Pod+7

Pod 7 is a class of year 3 and 4 students. There are 15 boys and 10 girls. There are 15 Year 3 students and 10 Year 4 students.

We have worked to develop our learning environment shared understandings about teaching and learning. Following my professional reading from "Active Learning Through Formative Assessment" I have worked to develop a shared set of understandings with the children that help to develop a "growth mindset" for all involved.(pg 21)

Check these out on our Pod 7 wiki

**Developing an Effective Learning Culture in Our Class **

At the beginning of the year we are taking some time to set up our class routines and expectations that will enable excellent learning to take place. We have identified some of our talents and shared some key about how learning. This includes some important understandings such as: * We can ALL get better at learning and doing things. * Learning new things and succeeding at them can take different amounts of time for different people. * We know that if something doesn't work the first time, we need to keep trying. * We can all achieve in things. * We can practice learning things in lots of different ways, topics, and places. * When people us it is easier to learn new things. It helps us to achieve more. * There are lots of people who help us learn. * We all have levels of ability in things. * We know it's important to have an "**//I can//**" attitude to our work and activities.

**Appraisal group:** Teachers: Mary Leydon, Katy Howett, Jan Olney Students: All Year 4 children achieving at 1a writing level at beginning of year. Their expected level by the end of the year is 2a.

** Area of Professional Inquiry :** Written Language

**Specific Inquiry:** How to raise achievement with a group of targeted children who are underachieving, and the effectiveness of increased "dialogic talk" in the classroom in improving achievement in written language.

** Agreed actions for development :** For teacher - To pair children with a different buddy each week and plan for deliberate acts of teaching following the Shirley Clarke format that give all children the chance for increased dialogue. Research, observations, professional dialogue, experts (Raewyn Sills). For children – daily opportunities to share and discuss their thoughts on a variety of topics. Explicit sharing of learning intentions, focussed feedback on learning intentions and success criteria, ownership of learning and responsibilities. Ability to transfer learning within and across subject areas.

**Timeline:** Term 1 – data gathering and analysis. Set up learning environment, begin talk buddy partnerships. Term 2 – Professional readings, continue with planning for activities to increase classroom dialogue, link to writing with deliberate planning for children to discuss their own work and that of others. Raising awareness of expected achievement/ levels with students. Term 3 – as per Term 2 Term 4 – data gathering and comparisons
 * Research and record __ALL__ information in a reflective journal.**

**Monthly reflections on actions/results:** **Term 1 March** **﻿** We set up our class environment with a display outlining the expectations about learning. We change our talk buddies every week. This has been well received by the children. It has been interesting to note that the children who were less confident at the beginning of the year re far more willing to contribute during class time, even when they haven't been paired with their talk buddies. Some of the very reticent children have been forthcoming to present oral reports. Not always weekly, but certainly with increased confidence when they do have a turn. I made a class written language plan of children's needs as compiled when considering the data obtained from the school-wide writing assessment. Lessons have been planned to address these areas of need, and learning intentions around the different aspects have been introduced. **April:** **﻿** During the term we began to use the "OnTarget," "Getting There," and "Needs More practice" charts, with the children self-evaluating about how they saw themselves as learners. This strategy has been a successful one for children, especially with spelling, as everyone is able to achieve "on Target" if they learn their weekly list words. We have decided as a class that our goal is to have nobody's name in the "needs more practice" section, and to this end it has been very motivating for the children. They have been extremely supportive of one another, helping to test their buddies and peers who need an extra helping hand. This is done in a friendly supportive manner and all achievement is celebrated. We did work on including strong verbs in writing, and this became a strong focus for the month. **May:** **﻿** We used some of the Shirley Clarke strategies to help with our writing. We used a newspaper article with a statement and agree/disagree. The children then used the outcomes of their discussions with their talk buddies to write a persuasive argument. There were some very good pieces of first-time writing using this format. Much of our writing this month has been linked to our Inquiry Social Science topic of Antarctica, including note-taking and note-making, factual reports and poetic writing. We have continued to use success criteria generated by the children, and they are now becoming much more familiar with the process. **June:** **﻿** We began the month looking at diary writing. We shared the diary of Robert Scott as part of our Antarctic study. The children were quickly and easily able to come up with a great list of success criteria, and subsequently some excellent writing. __**Learning Intention**__ We are learning to do Diary writing. that we are in the Antarctic. __**Success criteria:**__ I have written about how I **feel.** I have written what I **think.** I have written about things I have **done.** I have included things I have **noticed and seen** I have written about the **weather.**
 * Context** We are writing diaries imagining
 * My diary entries start with a date.**

We also did some acrostic poems based on the Aurora Australis. Once again the children provided some great success criteria followed by some exceptional writing. __**Learning Intention**__ We are learning to write an acrostic poem. We are using the idea of the aurora to practice writing about the aurora. a letter of the word **“Aurora”** **Professional development undertaken: (include readings, visits, discussions, courses)** Week 3/4 - Spoke and discussed targeted teaching strategies with Raewyn Sills for Week 5. - During syndicate meeting we discussed ideas for explicit teaching in small groups - interactive writing, shared writing and learning intentions. **Areas arising for further development:** We have asked Raewyn if she would be able to teach and model for us the co-construction of success criteria, especially in respect to aspects of writing with our target children. **Summary of progress and achievement:**
 * Context:**
 * Success Criteria**
 * Each line begins with a word beginning with
 * There are interesting adjectives
 * There are interesting verbs
 * There may be a simile
 * The words make a clear picture for the reader