Oliver's End Interview

Oliver

Carmen's end interview

Carmen

Puzzle Solving

Carmen and Oliver helped other children with this 100 piece Spot What puzzle. They guided the other children by suggesting what to look for when selecting a puzzle piece. This was the only group who managed to complete their puzzle in the allotted time!

Writing Samples The End

Carmen has started to use her wonderful oral language talents to improve her writing.
Oliver has struggled with writing but is slowly getting better at using his oral language to improve his writing skills.

Creature Brainstorm

Term 4 Planning

Thinkers Keys

This resource is used at Albany Primary and was sent to us by one of the teachers were spoke to about how their inquiry learning looks.
I felt it was fairly structured and might be useful at the beginning of a year when the children require more support. However as more and more inquiry learning happens - so the children will become more confident at what is expected of them.
I would like to trial parts of it and reassess as we go.
Alternatively it is a good way to mix the process up a bit - add variety to the inquiry structure!


http://thinkerskeys2011.wikispaces.com/Resources

Thinking Skills with Year One

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/s/?view=att&th=13ece6e352608591&attid=0.1&disp=attd&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P_iWVdWwiaVaSEKkUGRKnNS&sadet=1384224154239&sads=Jd4AsNeqIr1RI3vmEdSnIhIj_d0&sadssc=1

Corey created an awesome symmetrical space ship!

Children's Space Inquiry

Oliver's rocket

This is Oliver explaining how to land a rocket on the moon. The thinking skills and reasoning displayed is very interesting for a 5 year old.
Oliver was extremely motivated during the inquiry learning.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PrykxbQGlo&feature=youtu.be&safe=active

Term 3 planning

Term 3 Planning with PMI

Professional Reading

Advocacy for Gifted and Talented in New York

______________________________________

What Makes a “Good” Teacher “Great”?

 By: Kathy Hargrove

The fall semester brought me yet another class of graduate students just embarking on their gifted

education courses. Unlike many students I've had in the past, the majority of the class had no

background at all in gifted education--no undergraduate courses, no graduate courses, not even any

staff development. While this was challenging, it was also instructive because their questions let me

know where most teachers really are when it comes to teaching gifted students. One concern voiced

over and over during the semester was "What makes a 'good' teacher a really 'great' teacher for

gifted and talented students?"

Of course, the literature is full of lists of traits of effective teachers of the gifted. In fact, our textbook

had several long and very comprehensive lists--so long and so detailed that one of the students

ventured to say that a teacher who measured up would be at the least a magician and, at most, a

genuine miracle-worker! These lists and the student's frustrations forced me to think about this issue.

So, "What makes a teacher of the gifted great?"

I found some answers in a study by Ken Bain and his associates at the Searle Center for Teaching

Excellence at Northwestern University, reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education (Bain, 2004).

The scholars at the Searle Center studied more than 60 effective college professors--the kind of

teachers students rave about. In fact, an example in the article was one of my own history professors,

Dr. Ralph Lynn. Governor Ann Richards called his classes "magical tours," and People editor Hal

Wingo said that Lynn offered an argument for human cloning because "Nothing would give me more

hope for the future than to think that Dr. Lynn, in all his wisdom and wit, will be around educating new

generations from here to eternity!" Bain and the other researchers concluded that Lynn and the other

great teachers shared some common strategies.

First, they created a "natural critical learning environment." They established an atmosphere that

fostered critical thinking about questions students found interesting and provocative. "Critical thinking"

included making decisions, defending choices, reasoning from evidence, examining quality, and

making improvements--all reinforced by ongoing feedback from the teacher. Think of this process as

something like working out with a personal trainer. The trainer uses a "show and tell" approach with

the client in teaching her how to perform an exercise. The trainer constantly reinforces correct form as

well as criticizing "wrong moves," showing where and how to improve. The message from the trainer

is that one can improve with time and effort.

The same thing is true in the classroom. Learning does take time and effort, and there is no one

teaching strategy that inspires this. Almost any strategy that "works" for an individual teacher is worth

at least a try. But, the teacher must always communicate to the gifted students that mastery and

growth will require effort. Unfortunately, many of our students have never been challenged. Great

teachers will challenge them while simultaneously offering support and making it "okay" to try and fail

and try again.One key to engaging and challenging students is asking provocative questions and providing

guidance as students struggle with answers. Think of yourself as a 21st-century Socrates. Socrates

was never content with just one question; rather, he continued to ask guiding questions that would

help his students discover the answers for themselves. Another important element involved with a

good question (as opposed to initially giving a pat "answer") is to surround the question with broader

issues, both in the discipline and in the world. I liked very much what Donald Saari, a mathematics

professor at the University of California--Irvine was quoted as saying: "I want the students to feel like

they have invented calculus and that only some accident of birth kept them from beating Newton to

the punch." That, I think, is what we want for our gifted students: that feeling that what they are

discovering is important and meaningful. Bain and his colleagues cite many examples of authentic

intellectual activity by students in classrooms, examples across the disciplines. They provide spaces,

Bain says, where "students encounter safe, yet challenging conditions in which they can try, fail,

receive feedback, and try again without facing a summative evaluation." It occurs to me that this is the

description of the kind classroom gifted students need.

What else did they find? They learned that it is important to grab students' attention and keep it

focused. They also found that effective professors begin where the students are, not where the

discipline prescribes they should be. Think again about the personal trainer. He or she discovers at

the beginning of each session where the client is and plans the session accordingly. In addition, the

trainer has a goal, achievement toward which the client should be moving. Great teachers do this, as

well: They plan instruction based on clear goals. And, like personal trainers, they also know that those

goals change. In relation to gifted students, I think knowing students also means keeping in the front

of the teacher's mind the "who" and "what" of giftedness.

Another key to effectiveness is high expectations, not only of the students, but also for the teacher

him- or herself. Teachers of gifted students certainly must ask as much of themselves as they do of

their students, for if we expect commitment from them, we must own it ourselves.

Another idea from Bain's research includes the willingness to help students outside of class. Several

of my students this fall needed lots of "how-to" guidance as they experienced not only a new

discipline (gifted and talented education), but also graduate study itself. Gifted students tend to push

classroom teachers to better explanations, more guidance, and more detail. They have a strong need

to know. Many, as well, have a strong need to get it right.

Further, the best teachers engage students in disciplinary thinking. In the gifted field, we have often

modeled instruction according to the standards of Bruner and others who suggested that we need to

involve students in the structure of the disciplines, to guide them to think like mathematicians or

historians or writers. Disciplinary thinking may also mean relating the discipline to current news--

what's happening in the here and now.

Finally, the research suggested that the great teachers provide diverse learning experiences. Gifted

students demand novelty; they have a great appetite for different ways of thinking and learning.

Again, think of the trainer who alternates exercises and moves on to something new when his client

gets bored or frustrated, finding something that will inject fun and excitement into the workout.

How did I answer my novice gifted educators when they asked about the difference in the "good"

teacher and the "great" teacher? I shared some of these ideas and others as they traveled the

challenging road to greatness.

Reference

Bain, K. (2004, April 9). What makes great teachers great? The Chronicle of Higher Education, B7.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Prufrock Press COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group www.agateny.com

Rich Task Plan and Evaluation Term 2 Colours

Dairy Flat Rich Task Plan - Colours 2

NZC	Activity	LI	SC	L Act	Eval
Literacy	Read big book ‘Rainbow Fish’ Poems/Songs Comprehension ROY G BIV	·        recognises that authors have different voices and styles ·        recognises connections between oral, written, and visual language	·         Identify the use of colours ·         Identify adj used in text.	ActivBd act adj Children were able to identify colours and attempt to write the word for the colour.	Children enjoyed this topic as they were able to relate to the topic. There was lots of resources available.
Te Reo ICT	Read a Traditional story to the class making rainbows in Paint.	Whakarongo - Listening: Understand much of other speakers of te reo Māori say about a range of topics.	·         Read How the Pukeko Stole the Colours	Discuss the meaning of this as related to Rainbows Research Maori names for colours and write more verses	Children were all very involved and confident with learning Te reo, Most of the colours in the rainbow are in the colour song. “MA is white” Assessment task on matching the maori with english colour.
Visual Art	Draw their own fish Painting rainbows. Pop art using rainbow colours	DI Investigate visual ideas in response to a variety of motivations, observation, and imagination. CI Share the ideas, feelings, and stories communicated by their own and others’ objects and images.	·         Draw a shape That looks like a fish ·         dye background that represents the sea	Draw own fish with scales, vivid edges & scales Dye background as sea mixing colours	Children loved the pop art and were able to produce many excellent pieces of art work. They enjoyed working with a range of media and using bright colours.
Science	Look at the properties of a rainbow	Properties and changes of matter Observe, describe, and compare physical and chemical properties of common materials and changes that occur when materials are mixed, heated, or cooled.	·         Name the colours of the rainbow ·         Discuss how they happen ·         Attempt to produce a rainbow in the class	Activbd act Rainbows	Discussions around how rainbows were formed were interesting. Using prisms to demonstrate encouraged critical thinking.
Values	Innovation	by thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively	·         Discuss with groups actions and reactions	Experiment as below	Doing plenaries allowed children to think critically and imaginatively
Science	Mixing prime colours	Properties and changes of matter Observe, describe, and compare physical and chemical properties of common materials and changes that occur when materials are mixed, heated, or cooled.	·         Identify prime colours ·         Mix prime colours to make rainbow colours	Mix 3 prime colours in glasses to make the 7 rainbow colours. Paint fish in rainbow colours	Chn were all actively involved in identifying the 2 colours needed to mix up a secondary colour using dye in a clear jar. Observations were discussed in groups and chn were self / peer assessing the results.

Rich task Plan for Fire

This Rich task plan allowed Oliver and Carmen to use their problem solving and inquiry skills.

Below are samples of their writing from the beginning. Am hoping with more stimulation  this writing will improve.

Writing samples -THE BEGINNING!

Professional Readings and Video

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/12/what-teachers-need-to-know-about.html?m=1







https://drive.google.com/a/dairyflat.school.nz/?pli=1#my-drive

You Tube

Gate Children 2013

Carmen Marks

Carmen has been at school for 7 months when she came to Room 5. She was reading above her chronological age. She has advanced oral language but is only just achieving in Written Language.The goals I am hoping to achieve are:

• Develop her talent/gift in reading to benefit and improve her written language.
• Develop and allow her to use her advanced oral language in all areas of the classroom.
• Allow her to use her reading ability to do inquiry learning and problem solving to develop her thinking skills.

Oliver Prowse

Oliver has been at school for about 5 months. Academically he is reaching the standard. He has shown some interesting thinking skills during class oral discussions. Example: "If the house is on fire you must get out fast and if the fire is outside then don't get out!"

The goals I have chosen for him are: 

• Develop his thinking skills through problem solving and inquiry learning.

• Develop and use his oral language in all areas of the classroom.