Exit Strategies, My Mini Inquiry

Earlier in the year I posted about a mini inquiry about exit strategies. My previous HOD gave feedback from classroom observations that I had strong links to previous lessons but the the class needed endings, so suggested I look into exit strategies. Put simply, these are tools/cards/activities used to determine whether the students met the learning intention, what they are possibly uncertain about and shapes where the next lesson needs to go. Initially I wanted to focus on including exit strategies into my Year 12 Health class, as I am new to the class this year, but changed to my Year 10 Health class. The Seniors were completing Health Promotion projects so there was little teaching, and my Juniors only have Health once per week so I thought trying to have greater flow between lessons may help with lesson flow and remembering what they had learnt the previous week or two.

Strategy 1: Snowball 

Students were given two pieces of paper, on one they wrote something they had learnt that period and then threw it to the front of the room. On the other, they wrote a question they still had, then throw the paper to the back of the room. As each student left the class, I then gave them one of the questions a student had asked and as a homework task challenged them to research the question and email me with the answer. I shared all of the questions and answers as an intro to the next lesson, and could feel the pride some students had with the answers they had found.

As this was quite early into our sexuality unit, I knew some students weren't quite comfortable asking questions or sharing their answers in front of others, so that is why I led the Q&A. I think this strategy was effective for me to see what the students had taken away, and where they still had gaps. To be more effective though, greater student voice /sharing would have been ideal, so the information came from them rather than me. Therefore, I think using this strategy with older students, or a different unit would be most effective as students may feel more comfortable to share in front of their peers. I really liked giving the students questions from their friends though, as it really showed everyone was in the same learning boat.

Strategy 2: Paper Slide

One piece of paper was given to students this time, and they needed to explain one thing they had learnt that day. I asked students to give a little more detail than when they completed the Snowball task. As the students were exiting the class, they slid their piece of paper under my phone as I was filming, following one after the other. I then spent a short period of time adding some additional pictures/info into the video, which I showed to the students at the start of the next period. 

I really enjoyed this strategy, as it was not time consuming, there were an array of comments and it was such a simple thing to start discussions in the following lesson. By adding some pictures and music, it made it more like a short film, using the notes from the kids. In all honesty, I was in a flurry completing this, as I was short on time. So, in future with some more time, the Paper Slide could be even better with additional voice overs for example, to add further information onto the students comments.

Strategy 3: Traffic Light

Three different pieces of paper: red, orange, and green. Red = something still really confused or unsure about. Orange = something you have a question about. Green = something you completely understand. I collated all of these and read through them, to determine where everyone was at with their understanding. 

I was really happy to read many of the students had a good understanding of consent and contraception, which were two key topics in our unit. An observation I made from the reds (and a few oranges), was that several of the students struggled to identify what they didn't understand or wanted to know more information about. This made me think about how to encourage students to take note of things they are confused about, but also made me realise you don't know, what you don't know. 

This exit strategy was a little more time consuming than the others, and I feel that I didn't allow enough time for it. With maybe an additional 5 minutes, students may have been able to identify more gaps in their knowledge or ask questions for the reds and oranges. I also think this would have been easier to complete as a digital strategy, as well as saving a lot of paper! Gave me lots of things to think about though, and informed future lesson plans.

Strategy 4: Plickers

Unfortunately I ended up being unwell for the lessons I had planned to try Plickers with my class. I have used it before though, my blogpost is here.

Strategy 5: Whiteboard Quiz

Students were in small groups of 3-4, and each group was given a whiteboard. I asked a series of questions, each question worth a different amount of points. After I asked a question, the groups wrote their answer onto their whiteboard which they held up for me (and the rest of the class) to see. Points were given for correct answers, and the group with the most amount of points at the end won. 

Rather than using this as an exit strategy for one lesson, this quiz was an exit strategy for the whole unit. I loved this activity, as the students were super engaged (due to the competition), but there were also multiple teaching opportunities for me. Between each question I would explain the answer, and if more than one group were incorrect or confused, I would spend more time revising that topic. There were also lots of opportunities for students to respond, shifting the focus away from me (see a previous post here about several digital tools for opportunities to respond). Even though this strategy couldn't be used for solo lessons (possibly for a double period), it was fantastic for an end of topic strategy.

Overall I really enjoyed my inquiry into exit strategies last term. I was surprised how different they all were, and how they informed my teaching. The feedback from the different strategies effected the way future lessons went, and gave great flow between lessons. Some of them were time consuming to prepare and follow up with, but if students had completed it before, the strategy may not take as long. Moving forward I am unsure what my next mini inquiry will be - I would like to have an observation to get some feedback about where to go next, watch this space!

A Snowy Experience

This week we took our 11PE classes to Snowplanet, an indoor snow centre. The kids chose whether they would like to ski or board, had a lesson and then were given free time. I had so much fun being with the students in a new environment for them, and watching them learn.

For many of our students, this day was about an opportunity, an experience. Majority of the kids had never seen snow before, so had never been in a cold environment or had a snow fight. They were certainly shocked walking into -6 degrees! Last year we took our Year 12 class mountain biking and on the high ropes course. I left that day, and our Snowplanet day thinking how happy the students were after these first time experiences. They were so well behaved, incredibly respectful and so grateful for the day out. This means so much more than learning the skill itself.

A bunch of the kids enjoyed the day so much, they want to continue to ski/board. I would love to support the growth of an alpine group at TC, hopefully to take the students down to the mountain at some point - imagine the experiences the kids would have there?! I hate the stereotypes associated with low decile schools and low socio-economic communities, because anything is possible if you really want it... 

I created this short clip of our day out, and really hope to be involved in more awesome experiences in the future. Really looking forward to helping out with the Waka Ama day in a few weeks!

Mic Drop Take One

I made it to the end! Tomorrow is our final day of school for 2016, so we are getting ready to celebrate the success of the Juniors at prizegiving. As we jumped into our 2017 timetable early, I found little time to really think about and reflect on my first year as a teacher. So, when I was told one of our tasks was to create a short documentary of our first year as part of the MDTA, I was happy as this encouraged me to think about my strengths and weaknesses moving into second year.

I was also blessed to be interviewed by NZPEteacher, as his final podcast for 2016. The interview explored my experiences, highlights and challenges throughout my first year in a digital learning environment. Feel free to have a listen to the podcast, or watch my short documentary below!

Dougherty's Diplomatic Debaters

Although it has been a long time coming, I finally have my Class On Air page complete! As I blogged about earlier, we were given the task to film a lesson and post the footage alongside our resources and reflections online.

This lesson was filmed about a month ago, but I have been super busy with the Jumpstart programme, so have only just completed the editing. I really enjoyed watching my class, especially as I had lots of different angles, because I was able to see things from different perspectives and notice things I did not during the lesson. We had set up a tripod and two laptops, as well as using our iPhones and my GoPro. This was also a double period, so I had hours and hours of footage to watch through afterward!

Even if others don't enjoy, or find this lesson helpful for them, I found the process great because I could observe myself. I have been able to reflect on a considerable amount throughout this process. Manaiakalani Class on Air is definitely something I may be interested to complete after finishing MDTA... Watch this space!

A Day at The Movies

As posted earlier today was the annual Manaiakalani Film Festival! This provides the opportunity for all students and teachers in the Manaiakalani Film Festival to exhibit their movies on the big screens at Hoyts. 

We, the MDTA, spent the day as helping hands for the running of the day, mostly ushering students into their seats and ensuring all are ready to go on time, as there was no waiting - the show must go on!

The hype and buzz from the kids was amazing, and incredibly infectious! The students were so happy, excited, positive and proud of themselves and their peers, which was so lovely to see. I need to encourage more created from  TC!

I enjoyed having the opportunity to be involved with this day, not only to see the students, but also have a glimpse into what the other schools had created. I have already reflected on the day, and what I need to improve for next year. See the short films created here (about 100!), and my film here.

As the students in my film are on study leave for their exams, I did not expect them to come to the cinema and present their film. So, I asked two girls from my SOS class, and they did an amazing job! Check out their intro below. I was pleasantly surprised when the boys from my film showed up to watch though!

Looking forward to next year, especially as it is the 10 year celebration.

Film Festival Day

It feels like so long ago since this was filmed and created, but today is Manaiakalani Film Festival day! I am excited to see some of the other films that have been created throughout the cluster. Check out the fun afternoon we had, literally just dancing!

I would have loved to have had more time, as the editing is average and I am not 100% happy with the footage, but with an extremely busy timetable, I think this is a good first go. Bring on the challenge next year. If you would like to see more of the the films from the cluster, click here :)

To see more from Tamaki College check out TCTV which includes my film here.

Posting Our Votes

Carrying on from last week's creation of advertisements for our political parties, today we watched our ads and then voted in our own elections! I was so impressed with the ads the students created, they could actually run for government! Check out a couple below!

Students were given a a voting slip, to show what it is like to vote in the NZ elections - one vote for the party and one vote for the leader. I crossed out the party that each child was in, so they did not vote for their own party, so the voting was fairer. 

As we were only halfway through our double period after watching the films, I introduced the next part of our unit - branches of the NZ government. If you are interested to learn more, check out the virtual tours on the NZ parliament website.

Vote For Us!

Currently in SOS we are learning about the government and politics. I personally haven't ever had interest in politics because I find a lot of it so dull! So, this has required a lot of learning myself and thinking about how to teach everything creatively so the students are interested and engaged in the content/lessons.

This morning was a lot of fun! The students have spent the past couple of days creating their own political parties and developing their own ideas about what they would want to achieve if they were in the government. The kids came up with some amazing ideas such as free lunch for all kids in NZ, four days at school per week, building shelters for homeless and free university. The students had the job this morning to film their own advertisements to sell why their party should be in the government.

I am really looking forward to next week, because we are going to share their ads with the class, and then hold our own elections! The students will be able to vote for the party they believe should be in the government! In addition to the ad, the students are creating logos and slogans for their party too.

Film On The Way

Manaiakalani host a film festival annually at the local cinemas, to play short films created in the cluster by teachers and students. As aforementioned, we are making a film as part of MDTA. There is no theme or idea we need to follow, it is completely open. 

Today we spent the day editing our footage from last week, then sharing with one another for feedback and feedforward. Although I didn't have much time last week, and was a little rushed, I am pleased with what I have so far. I am still working with the audio and final background images, which I hope to finish over the weekend.

I have learnt lots about movie making along the way, but my previous knowledge was definitely helpful and saved time learning about iMovie. Unfortunately a lot of the footage was outside of the green screen, which means a lot of zooming in, and parts with the floor/walls in the frame. Even though it looks a little shabby, and I wish I could do it all again, I need to accept I am short on time and need to complete my university assignment!

I had no clue how to use a green screen, but some simple tips are to ensure the material does not have any creases, as this would interrupt the background image, and also be sure all footage is inside the green screen - I have had to cut out so many parts I would have loved to include but the kids weren't near the green screen!

If I am to create another film in the future, I would want to plan further in advance, with more planning prior and use a little bit of in class time so I can work out what needs to be filmed again or any potential shots that could have been better. To do this though, would mean I would have to make links to the content covering in class, to not take away learning time.

To learn more about the Film Festival, and see previous entries, click here! :)

Film Festival Fun

Usually on Fridays we have our MDTA PLG, but this week we were given the day to film for our film festival. Annually, Manaiakalani schools gather together in a local cinema and display 3 minute films students across the cluster have created. One of our tasks for MDTA is to create one of these films to display on the big screen. 

Being in a secondary school has made this very difficult. We already have considerable time constraints, because we have a lot of content to get through in a short period of time and many of the students sometimes learn at a slow pace. My co-teachers and I really could not take time out of class to film, as we are far enough behind already, but I knew lunchtimes and/or after schools were unrealistic due to my own commitments, and the students' commitments. Therefore, I explained my idea to my 13PE class and said that Friday would be a whole day of filming unless their teachers requested them to be in class, and filming was completely optional - this was also so students did not feel obliged to participate if I filmed during PE. 

8 students agreed to take part initially, and they agreed to meet me at the start of Period 1, I hoped a couple more might show up. However, unfortunately no one came. I spent the first period ironing the green material which has been used as a green screen before, and then 2 boys arrived explaining most of the students needed to be in class until P3, and some of them were away. So I spent the morning pottering through my water safety unit. I was devastated when lunchtime came around the corner and I still hadn't had anyone. So I had no film. Nothing. Nada. I was heartbroken and stressed, which I expressed to one of the students who came in the morning briefly.

These four angels gave up two of their classes at the end of the day to film with me, and it was so much fun! They explained how they were grateful for what I do for them, and they understand how saddening and frustrating it is to fail or incomplete tasks. My heartbreaks disappeared and I was filled with joy. The kids continue to surprise me!

With limited time and resources, I decided the easiest and quickest idea I could work with is Dance Through The Ages. I know how much the kids love to dance, so I thought I would have more students interested, but nevertheless we smashed out my list of dances I wanted to get through.

I have now begun uploading the clips into iMovie, to start editing next week. Unfortunately, I am unsure how successful the green screen is going to be, because it wasn't as big as I imagined, the kids kept moving out of it, and the GoPro has a wide angle so I struggled to just have the green screen in the shot. But, with support from others, hopefully this works out! Watch this space...

I thanked the kids for coming and said I wanted to shout them lunch next week as remuneration and a thank you, and I received this email from one of them. I was blown away and tears came to my eyes. I am feeling super overwhelmed with the six million things I need to be doing, and this is just what I needed to get me through the next three weeks of term!

Six Month Milestone

Wow, half of the year has passed already! I am already nearing the end of Term 2 of my career, it is passing by so quickly.

As part of our digital immersion for MDTA we have created an interview to reflect upon various questions. I valued this process as it provided as an opportunity for me to think about why I am here, what I have learnt and what I have overcome.

See below the full version of my reflection, later a shortened version will be available on the Manaiakalani site. For further reflections, read my blog holistically, and in the future I will have a site for my practising teacher criteria evidence too.

Apologies for my head being cut off and various jumps between clips etc, I'm still learning iMovie!

A Day In The Life Of A Learner

This was probably the biggest task for Digital Immersion I have had so far. Our goal was to create a short film in iMovie to depict what a day in the life of a learner is like. I decided to include a day in my life, in addition to a day as a school student, because I am a learner too.

After 2 days of filming and 3 days of editing, this is my creation. Thank you to everyone who helped me out, especially my Year 13 students Kim, Toa and Lita who took the time to record themselves for me. 

Shout out to Sid, my talented audio engineer friend who sung the cover of Rihanna's "Work". Check him out! Do enjoy my creation and please give feedback!

Music credits:

Maroon 5 - One More Night

Silento - Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)

Drake - One Dance

Mario - Let Me Love You

The Lion King - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Black Eyed Peas - Let's Get It Started

Rihanna - Work (Cover by S.I.D. Music)