Miss Art of Teaching

A while back, I posted about my high school's partnership with Western Sydney University. T he project involves professional development using an action research model. Action research is a process involving enquiry into an important question relating to classroom and school practice.  In my group of four teachers, we wanted to focus on creating a safe classroom. To know more about the project, please click on the following link: Safe Classroom We found that students are more likely to take risks if they feel safe in the classroom. To encourage these risk taking behaviour we reconsidered our teaching pedagogy. Some looked at providing longer waiting time, others looked at scaffolding information.  I was interested in providing words of encouragement. I also looked at recapping jargons used in class. If students feel they are valued for contributing and are familiar with the content, they are more likely to contribute to class discussions. Today, I asked my Year...

Surveys are a useful way to gain student feedback. If you want students to be honest with their answers, always make the survey anonymous.  I'm working with a small group of teachers to improve risk taking behaviours in the classroom. The purpose of the survey is to understand the link between students taking learning risks and the development of a safe classroom. The survey allows us to understand whether our existing strategies are helpful to our students. It also provides us with an insight into how students are going at the moment. Last week, I gave my Year 11 students a link to the online survey. I was surprised with the positive feedback from my Yr 11 Visual Arts class.  Surveys are a great way to understand what is working and what needs improvement in the classroom. From reading the responses, I can also identify areas that I need to improve- provide more positive / constructive feedback, understand my students and make the classroom a comfortable place ...

The first day back was SUPER busy... The day started off with three new Year 7 enrolments. I greeted them among trying to photocopy resources for my five-period day and my attempts at moving all the things into my classroom that I have been stealing from home. I provided the new students with their school diary, assessment booklets, uniform information, fee information sheet, mobile phone policy ALL before school even started. I also managed to assign the students into classes. Instead of having period 1, there was a formal Anzac Day service. The History teachers and Student Leaders directed the ceremony. They did a fantastic job even down to the finer details - red handmade poppies on skewers. I was happy to see my students again. They were quite eager to share their holiday stories. I had to use my 'NOISE' strategy to quiet down my first class. It worked tremendously well after flipping through two letters. Link to 'NOISE' ...