if you could timetable play differently throughout the week to allow both yourself and the children to build on the learning happening in the play.  The curriculum being taught through play hinges on the children interacting with it often.  The fear with timetabling play for once a week, is that the quality of play will drop to a lower level than you see fit for your developmental stages in the room.  

Your children are certainly engaged learners who feel comfortable in their classrooms - a real sense of belonging!  We know just how hard you have all worked to create this atmosphere in your rooms.  Your Term 4 Learning through play/Inquiry focus will benefit greatly from this foundation for learning!

I know that both myself and Michelle will be in touch to wrap up your latest action plan so you feel confident with your work for the term and can begin making decisions around how to approach Term 4 in your learning spaces.

Thanks for passing these notes on to the teachers for us T!

Kind regards,

Stacey