Summer Holiday Challenges #Summer10

Inspired by Rachel, who posted a blog of 10 personal challenges for her summer holiday, here are 10 things I aim to achieve/do/complete over this summer holiday coming.  Like her, I have kept a work/life balance: 9 things for life and 1 solo work activity!

1) Get better and relax - Things have been a little difficult recently.  I've been having some very uncharacteristic issues and so I'm hoping to relax over the holidays and be rid of the problems. 

2) Read...alot - My Kindle has got a few new books on (including some Peter James) and I've got a good wishlist to work my way through, full of the thrilling crime books which keep me turning the pages at lightning speed.  I love getting lost in a story over the holidays!

3) Read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg - I've been inspired by Sheryl Sandberg ever since I watched some of her talks on YouTube.  She has gone from a very high-powered position at Google to being the most powerful woman at Facebook.  She has a family and recently lost her husband.  I cannot wait to read this book which is about 'women, work and the will to lead'.  I hope to learn about leading, life and be inspired to be the best I can be in life and work.  

4) Catch up with friends - I have been using my weekends to relax at home recently so I hope to see more of friends that I should have caught up with. 

5) Try yoga or pilates - My doctor has suggested I try this sort of relaxation technique so I need to find a way to make it work for me.  Hopefully this will help me to chill as the holidays start and let go of the school tension quicker.

6) Tidy up & clear out - Maybe this will be the year we move house?! Either way, I need to have a good sort out and get rid of some stuff.  

7) Fall back in love with running - I haven't done much running this year but I hope the summer is the time to use it as a cardio form of exercise to get the endorphins flowing.  

8) Family time - This year I have holidays with my family and the in-laws, including celebrating Grandad's 90th birthday. This will bring the opportunity to share quality time, without screens; something I feel is lacking in the craziness of term time.   

9) Bake / Cook / Make - I hope to use the oven, my ingredient cupboard and maybe even the sewing machine to let my creative juices flow.

10) IT Logins - I need to move all children up into their new classes on the various online subscriptions we have.  This is the one main school job that I aim to do, among others of course! 

Remember to share your 10 challenges for the summer using the hashtag #Summer10! 

Trello - A Life-Changing To-Do List Tool

I was going to describe this tool as 'life-saving' but that would be a clear exaggeration.  However, I have no doubt that this has forever changed how I organise my to-do list for the better.  As a teacher, the list of jobs is neverending: the planning, teaching and marking, cutting, laminating and making, letters, reports and e-mails to write, tests to deliver, mark and analyse, all before you consider the bureaucracy and paper trail to be accountable to others.  

I have always been a fan of to-do lists.  I started out having a book; it was never in the right place at the right time.  Next, inspired by something I'd seen Michelle Mone (creator of Ultimo) do, I turned to post-it notes.  I would stick them all over my desk and carry a small pack with me.  This turned out to be tricky if my outfit didn't have pockets and my desk was totally covered in post-its.  I was then given a to-do list notepad similar to this as a present.  This worked better as I could use different sheets for different sorts of jobs.  However it was always in the wrong place when I needed it. 

As part of some work with a parent-governor, I was introduced to the free online tool which changed how I organise myself: Trello.  Trello advertises itself as "a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process."  The main thing that has made Trello such a life-changing tool is that I can access it wherever I am across an array of devices and it's completely free.  I have the app on my iPhone and iPad but often login through browsers on my school and home PCs.  As I record and complete tasks, the tool synchronises across all the devices.  

I started off with one board, my school board, which is still my most-used.  Since then, I have added other boards to organise different parts of my life.

My Trello Boards (iPhone app view)

Throughout the year, I have generally had three lists on my main board but in the last few weeks of term I have needed to add in a list for next year.  You can see my four lists below.

Whenever I access Trello, my lists are displayed as below and I can drag and drop the cards between the lists.  My 'Done' list is incredibly long but I like to keep it that way to remember the hundreds of jobs that I've completed.  As a year leader, I use the 'Year Meeting' list to record things I must discuss with my team when we meet.  

View of "Jo@Vale" board lists

Trello can do lots of amazing things which I don't use, particularly for collaboration.  One option which I do make good use of is adding Checklists within the cards.  

Checklists

When you click to expand the checklists, you can see the individual steps to completing that job and can check those off individually.  On the boards, Trello then shows you how far through completing the checklist you are.  

Checklist view

Mostly, I use Trello for myself to keep up-to-date.  I have also had some experience in using Trello collaboratively, including with Digital Leaders.  In doing this, I've found that you can colour-code jobs, add comments, invite people via emails and include stickers, links and images.  When a PGCE student who I mentored needed to complete some activities for university, I set up a Trello board so that we both could track his progress towards completing the work.  

Collaborative Board

I am sure there is much more Trello can do for collaborative projects but, for me, it does exactly what I need to organise my very busy teacher to-do list.  In Tesco recently, a parent spotted me and asked about something to do with school.  Immediately, I could put it into Trello on my phone and not think about it until I was ready to do some work when previously I would have had to remember it for a long time! 

Teacher Bloopers

I go to the theatre a lot and watch many movies.  Obviously, it's great when things go to plan but I absolutely love it when things go wrong - the bloopers! You'll find me waiting behind during the credits at the cinema to see if they included any funny ones and I'm never happier that when something goes wrong on stage, particularly in my favourite show, Wicked.  I've seen it too many times so I know it by heart.  I know when they forget their lines and when they are ad-libbing certain bits. For me, it adds to the experience and I love having a great theatre blooper to share.  

Now teaching really isn't that far removed from the world of movies and theatre.  There is you, part of the main cast, giving performances on your classroom stage day in, day out.  There is your audience - your pupils - who you must entertain as well as teach, this is a fully-interactive piece! You are judged by the critics and they publish their thoughts.  The directors and producers keep you in check and a backstage team ensure things run smoothly.  However, teaching is a performance of 6+ hours everyday so there are bloopers aplenty.  Here are my favourite 5 from my first few years on stage!

5 - "wrapped"
As part of our Ancient Egyptian theme at the beginning of year four, children write an explanation of mummification.  Their titles go along the lines of "How did the Ancient Egyptians mummify their dead bodies?".  We focus on past tense and first person.  To help, I made a word bank so that the difficult words were spelled correctly.  Words which featured on the list were: mummification, sarcophagus, embalming, decomposing.  One key word which didn't feature on the list was the word "wrapped".  Many children wrote this word but spelled it without the W and with only one P, totally changing it's meaning among sentences about dead bodies.  Next year, "wrapped" will definitely feature on the word bank!

4 - Lime vs Lime

We were learning about rivers, boats and bridges so I wanted to take my class to a local spring to see the water bubbling up and learn about the history of the spring.  I had diligently researched the paper factory which used to be on the site and set about explaining how the water was useful.  Sheep skin was important, as was the spring water but both were combined with lime.  I told the children that I wasn't too sure how they shipped limes over from more tropical countries in the mid-19th century but they added the limes to the water.  No one batted and eyelid, not my TA or any of the parent helpers and, although it sounded strange, I continued.  It wasn't until the next day when we were back in class that my TA suggested it could be the other lime as in limestone, of which there was plenty local to the spring. Oops! I made my apology and re-explained the paper-making process, this time with the Internet to help! 

3 - Context is everything...
In a lesson about adverbs (I believe), I learned an important lesson about providing clear contexts as I read this sentence afterwards.

Please note the correctly underlined nouns...every cloud! 

2 - Redback on the Toilet Seat
As part of our RIC reading starters, a colleague had planned an activity based on the first two verses of the song "Redback on the Toilet Seat".  I hadn't had time to read the plan so set to teaching the lesson.  The RIC involved children reading through the following poem and answering questions.

There was a redback on the toilet seat, 
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark, 
But boy I felt his bite.
I jumped up high into the air, 
And when I hit the ground.
That crafty redback spider, 
Wasn't nowhere to be found.

I rushed into the Mrs, 
Told her just where I'd been bit.
And she grabbed my cutthroat razor, 
And I nearly took a fit.
I said 'Forget what's on your mind, 
And call a doctor please.
For I've got a feeling that your cure, 
Is worse than the disease.'

When going through the answers to the questions, I noticed that the poem was quite a lot funnier than I'd first thought but tried my hardest to keep this from the children. In our next team meeting, I brought up the question of where the man had been bitten.  The rest of the team answered "his bottom" without hesitation.  I then had to explain that I didn't think he'd been bitten on his bottom...

1 - You're teaching my child...what??!

Picture this... It's the summer curriculum news. The parents of children in my class are gathered in my room a few days after Easter and I'm going over the important topics and events for the term.  I explain that in PE we will be preparing for a performance at the May Fayre.  Quickly, I move onto the next item and then notice a couple of parents grinning, a few sniggering and one man is giggling uncontrollably.  I ask them if I've said something wrong and they all just burst out laughing before one of the manages to control themselves. She informs be that I told them their children will have "weekly pole dancing lessons ready for a performance at the May Fayre".  Thankfully maypole dancing is a tradition at the school and I was swiftly forgiven but it wasn't forgotten!

We all have #TeacherBloopers - are you brave enough to share yours?

P.S. For the record, I don't drink all that much...and never near or under lamp posts!

Why Can't Our Impact Be Measured By...

•  ...the times during a lesson a child says, "Ooohhh, I get it now!" in the way teachers get so excited about? Even if it's after a fifth or sixth different explanation? 
• ...the smiles on children's faces as they enter our classroom? Or perhaps by the quantity who say, "Thank you" at the end of the day?  Surely that's the sign of a great teacher? 
• ...the good choices made by pupils when they've done something wrong? When they own up immediately and apologise with heart?  What about those children who choose to do the right thing when previously they would have chosen the other option? 
• ...the unprompted learning which children complete at home? Their page of maths calculations which they did when 'playing schools' or the thousands of questions they answered on an educational game before breakfast?
• ...the quality of work, views and comments from around the world on the school blogs? Surely they demonstrate wonderful learning and brilliant opportunities? 
• ...the free extra-curricular activities which we diligently run after, before and during school in order to provide a holistic experience for the pupils we value so much?  Don't they give opportunities for children to shine and be proud of something they've learned? 
• ...the messages we receive in cards and on little notes? These show that parents and children are happy with the job we are doing...doesn't that count for something? 
• ...the value we put on the non-core subjects that are being desperately squeezed out in favour of 'more important' subjects?  Surely keeping children active and involved in the arts is having a positive impact on their learning too? 
• ...the quality of the productions we stage? Or our sporting achievements?  What about the quality of the crops which our gardening club produce? Or the skills of our chess players? 

...instead of by a series of meaningless numbers decided on one day at the end of their time with us for which they lose real learning opportunities while relentlessly practising test skills?

Assessing Reading in the 2014 Primary Curriculum (KS2)

After many blog posts based around teaching reading in the 2014 National Curriculum, lots of people have enquired about assessment.  As a school, we've had a long journey about assessment in general and are by no means *there* (wherever that is!).  Something we, in year four, have found particularly useful are these reading objective sheets for key stage two.  I envisage them being used in many different ways, some of which I have outlined below.

Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4):

Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6)

We have used these sheets in our planning to ensure that we are covering all of the objectives throughout the year.  All the objectives for key stage 2 are split up into the RIC logos and so can be easily linked to the whole-class plans in the Google Drive folder.  Also, these sheets can also be used to save time writing objectives, as I know some schools still have to each lesson.  This year, my class have been writing the RIC word which we are focusing on each lesson.  For example: Choice or Viewpoint.  However, next year I'd like to stick one of these in each child's reading book and they write the RIC objective and the number underneath.  For example: in year 4, if we were retrieving from fiction and non-fiction texts, children would write 'Retrieve 4' at the top of their work.  When it comes to making a judgement, it will be quick to see their work for each objective in their book.

As we head towards the end of the year, these objective sheets are proving useful for assessment too. If you are doing carousel guided-reading, these can be edited to create assessment documents for teacher group sessions.  However, if you've made the move to whole-class guided reading, you will have a lot of written evidence over the year to cover each of the objectives.   The objectives sheets could then be used to check the extent to which groups of children have achieved the objectives.  I have included an example below from a recent reading moderation with an explanation below.

Highlighted number = some evidence of achieving the objective.

Highlighted objective = objective achieved independently across a range of contexts. 

For moderation purposes, I used different coloured mini post-its to show which objective under the RIC headings was on that page and put notes of extra things to consider.  This made it quick and easy for my colleagues to moderate my judgement.  We only did this for one child's work as it is a lot of effort! From doing this for only one child, it became clear which objectives we still need to cover before the end of the year so was a very useful exercise. 

Other ideas for using the objective sheets:

• Stick it in the front of the child's book - highlight when they've achieved an objective.  You can then use it at the end of the year to make a best-fit judgement according to your assessment system. 
• Complete for groups in the class to judge the extent to which those children are covering the objectives, a bit like how APP was meant to be used! 
• Complete for each child (consider how useful this time is??)
• Children have a copy in their book.  They keep track of which they think they've achieved throughout the year as you teach.  

To download these objective sheets, including editable versions, and all the other RIC resources for free, click here.  If you have any other ideas for using these objective sheets or for assessing reading in the new curriculum, get in touch in the comments below or on Twitter. 

From Carousel to Whole-Class Guided Reading Lessons - An Overview

In 2013, my school made the move from carousel-style Guided Reading to teaching through whole-class lessons.  I've blogged a huge amount about our rationale, reasons and resources so thought it was time to collate these blog posts together so they are easy to navigate.  All links should open in a new tab. 

Our Solution to the Problems with Carousel Guided Reading - It all started with Rhoda suggesting that we try something different because it seemed children were making progress despite the teaching of reading, not because of it.

Read with RIC Resources and Logos for Reading (FREE TO DOWNLOAD) - With the new curriculum in place and our whole-class reading lessons tried and tested, I shared the resources we used, called Read with RIC.  This includes logos, display materials, planning formats, assessment sheets and sticker templates.  All resources are free to download from a Google Drive folder (no account required). 

How Do Whole-Class Reading Lessons Work? - After that, people kept asking exactly how this works in year four and across the school.  This post has a complete plan with resources and a commentary of its use, as well as other examples.

RIC Starter Activities: What are they? - The starter activities we use encourage children to Retrieve, Interpret and comment on Choice.  We call them RICs. This post shows how to write them, what they look like and an example based on a video stimulus.

RIC Starter Activities: Examples - Here are over 40 examples of RIC lessons starters from various teachers.  They are available to view and download.

Teaching Reading in KS1 with some whole-class sessions - Some KS1 colleagues have written about how they teach reading (including phonics) and how they use RIC in whole-class lessions.

Assessing Reading in the New Curriculum - As we came to the end of the year, we looked at assessing children in reading and making judgements about their progress.  Objective sheets (view and download in the blog post) helped us to make these decisions.

Whole-Class Reading Lessons FAQs - Many people have had questions about moving to whole-class lessons.  I am collating and answering them here.

List of Primary Age-Appropriate Books - I've had emails and questions asking for a list of books used in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 so I compiled this huge list of 350+ books with help from teachers.

Free Texts for Whole-Class Reading Lessons - I am always asked about how we resource whole-class lessons. We have bought 3 half-class sets of books we read throughout the year but we make good use of many free texts.  This post provides links to some examples and advice about finding texts online.

Whole Class Reading - A New Method - In 2017, we trialled a new approach to reading lessons, more focused on vocabulary and understanding.  This post details the method and includes sample plans and lesson slides. 

Time-Teller of the Day

Having previously blogged about how I organised teaching time in my classroom, fellow edu-blogger, Jo, inspired me through her response to my post, to try her Time Teller of the Day idea.  She explained how she had bought a simple watch which children wear to be the Time Teller of the Day.  I thought this was a really easy thing to introduce to encourage children to interact with each other about the time.  Full of inspiration, I set to starting this up in my classroom.

I searched for the perfect watch to use for my Time-Tellers.  I wanted two so that children get a turn approximately every month.  Ideally it needed to have the "to" and "past" language on it with minutes and hours labelled as well.  Eventually, I chose this watch from Amazon which, although advertised as a product for boys, is fairly gender-neutral and very easy to read.  Also, I bought some clock stickers from PTS and personalised them so they said, 'Ask me: "What's the time?"'

UPDATE RE: The Watch

The straps and links broke after a couple of months so I wouldn't recommend buying one of those.  I have replaced them with two of these below. I went for the green one as that matches our school uniform.

Click on an image to open the Amazon Link.

Each morning, as part of registration, I choose two children to be our Time Tellers.  In the box which contains the stickers and watches, I put a class list on which I can tick them off as they get their turn.  If they are chosen, they get a watch and a sticker and wear both proudly for the whole day.   I started off with children opting to be Time Tellers and, after we'd covered analogue clocks in maths, it became more random.  

Since starting this, the most visible impact is children are now happy talking about the time and discussing the different ways of saying the same time.  They love wearing the watches and are happy to have a go at saying what time it is.  Children help each other and give hints and tips when others are struggling.  Other classes have asked what the time is and why they get to wear a watch so I think it might be something that could work across a school.  As with most things in school, the enthusiasm children have gained from this has allowed them to improve in their understanding.