Wow, I Really Have Learnt A Lot!

I currently have a Pre Service Teacher under my wing, and she asked me some questions to ignite her thinking. They actually encouraged a lot of reflection of my own practice, and really demonstrated over the last (nearly) 5 years how much I have actually grown as a teacher, especially reading through my blog posts I have written. 

The questions asked were;

- When you teach your HPE lessons how do you get your students to demonstrate student agency (choice and ownership) of their own learning?

- How do you encourage students to problem solve and critically think?

- How do you acknowledge students' prior knowledge and experiences?

- What interesting learning activities/experiences do you provide when designing a unit plan?

- How do you embody/apply the principles of inclusion and/or biculturalism in your teaching practice?

- How do you include digital technology in your teaching practice?

I would encourage everyone to take the time to answer these questions irrespective how long you have been teaching. They really got me thinking, and shows me the knowledge I have developed over the last 5 years, and helps my student teacher!

Let's Play with LEGO - It's Educational!

LEGO was designed to inspire children to be creative, and develop many desirable skills as they grow up. Nowadays, people of all ages enjoy designing, building and constructing with LEGO, and there are many educational benefits. I have created the below visual with some of the key benefits gained by 'playing' with LEGO. One significant point in my research, was how LEGO can support social development of children with autism, and as a result there was the creation of LEGO therapy (which appears to be very successful!). See here and here for more info about LEGO therapy.

Readings that have supported my findings:

7 Benefits of LEGO play for kids (and adults)

How can playing with LEGO benefit your son's education

10 Incredible Benefits of Playing with LEGO

Why LEGO are great for your brain

10 Reasons why LEGO is for grown-ups

Adults may see mental health benefits from playing with LEGO

LEGO Education has created dozens of hands-on activities to match with their LEGO sets. There are several activities that directly link to the Health, PE and Outdoor Ed curriculums, and can easily be adapted even if you don't have the specific LEGO sets. Here are a few I liked the look of, that are targeted at younger students, but can be reshaped to suit learners of any age. Many of them have stories attached to the construction of the LEGO, developing listening skills. 

• Physical Activities - Encouraging students to think about different ways they can be active. Involves building the physical activities and then acting out to others to guess and discuss.
• Outdoor Activities - Students create various outdoor activities, then identify and discuss risks in the activities. Can easily be linked with risk management plans for trips, especially camps where there is a lot going on.
• Helping Each Other - Build a scene where someone or a group of people are helping others. Puts students in other people's shoes, and encourages them to think about how they can help others, as well as how others can help them. Could also build a model that shows kindness.
• Explore the Face Bricks - Develops understanding of facial expressions and body language. If you don't have access to any LEGO with faces, I'm sure any toys will do the trick! Great prompt for identifying and explaining non-verbal communication, which can be linked into numerous lessons, such as learning about consent.
• Jeesun and Jayden Need to Work it Out - This activity would link well with the above activity - as it is focused around resolving conflict and assertive communication skills.
• My Home - Constructing their understanding of home. Could easily be linked with Hāuora and wellbeing, as well as one's whakapapa. Students could share with others - this may also start dialogue around different cultures/values/traditions etc.
• Jayden Feels Anxious - The objectives of this lesson are for students to have greater understanding of what anxiousness and anxiety are, and understanding of strategies that may help reduce feeling of anxiousness. 

Here are some other possible learning activities that include LEGO:

• Build a musculoskeletal system (or any other systems in the body)
• Stop motion animation for scenario based learning (so much scope here including; drugs/alcohol, sex and sexuality, peer pressure, communication styles)
• Responses to scenarios for ABL / team building / problem solving
• Key word mix and match (rather than on paper or card)
• Create a croquet or a mini golf course!
• Build a catapult/slingshot and relate to biomechanical principles Projectile Motion and Levers
• LEGO bowling - build your own pins

  
• Listening and effective communication activity in groups of 3: Student 1 gives instructions to Student 2 of what LEGO to build, Student 2 relays to Student 3 and Student 3 builds. Can make links to problem solving, emotions and reducing conflict too.
• Build a balloon car to teach Newton's Laws of Motion
• A public service announcement using LEGO characters
• Design an ecologically sustainable village - can link well with the Determinants of Health
• Create a scene that you consider to be a peaceful place, like hanging in the pool or sunbathing! A simple activity to introduce mindfulness.
• Build characters in unusual positions and identify their centre of gravity, base of support and line of gravity (balance and stability)

Many people contributed to this list, including; Amanda, Heather, Kent, Mary, Celia, Michelle, Karen, Craig and Matthew. Thanks!

Clearly, there are so many ways LEGO can be used in classroom activities (whether you are at school or home learning). I have focused on learning activities for Health, PE and Outdoor Ed, but there are lots of links to other curriculum areas, especially Science and Maths. Why don't you, your whānau and your students give some of them a go?

Classroom Management: More Than A Waiting Game

Over the last three years, I have volunteered for Physical Education New Zealand, specifically the Auckland branch. See more about this in an earlier blog post. Usually we (the Graduate Mentoring team) run three face to face sessions for beginning teachers throughout the year, but this year have held off and decided to host two online sessions. On Monday, our session was focused around behaviour and classroom management strategies, using the below scenarios to create discussion. 

Although the session was designed for new teachers, it was a great reminder of all of the different tools and strategies we can use in the classroom, to help with behaviour management. Put yourself in the 'walls' of these classrooms, and think about how you would respond. 

- Do you think your response has changed the longer you have been teaching? Why/Why not?

- Do you think your response would be the same if they were Junior students or Senior students? 

- Have you considered restorative practice, before jumping to punitive measures? (See this post and/or this post for information about restorative conversations)

- Should you respond to the scenario immediately, or a little later? When? Why?

The inspiration for this post came about when I met my student teacher this week, and we were discussing her goals for her practicum. One of the Learning Outcomes is to Apply a range of strategies to manage student behaviour, clearly aligning with the scenarios! So I have given these to my student teacher, for her to reflect on how she would respond now with no teaching experience and then once she has some teaching under her belt, we will have another look. I think this simple activity will ignite great reflection and discussion, and is an activity any teacher could do regardless of their experience.

I found the below visual which explains some strategies that can be used in the classroom, here. In addition to these, there are sooo many other strategies/tools that can be utilised such as; 

• Tone and/or volume of voice
• Physical placement and proximity to students
• Countdown verbally and/or with fingers
• "I've noticed you aren't yourself lately..."
• Observations of students in other subjects
• Whistles
• Music
• Differentiated learning activities
• Student choice
• Challenge and competition
• Discussions and plans made with other teachers
• Activities including student interests/hobbies
  

Ultimately, every teacher, every class, every student and every situation is going to be different. One day one strategy may work and the next day it may not. But that's the beauty of teaching - we have to be flexible all the time!