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...