L.Potter Professional blog.

Below is my backwards mapping for my teacher inquiry for 2023. This plan has helped me to see the steps I need to take in order to achieve my goal.  Teacher Inquiry Backwards Plan 2023

Teacher Inquiry 2023  This year I have decided to focus on spelling as part of my teacher inquiry. My key question is "Will a focus on phonics/spelling increase confidence in building students' vocabulary?". I have decided to choose this as my key focus based on the data that I found out at the beginning of the year, when I noticed that the majority of my students really struggled with learning their high frequency words. 

  Friday 26th May  Student-Led Conferences Classroom Environment:  During the preparation period for my student-led conferences, I  ensured that each area of their learning had clear titles and learning intentions (WALT's) that reflected what they had been learning inside the classroom.  I also made sure that it was in simple child talk that they could understand. This was so that when families came into the classroom they could clearly see what their child had been learning.  It also prompted students to remember what they had been learning.  During one staff meeting this year we looked at different artworks and how to display them inside our classroom. Richard talked to us about the importance of displaying each students artwork so that it was neat and tidy and clearly labeled with student's name clearly displayed underneath it. We also discussed backing and framing students artwork so they looked presentable and something that they were proud of. Th...

Friday 12th May  BT  Classroom Management Meeting:   Today as part of my BT release I had a meeting with Robyn and we spoke about some behaviour management strategies to use inside the classroom. We talked about times when students off task inside the classroom and Robyn suggested a strategy that I could use to deal with this. We talked about providing students with two choices. For example if a student decides to do something that they know they shouldn't do (i.e scribble inside their workbook)  I could talk to them and say "You have two choices. Choice 1...  (the student is given an option to stop what it is they are doing off task and rejoin the class)   or choice 2 ( the student is given the option to continue with the off task behaviour which has a consequence)...   Which one are you going to chose? Choice 1 or choice 2?"  If the student chooses the option to rejoin the class, I need to avoid revisiting the negative behaviour and praise...

Classroom Management 2023 Term 1: This year so far I have tried experimenting using different classroom management. Throughout this term I have set up a classroom bucket filler jar. When the jar is full then the class are given a class reward.  This has worked so far inside the classroom as it has taught the students to work together as part of a team.  Term 2:  This term I have introduced table points. At the beginning of term I had the students come up with their own table name. Throughout each day the students are given opportunities to earn table points for working together, following instructions etc. The table with the most points at the end of the week are given a reward, for example free time in the pukeko room on Friday afternoon. 

Tuesday 21st March 2023  Reading Recovery Observation  Today I observed a reading recovery lesson of one of my students in my class. When I was observing, I managed to pick up on a strategy of how students can hold sentences in their head.  Strategy :  The strategy that I observed the teacher use was getting the student to tell her the whole sentence aloud and then repeat the sentence a couple of times. For example: He likes to jump. The teacher then broke down the sentence and looked at the first word (he). She then asked the student what is the name of the letter and what sound does it make. After the student could tell her the letter and the sound it made, she then got the magnets and asked the student to find the letter both in capital and lower case. Then she got the student to make the word and break the word. For example, if the word was 'he' she would get the student to move each letter and make the letter sound h-e and then put it together so the word become...

Incredible Years Teaching  Session One  Tuesday 14th March  Today I started my incredible years teaching course. I really enjoyed the course and learnt about how important setting up student and teacher relationships were. During the session we set up goals that we wanted to achieve throughout the year inside the classroom. One goal that I want to achieve after completing this course is learning more strategies around disruptive behaviour management as well as building on my knowledge about basic classroom management strategies. One highlight that stood out for me during the first session was to outline the positives inside the classroom especially around students who are struggling to follow instructions. 

 Thursday 9th March - Toolkit  Yesterday  I attended a toolkit session after school about Autism. I found this toolkit really beneficial I knew that I was going to have an autistic student start in my class but also knew that I would probably encounter more throughout my journey in teaching. I wanted to learn a bit about what it was and some strategies  that I could use inside my classroom to help. This toolkit highlighted what autism was and explained how it can effect each person differently through; sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, balance and body awareness. It also talked about the three levels of autism:- the first stage - requiring support,;second stage - requiring substantial support and the third stage requiring very substantial support. 

This term during my first couple of weeks back at school my goal was to set clear boundaries/expectations inside the classroom. In the first week I looked at the Treaty of Waitangi with my class. As a class we discussed the history of the Treaty and what a Treaty was. We then created a classroom promise (treaty) about the rules inside the classroom. Instead of telling the students what should be on the treaty I got them to brainstorm as a class what they would like to see. I did this so that it was in language that they understood and agreed on. When putting together the classroom treaty with my class I ensured that I included visuals to support the text. This was because while they could tell me what they wanted on the treaty some are still learning to read and having the visuals there would help remind them. To help reinforce the treaty we went over it each morning and talked about what that might look like, sounds like and feel like inside the classroom.