9OUED Units: What Did The Kids Think?

I asked my 9OUED class for some feedback about each of the units in the form of ratings as well as general feedback. Initially they were hesitant to share their thoughts. I think this was because they didn't want to offend me or hurt my feelings if they didn't enjoy something. However, after some prompts and reminders that this is a genuine opportunity to adapt the course for future students and I would actually be disappointed if they didn't share how they were feeling, they opened up a bit! We actually had some great discussion. 

We went through each of the 4 units and discussed 3 areas for each; their overall enjoyment throughout, their experience and thoughts of the excursion/camp for that unit and the skills and knowledge that they learnt (how much and how interesting). Students were asked to rate from 1-4 between the 4 units (1 being the highest). For example, I could have said that I enjoyed the ecology unit the least and the rock-climbing unit the most. As a result, I would have given rock climbing a 1, bushwalking a 2 or 3, group dynamics 2 or 3 and ecology a 4.

I have created the alongside graphs as visuals to show what the students said (unfortunately some units have less feedback than others because we had students join us partway through the semester and/or they didn't come on the excursion(s)). Some of the clear pieces of feedback from the quantitative data (alongside the in-class discussion) include:

- Bushwalking in general was clearly the most enjoyed unit of the 4 but less than half of the students actually enjoyed the overnight bushwalking camp experience. Chatting with them though, it wasn't necessarily that specific camp, just that they realised they don't like bushwalking. 

- They clearly learnt the most skills and or knowledge throughout the ecology unit. This didn't surprise me but was great they were able to recognise this! Despite learning the most though, the excursion to the beach was their least favourite of the four throughout the semester. The general consensus was that there was a lot of talking from the people facilitating the microplastics experience and not enough hands-on. I agreed with this and as a result there will be some changes next year (such as borrowing the equipment and the teacher running the session). 

- Generally the rock climbing unit was enjoyed and the experience of actually rock climbing was positive for many of the students. I observed lots of positive involvement in the learning around the safety considerations and preventative measures in the outdoors (both at school and at the rock climbing wall). I started to include some more specific scenarios to break down/discuss after attending the fatality prevention PD and the students were really engaged in these conversations.

I have enjoyed creating this 9OUED course this year and felt so lucky to be able to teach the first groups of kids. Using the kids' feedback and my own reflections, I have created a semester unit plan with all resources and activities for the teacher who will be taking over next year. I'm proud of this and know it is a great place to start for anyone who may take over the course (and can't wait to see how it develops over the next few years). This brings me to the end of my time teaching OUED for this year. I have learnt lots and have really been pushed out of my comfort zone. Here's hoping in the future I have more opportunities to teach OUED! (Will certainly need a lot more development though!)

2022 Goals - How'd I Go?

This year I have completed a 'Professional Development Plan' for the first time. Although there is a specific structure that is supplied by the Dept of Ed and specific questions my mentor has needed to ask, it's very similar to an NZ inquiry. My full PDP can be accessed here, which includes a little more detail around my planning, the criteria my goals link to and some of the discussion points I had with my mentor.

I have created the below visual which gives some of the key ideas/topics that I have been focused on throughout the year. Included are some of the possible ways to learn more about these areas of development (which I wrote at the beginning of the year). Although these goals aren't written as SMART goals, they were fleshed out more in my PDP meetings with my mentor (HOD HPE).

Reflecting on the some of the specific knowledge and skills I have wanted to develop throughout this year, these are some of the things I have achieved this year:

- Gave student choice in the activities/tasks/assignments they complete (including topics and modes of presentations)

- Provided exemplars and explained what grades they are and why (generally got students to do this themselves first and then broke the criteria and grading down with them)

- Gave suggested structures with sentence starters (student choice whether they used or not!)

- Used colour coding between the task, the criteria and what students created

- Created pre written questions to prompt in class discussion

- Created several tasks and assignments directly related to the ACARA objectives/criteria (and of course assessed against them)

- 1:1 verbal feedback meetings with Y12s as well as written feedback opportunities on their drafts (i.e. checkpoints)

- Completed a Coping With Stress program alongside my Y12s

- Gathered and reflected on student feedback

- Had multiple meetings and discussions with colleagues about SACE marking and moderation

- Attended a Mental Health First Aid course, a Remote First Aid Course and a Preventing Fatalities Workshop

- Learnt a significant more about risk management and planned my own trips and camps

Moving forward, areas I would like to further develop/build on include:

- Greater confidence and understanding about facilitating OUED debriefs

- Use of different tools and strategies to gather and analyse feedback (I did not use Ziplet as it seemed very confusing I didn't think would give me anything additional Google Forms would)

- More specific differentiated tasks for students with learning challenges or who have been identified as students needing modified or adjusted tasks (and learn more about neurodiversity in general)

- Attend PD and complete more reading around literacy and how to increase literacy in HPE/OUED

- Actively engage students with risk management planning and have more specific scenarios to help prepare students more before they go into the outdoors