Criterion 1

Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga

Key Indicators: engage in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative professional relationships with:

• ākonga
• teaching colleagues, support staff and other professionals
• whānau and other carers of ākonga
• agencies, groups and individuals in the community

Reflective Question: What do I do to establish effective working relationships with my ākonga, their whānau and my colleagues and others to support the learning of those I teach?

I do really enjoy teaching 5 year olds and they bring a lot of laughter and fun as well as some moments where you want to go into the corner alone and rock!

Things I have learnt since teaching 5 year olds:

• They will talk to you all at the same time.
• They would share their news all day everyday if they could.
• They will put their hand up and share completely off topic answers e.g I love my mum, im going swimming after school.
• They love praise and the smallest amount goes a very very long way.
• The happy bubble and sad bubble are the best things ever!
• They will pick up staples off the floor and show you before they put them in the bin.
• They cannot tie shoelaces, if I had a dollar for every shoe lace I have tied up I would be rich.
• They will definitely make you laugh.
• Seeing them learn words, write words, go up a level in reading is so rewarding.
• The most important part when students are starting school is for them to have a positive transition to school and for them to feel happy.
• It is important for parents to feel positive about their transition to school and for them to feel welcome and happy as well.
• There will be tears
• When you get excited about something, they get excited also.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill? Criteria 1, Criteria 2, Criteria 7, Criteria 8

What is the learning/teaching experience:  I sat down with my Tutor teacher this week and discussed some goals for this term to focus on. A curriculum area that I always struggled with was Numeracy and at this New Entrants level I find it so tricky because there are so many different abilities and Maths has never been a strong point of mine. I really wanted to focus on maths this term so I can develop brilliant maths learning for my students. To do this my tutor and I discussed observing another teacher in the junior area and then from their taking what I see and putting into practice in my lessons. My tutor teacher can then observe me teaching maths and give me more helpful hints to develop my maths teaching skills.

As well as doing this BT reflective journal website, I also am using Appraisal connector which is shared with the Principal, tutor teacher and AP. In this my tutor and I discussed a goal that is achievable and can really help my learners. We have three goals/targets to try and achieve. A team goal, school target and personal goal. The team goal and school target have not yet been confirmed but my personal goal is: How can I improve my writing programme to develop independence and extend them as they become more confident and able? At this stage I can only really imagine a few of mine as independent writers but it will be really rewarding to achieve this goal.

So What: What did I learn?

• To develop and improve my practise observe others to get new ideas.
• Create goals to succeed and motivate

Now What? Next Steps

• Organize to observe maths and take ideas to put into my own practise
• Reflect on the goals I have created.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill? Criteria 1, Criteria 4, Criteria 5, Criteria 6, Criteria 12

What is the learning/teaching experience: It was safe to say what a perfect time to have a short week. Second week into the school term four days was enough for my little ones. It was amazing how much they have grown in confidence with their learning and following instructions in just one week. They are doing incredibly well. It was a great week we did lots of collaborative learning with the other year 1 classes. Duathlon practice has begun this is going to be interesting for the students. We can’t seem to walk in a line a hundred metres without Miss Clarke having to pull out the band aids. From falling in rose bushes to tripping over shoe laces oh goodness!

I’ve had some pretty awesome advice for the amazing staff who are just soo supportive. They had seen I was a bit flustered and very overwhelmed and helped guided me. The biggest thing they said was “DON’T PUT SO MUCH PRESSURE ON YOURSELF YOU ARE DOING GREAT” I really had to listen to that. My issue is I have such high expectations of myself and im am such a perfectionist, sometimes I just need to breathe and take that “pressure” off. Exciting for Week 3 bring it on! Found this on Facebook so relevant:

So What: What did I learn?

• Collaborative learning is sharing decision making with one another.
• Collaborative learning gives students the opportunities to work with peers they have not worked with before.
• 5 year olds are still very little and young
• Don’t be afraid to ask for guidance when needed

Now What? Next Steps

• Talk to my team about more ways to collaborate.
• Still have high expectations of myself but take some of the pressure off.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill? Criteria 1, Criteria 4, Criteria 7

What is the learning/teaching experience: What a crazy week!! Massive earthquake hit North Canterbury Sunday night. So Monday morning was a little odd at school. First there was lots of things on the media about all schools being closed, then it said from North Canterbury up to Wellington all schools were closed. Gosh it was confusing!! But our school was open. I had about 3 hours sleep that Sunday night and was on edge I hate them! And that was a large one. But had to pull myself together for my students. When the children arrived at school many of them slept through which was ideal. A few of them felt it and parents were quite drained and on edge as well. We talked about earthquakes quite a lot throughout the day the children had many questions and my job was to make sure that students new they were safe and that I was there. We practiced what to do and the quote of the day was “There was an earthquake at my house” “there was one at my house too” Super cute!! We read a book about earthquakes and the children throughout the day were amazing. We didn’t spend a lot of time on maths as we had a big discussion on earthquakes. Just after lunch we had a big aftershock that went for a while, some of the children didn’t feel it, some of them did. I got them to be turtles and waited for it to be over. It was a very hectic on edge kind of day.

So What: What did I learn?

• Whether it was the first earthquake or your seven thousand, there is likely a lot of shock running through your system.
• Earthquake stress is something New Zealanders know well, but that doesn’t mean it gets easier with experience. Some people are able to keep calm and carry on, others may feel like they cant cope.

 Now What? Next Steps

• Teach students the Earthquake emergency drill and practise once a week.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill?  Criteria 1, Criteria 2, Criteria 7.

What is the learning/teaching experience:  Stress, stress, stress! Sums up this week super well!! This week my room and the other new entrant’s room were the hosts of our Junior Assembly. This involved sharing a piece of art, performing a dance and having some of our students introduce each item. The first step was to finish our Collage art work wow these look amazing but it was a race to the finish line to get them completed. Then we had to do create a dance for the two classes to share, I was excited about this being a former dance teacher I was definitely in my element. Not only did they do the dance but they dressed up for this also. They had costumes, which looked awesome on the stage. They all pulled it off amazingly and come morning tea Friday it was a big sigh of relief as we sent the students to have their morning tea. I was very proud of how amazing they did, this was my first Assembly to organize as well along with my Colleague, thank goodness she had done it before because I would have had no idea what to do. It was a great experience; one you wouldn’t want to do very often. We had lots of practices so you could say maths went out the door this week. It was totally worth all the stress to see them on stage and giving it their all. Now to enjoy the weekend!!

So What: What did I learn?

• Hard work pays off
• High expectations are not a bad thing
• Communication with colleagues is important, especially as a beginning teacher.

Now What? Next Steps

• For the next time I am on Assembly, I will be aware of what I need to do and won’t have so many questions for my poor colleagues.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill?  Criteria 1, Criteria 5, Criteria 7, Criteria 8

What is the learning/teaching experience: This week has been jam-packed and definitely out of our normal routine. The students had a trip to imagination station, we had life education and beginning our Athletics practice. As well as it was a long weekend so, we packed so much into just four days.

Organizing a first class trip was full on, there was permission forms that needed to be returned, parent help slips and health forms. Getting all these back was actually easier than I thought. Having notebooks in their reading folders for communication with parents definitely helped with this. Adding in friendly reminders to parents to bring back forms. Being a New Entrant class I had about 70% of parent help forms come back saying they would love to come on the trip. Unfortunately, I could only take 4 parents. So some had to miss out. I was so disappointed I wasn’t able to attend our first school trip due to having an appointment. Another teacher that the children new took them and they had a blast. It was an easy transition as I emailed the parents explaining that this teacher was attending. Worked out well. My students were so well behaved and they told me all about it when they got back.

So What: What did I learn?

• Organization is important for school trips
• My students are very off with their behaviour when not in normal routines, some of them cannot cope.
• I work with such supportive staff to help when things like appointments pop up and cannot be avoided.

 Now What? Next Steps

• Bind all the health profiles so I have these all together and if I need to refer to them its an easy process.
• On the next trip make sure I take new parents, so all have the opportunity to come.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill?  Criteria 1, Criteria 2, Criteria 5, Criteria 6.

What is the learning/teaching experience: Routines, routines, routines!! Everything is about routines. Also praise, reinforcement, fun and having a ton of energy all the time. When these five year old’s start school they have to learn how to learn and until that’s done they’re not quite school ready. It is so amazing learning about how much some children have little knowledge when they come to school to those that are super confident and have quite a bit of knowledge. Some children come to school and aren’t even sure what hand to hold a pen in.

What I love about teaching new entrants is how fast they learn, they are like sponges and take in everything you teach. Of course some learn faster than others. But I did some testing this week on my release and I have children moving onto read reading level and they are so motivated to learn and identify their wonder words. It is a great feeling when you know you must be doing something right as they move up in their learning process and are achieving great things.

I love the bond I have with these children and am definitely learning so much from them. Being a teacher of New Entrants, there is so much more involved than just teaching lessons. As this picture sums it up very well.

So What: What did I learn?

• Routines are very important
• Positive Reinforcement is key
• Need a lot of energy

Now What? Next Steps

• Continue to develop clear set expectations of students
• Use more positive reinforcement
• Focus on the positives more that the negatives.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill?  Criteria 1, Criteria 2, Criteria 5, Criteria 7 Criteria 8

What is the learning/teaching experience: A challenge this week that I am finding is the tears when students don’t think they can do something. I have some students that won’t give things a go and there’s lots of crying. I understand that there are lots of anxious children but when you have 16 other children needing you as well it makes it very hard.  I feel like I need to be an octopus with 8 arms to be able to cater to all the children that need my help straight away and can’t seem to cope.

So What: What did I learn?

• I can’t do everything at once
• Take one day at a time
• Nurturing is important at this age, making sure they have a safe and welcoming environment.
• Communication with parents is important

Now What? Next Steps

• Thinking about this and strategies to help I believe I need to encourage them, as they are able to do things; they are capable and just lack confidence.
• I know it is getting to the end of term and children are becoming tired but will see what I can do to make this an easier process for myself and for the students.
• I may have to be a bit strict on them as they have now been at school for a little bit longer than others have and can do things for themselves.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill?  Criteria 1, Criteria 7

What is the learning/teaching experience: Had my first school entry assessment get together with a parent this week. I was actually so nervous! It was such a casual meeting just to talk about where this student was at, how they went in their SEA and what they can do at home to help. I guess it is just that worry about what if they aren’t happy with what I say. Not that there was anything negative to say you just never know with some parents. Overall, it went very well and their mum was very happy with how the student is going as am I. Plenty more SEA catch up with parents to go! I call them catch ups as they aren’t very formal.

So What: What did I learn?

• Communication is important with Parents/caregivers and whanau as there is only so much you can do at school, students also need to learn skills at home to be the best they can be.

Now What? Next Steps

• Identify the needs of students and put into my planning as tasks students can do during reading, writing maths.
• Create resources to help with gaps that are missing.
• Focus on students phonological awareness (make time for this)

For what: What Criterion does this fulfill? Criteria 1, Criteria 6, Criteria 7, Criteria 8, Criteria 9, Criteria 11

What is the learning/teaching experience: I completed my first observation of watching a writing lesson. I found this so helpful and learned so much on how to adjust my writing programme. I was definitely on the right track with the way I was teaching but am always striving to improve in any way I can to develop the best learning experience for my students. I was unfortunate that I had just missed some professional development with Murray Gadd as he was at school before I started but have got many tips from my colleagues about the writing process.

So What: What did I learn?

• Click Writing Observation link for detailed observation
• I am on the right track and continue to develop my writing programme
• To have follow up activities for when students finish i.e practising words that they didn’t get right, onto their whiteboard.

Now What? Next Steps

• To use a vivid when modelling writing (easy for students to see)
• Write the sounds that students hear and then adjust when finished (put my teacher’s hat on).
• Use more ‘Think, pair, share’.
• Try not to have students lined up to get their writing checked. Encourage them to go and write more. I then roam around and see them. This way they may be able to write more.

For what: What Criterion does this fulfil? Criteria 1 Criteria 2 Criteria 4

What is the learning/teaching experience One thing I am learning is what is the best b

ehaviour management strategies to work with my students. I have had a few issues with behaviour from my year 1 class. These children have just started school and wow! some of them are full on. Today their was an incident where it was getting to the end of the day. Students are tired by this stage and Y would not cooperate she was throwing things and being very disruptive. I had to tell her that this is not acceptable and 5 year olds do not act like this. I then ignored her and she continued to annoy her peers. I then took her away from the rest of the class and she sat at the back of the room. She then lost it and started screaming, kicking and crying because I had told her off. She cooled off and came and sat down with the rest of the class. My Tutor Teacher who was in the classroom next door c

ame and made sure everything was okay. I told him what had happened and she was most embarrassed. 

So What: What I learned

1. I learned that one student cannot dominate the whole class but need to look after the wellbeing of ākonga.
2. I can still set boundries and be firm with ākonga but still be a fun teacher. 

Now What: Next Steps

1. Prasie those ākonga that are doing the right thing, therefore taking the attention away from bad behavior. 
2. Find a way to encourage Y to take responsibility for her own learning. 

For What: this Fulfills these criteria:  Criterion 1  Criterion 2 Criterion 7

 

What is the learning/teaching experience: It is super important with 5 year olds to model what to do. From writing, reading to outside playing games. I have some very shy year 1s and then some very outgoing children. Xx is a beautiful girl but her anxiety is terrible at times and she does not say ‘boo’. When she started, I had to pull her away from Mum and anything out of routine she could not cope with. She does try to join in but is always scared and worried that she will do something wrong. My focus with her at the moment and the whole class is to have a go!

 

Yesterday it was a beautiful day and we decided to go outside for a game at the end of the day. I introduced a game called ‘Traffic Light’ Xx enjoyed the game but was not sure how it worked. She was really trying hard to watch and figure out how to play. When it was her turn to have a go she did not know what to do. I modeled it for her with her beside me and we ran together. We had fun, she came out of her shell, and there were some laughs. This was a small but great breakthrough for both her and myself and also very good for our relationship to develop.

So What: What I learned:

1. Modelling actions and behaviour is better than just speaking and telling students.
2. Relationships built on trust is key to student achievement.
3. An inclusive learning environment fosters students well-being.

Now What: Next Steps to be implemented.

1. I need to be sensitive to all akonga, making the effort to make sure they are all included.
2. Make sure I model a lot more all the instructions especially at year one level.
3. Keep communication going with family/whanau on Xx developments.

For What: this Fulfills these criteria:  Criterion 1, Criterion 2, Criterion 9.