Hastings PEEL

We have managed to upload the majority of the resources made available to teachers during our most recent HIT LIT Day. All resources are linked for easy access and will allow visitors to download. It is worth noting that many of the presenters referred to a number PEEL strategies as well as graphic organisers and templates. Rather than uploading these twice you can click on the related pages above and gain access to these.

Click on the HIT Lit Resource page and enjoy what we have to offer. Thanks so much to the presenters who have designed the resources kits.

What a fantastic day all the schools in our cluster had today. We were not only blessed with the most beautiful weather, but the wealth of knowledge and expertise from those within our cluster.

Thanks to all those who presented today and be sure that your time and effort was very much appreciated. A special thanks to St Peter’s Port Mcaquarie for hosting our day and caring for us so well.

For those who attended the day, be sure to check the CD in your package as it has many gems to utilise within your classroom. There were some teachers interested in the WORD DICE link. You will find it attached here http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=worddice

Enjoy the beginning of the new term and check our blogsite for updates on a regular basis.

Written by Lara Laverman, Berwick Fields Primary School

To provide students with learning and teaching experiences that are authentic and prepare them for future stages in their learning journey and family and work experiences it is important that students have the knowledge, skills, capacity to work collaboratively with others. Students require the skills necessary to learn, work, negotiate, share, reflect and collaborate on tasks.

 In my grade 3/4 class students are able to all contribute to lessons as they all have enlarged visual access to information, and stimuli.  Students are able to work together as a whole class to solve problems, brainstorm solutions, share discussions, annotate images and text, ask questions, play, share ideas, teach one another and reflect.

An example of collaborative work on a whiteboard was the introduction of arrays where a video clip of ‘Scooby Doo’ was used to engage the students in their quest to find arrays (3×4).  Students collectively watched a short clip of the film once to enjoy and then the second time that they watched the clip they were asked to look for arrays within the images.  To begin with students were unsure of arrays and their application in day-to-day life.  This clip allowed them to search for them and understand them in real life circumstances.  Students were at first hesitant to identify them and an example was provided in the sets of windows lining the front of the window as two groups of two and therefore a two by two array.  From here there was a frenzy of discussion as to whether within the windows there were further arrays, within the bookshelves there were arrays, within the tiled floors 

 Each time an array was identified a ’screen capture’ photo was taken of the video and placed into Smartboard notebook and then the image was annotated over with students offering and sharing their reasons why this particular image was or was not an array.  Students had the opportunity to draw over the array.

 Future tasks involved students going outside to explore the school and find the arrays that around the school grounds.  Further collaborative interactive whiteboard tasks also allowed for the creation in small groups of arrays using image programs such as KidzPix and Smartboard tools where children were grouped into no more than three and together their tasks was to create an array for the rest of the grade to identify.

Is the use of IWB more effective than a video clip on a DVD/ TV, yes in the sense that it can be paused and that scene can be captured, cropped, saved, annotated the whole group are able to share in the process rather than just watch it take place and then talk about it.

 The students are engaged in physically moving objects and recording with the other students engaged in the process as they can see what is happening.

 A whole class is able to take part in the manipulations, discussion, negotiation, turn taking, decision making, problem solving. The work that is recorded can be saved for future reference or further investigations. The process is fast, exciting and engaging and the results are immediate.

This article by Jo Osler appeared in the most recent editon of PEEL SEEDS # 102 which focused on the use of Interactive Whiteboards to improve student learning

My aim is for my students to develop an effective approach to learning that reflects their understandings of the learning process.  As they build these understandings they are simultaneously developing a language that helps them to communicate what they know about learning. I am constantly looking for new ways to support this process in my classroom and the latest has been to incorporate the use of our interactive whiteboard. While my students are working and learning in the classroom I capture them in action by taking a photo. I ensure I take random shots as well as strategic shots to highlight students a range of learning behaviours. Once the photo is taken we view it on the interactive whiteboard on a flipchart. Using the whiteboard interactive pen I ask students in the class not featured in the photo to give feedback about the learning that is taking place in the photo. I then ask the students featured in the photo to share their reflections about what was really happening in the photo. All of this is recorded on the photo, which turns into a Labelled diagram.

In the beginning, students usually make comments at a surface level where they will focus on the physical actions of the learner: ‘getting materials organised’, ‘putting facts in circle’, or ‘doing my work’. These comments reflect current understandings about learning and provide me with directions to support their learning further. As students develop more effective reflective skills and have built richer understandings of what effective learning involves and looks like, then their comments begin to reflect this development:  ‘I was checking the criteria and making a decision about when to move on’, ‘Sam looks like he is enviro walking and looking for ideas to help with his literary sociogram.’

Once the photos have the reflective comments we print them out and use them during later discussions about learning, as well as placing them in student portfolios to show growth in the areas of personal development, interpersonal development, communication and thinking. Next, my goal is for my students to incorporate this process into their team tasks, where they will develop a series of photos that reflect on the learning that has occurred over a period of time.

Webkinz World is a great place to learn and play!

The class pet that doesn’t mess your room, yet has a world of its own online. Your class can buy it furniture and provide exercise and games. They can learn to use money wisely as well as improve their navigation skills and literacy skills at the same time.

Where do you get these???? Try you local TOYWORLD or simply go online and find our more

www.webkinz.com

( Year 5 at St Agnes Port Macquarie are having a great time exploring the possibilities of such class pets… they can tell you more)

• Your child can learn lots of fun facts at Quizzy’s. The questions at Quizzy’s are age-appropriate, and most are educationally based.
• We also have several arcade games that promote learning:
  • Lunch Letters helps children to learn how to type and spell
  • Quizzy’s Word Challenge aids in spelling
  • Operation Gumball encourages children to think logically
• Webkinz Newz and the W Tales encourage reading, and our many contests encourage writing, creativity, and problem-solving.
• Your child can learn about money in Webkinz World; by earning KinzCash, your child learns how to save and spend money.
• Webkinz World also helps to teach children about responsibility, caring for a pet, and getting along with others.

Take the tour and decide for yourself.

Webkinz World is getting better and better all the time.

Photos of some webkinz are on our Flickr site.

The folowing video animation was created  using Kids Pix by an Australian student from Brisbane. It is to the song Creator by The Lads ( An Australian Christian Band). A good one to use if you are teaching a creation unit at some stage – or simply for class prayer. This would be a great task to set for Primary classes for their favourite song or hymn.

This procedure is an extension of PEEL procedure C1 (Promoting and using student’s questions) in which students not only create the questions which focus on the learning outcomes of an assignment but develop an understanding of the differences, purposes and application of a variety of thinking questions.

Damien Toussaint had his students (in groups) create, discuss and decide on the questions for a project (a novel assignment). Using the categories below which were pinned up on posters around the classroom students were asked to

• Discuss the ‘characteristics’ of each kind of question they had generated
• Review other group’s questions.
• Discuss and then build on the other group’s questions. Make suggestions about improvements or changes and explain why.

Then the whole class reviewed all of the questions, grouping them and refining their wording. Finally Damien worked with a smaller group of four students (the ‘project editing team’) to pull the project together while the other students focused on making suggestions and coming up with creative writing topics. The resulting questions and writing topics then became the assignment.

Categories of Questions

1. ON THE LINES QUESTIONS or SKINNY QUESTIONS

The question can usually be answered in one or two words. The answer is on a certain page in a book. The answer is either right or wrong. The question usually starts with What, Where or When.

2. BETWEEN THE LINES QUESTIONS or ‘Partly Fact, Partly Thinking Questions

The question usually requires a sentence or two answer. The answer is not on any one page in the book, but if you understand the ideas and language, you’ll know it. The answer will be right if explained well and the ideas are understood. The question often starts with HOW.

3. BEYOND THE LINES QUESTIONS or THINKING QUESTIONS

The question usually requires a paragraph answer or longer. The answer is not provided by the book, notes or the websites. These can be used these to help develop the answer. The answer will always be right if it makes sense according to the texts and is explained well. Justifying opinions and using examples is important when answering these questions. The question often starts with WHY or WHAT IF?

4. FERTILE QUESTIONS

The fertile question has these characteristics:

It is OPEN  This question will have no one answer but has several different competing and possible answers.

It is RICH  It can’t be investigated without doing careful research. This research will mean that the question will be broken into sub-questions.

It is CONNECTED and RELEVANT to other aspects of this subject, life and the society / world lived in.

It is PRACTICAL  this question can be explored at school with the available resources.

As the term draws to a close here is a really great PEEL strategy to affirm each and every child in your class and help them realise the impact they have not just as a learner, but as a teacher as well.

 The Certificates of Achievement can be as simple as a table or matrix set up with each students name, don’t forget yourself as well and any other Assistants you may have in your room. List the following as you headings for the table and watch it fill up;

Name of Expert:   Area of Expertise:    Person Taught:    Comment

Bill                           Slowmation                Josie                      I can now insert a background on Pivot Stick

It is important to stress that the comments are only to be positive and specific to the area of expertise. Once these are all filled you have a list of class awards you can give to each student for the end of term. Don’t for get one for yourself and the Assistants within your room. The kids will get a buzz out of presenting to you.

The details for this strategy are on page 29 Hastings PEEL Procedures or page 82 of the original Monash PEEL in Practice.

Thanks to all those who have sent in some very valuable websites to add to our del.icio.us site this past week. We have now added PDHPE as a KLA to the site and will continue to seek out more web links. Thanks to Jo from Laurieton who has given us a kids site for ANZAC Day. That has been posted in HSIE on del.icio.us.

Sarah from Bellingen is seeking out templates and questions for the Thinkers Keys. If you can help out by all means let us know. Thanks Chris for the Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Times Tables) which has been uploaded to the PEEL Units page. It is great to get the site up and running and for it to be so effective. Remember to get your staff to subscribe for the email each time a new post is written.

For those who did the slowmation workshop, this pivot animation is about 7 months old and was done by a primary aged student, and is also non violent!