National Curriculum

Tonight we were discussing Australian International Schools and wondering what 'Leaving Certificate' they would offer, besides the IB. We agreed that 'when' the national curriculum is implemented it would make it easier for International Schools.

An article in today's The Age newspaper, shows that there is yet another set back for the national curriculum, requiring further development.

These include further work on nationally consistent achievement standards, adjustments to the curriculum content and greater consideration of how the curriculum can meet the needs of students with special needs.

And as it is, the national curriculum will only be introduced in 4 subjects by 2013, and only applies for Years 1 - 10.  So the 'Leaving Certificate' debate for international Australian students is still unanswered!

If you're interested, the article can be found here.

Maths or Numeracy

I am currently studying the Foundations of Numeracy as a Sem 3 subject.  It's an interesting one... but wow... things have changed since I was at school... we don't use the words 'plus', 'minus' or 'times'.  They also have changed the method of subtraction from borrowing and paying back to converting the tens into ones.  The first four weeks have been broken down into Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.  Then we have to concentrate on Fractions and Whole Numbers over the rest of the semester.

It's quite exciting though, for the assignment have to design a Wiki, using Web 2.0 technology.  With pages, links and everything!  Because it is online, the assessors basically just remove edit access from students until they've marked it!  My first submission is due the day I arrive in Melbourne for Christmas... so going to be organised to get it done early!

Semester 3 - is it summer or winter?

I live in China, and am studying online through a uni in Queensland, Australia... this year a 'summer' subject has been offered in my course - Foundations of Numeracy - except it's winter here... what better time to buckle down and knock over what is hopefully one of my last 2 subjects. (I'm still waiting on results from last semester, and fingers crossed got through both of them.)

BUT - we're going home for Christmas in one month, and staying for 7 weeks, so I'll be doing the majority of this subject in summer and on holiday after all!  All a bit confusing.  And to top it off, we are having a week on the Gold Coast... and in that week, this subject has an exam - so I'll be presenting for that in the state of the course, despite doing the rest of it from the middle kingdom!

Another semester bites the dust

Last night, I submitted my last assignment for Semester 2... a monster assessment on assessment.  I designed a unit on Forces for Year 6 Science, and created a task sheet, rubric, quiz and wrote a 1200 word essay on fair and flexible assessment.

Last Friday, I submitted a literacy assignment on auto/biography, also for Yr6, where I had to design a 4 week unit, showing the timetabling and detailed planning for the unit.  As well as sourcing a decent collection of references which is to go hand in hand with the unit.

Today, I woke up thinking all was clear and fresh and anticipating 2 study free weeks... and I logged on to StudyDesk to check if my assignments had been passed on to be marked yet (they have), and found my Semester 3 study desk open!  Technically it doesn't start until 15th November... but there it all is... the first 4 weeks of Foundations of Numeracy... I really should get cracking!  And I found out, I will likely have to do an exam the week we are on the Gold Coast in January.

Prac is over; Assignments underway

This is a bit of a delayed post, but my 5 weeks of prac finished on 30 September, and the next day flew to Koh Samui, Thailand for a week on the beach and by the pool.

My prac experience was fantastic - I loved the class, even though initially I was terrified of the idea of the biggest kids in primary school.  My mentor was great, and has given me confidence in my ability.  I taught science and history, and co-taught numeracy and mostly observed in literacy, but helped with individual work, with the exception of the Anne Frank literacy experience.  I have refreshed my knowledge of forces, WWII and a collection of maths techniques.  And I think my most enjoyable part of the whole prac was getting an understanding of age appropriate literature.

I am now working on two big assignments - one planning assessments for a unit of work, and the other planning a 4 week literacy unit on Bio/Autobiography.  Both assignments are huge amounts of work and both are due on the last Friday of October.  So it's head down and constant working to get those done and dusted.  I still have to catch up on all the readings too!!

Anne Frank and a little French girl

This week I submitted an assignment for my GDTL course.  The task was to create a literary experience for a group of children, and to read them a story and get them to act or react to it.  The assignment consisted of a multimedia production of evidence of the experience and a document outlining the lesson plan, how it linked into the Four Resources Model and a short description of the context of the experience.

I read a story about Anne Frank to the Year 6s in whose class I am currently on prac.  My lesson went really well, and I was pleased with the interaction and engagement of the students, and their genuine interest in listening to the story and their participation in the activity following.

More than anything though, I was impressed when a few days after reading the story to my Year 6s, a French girl came up to me and told me that her grandmother was sending her a copy of Anne Frank's Diary.  Then in her reading journal on Friday (unfortunately after I'd submitted my assignment) she had written (in English) that she had started reading a French translation of Anne's diary and was enjoying it very much, and linked back to my lesson the previous week!

I think this is that 'buzz' that teachers sometimes say they get when they connect with a student!

URGENT TYPHOON WARNING

SCHOOL CLOSURE WEDNESDAY 1st SEPTEMBER

This is the season for major rain storms. Although it is highly unusual for typhoons to hit Shanghai directly, there have been two times in the past 8 years when schools had to close due to heavy rains and street flooding which resulted in serious traffic congestion.

All International and City-run Schools are required to follow directives from Shanghai Education Commission regarding school closures when weather conditions are severe. The Shanghai Education Commission tries to avoid this at all costs but sometimes, for the protection of children, we need to take preventative measures.

The Shanghai Education Commission informed us this evening (Tuesday 31 August) that all schools should close on Wednesday 1 September due to the weather alert.

Last night the above message was emailed to all teachers, parents and students of all international schools in Shanghai! 8.30pm notice of school closure the next day!!  Of course we have woken up with blue skies, no rain and no wind... let's play!!  Or plan, or mark, or finish those assignments!!

Classroom Displays

When we were setting up the classroom for the start of term last week, I was amazed at the treasure trove of stuff my mentor had already laminated and ready for creating displays... I wondered where I might get that kind of stuff when ultimately I'm setting up my own classroom.

Then, another student teacher friend showed me this link:

http://www.schoolslinks.co.uk/resources_displays.htm

And wow!!  It has everything!!  Hope it stays active and current until I get my own classroom!!

New school year

I think I am very lucky to be completing my prac from Day 1 of a new school year.

On Tuesday we had Orientation Day where the parents and kids came into see their new classroom, meet their new teacher (and student teacher), find out who was in their class and see what has changed around the school.  The kids were a little disappointed, as due to a rearrangement the classrooms which were Year 5 last year are Year 6 this year.

The formalities of the day started with the Primary Headteacher giving a welcome address in the main hall. His voice was pretty hoarse as by the time he had welcomed us, he had already welcomed each year level from Nursery to Year 5, but his speech was well polished!  He then introduced each Year 6 teacher, the EAL teacher and me!  We then took our kids and parents back to our classroom, and my mentor discussed the expectations of the year, distributed timetables, homework guidelines and a welcome letter.  She then asked all the parents who were there to introduce themselves and their kids... I thought that was a clever way to get to know them early on...

Wednesday was D-Day - the first official day of the school year!  We had a Year 6 meeting, and the Yr6 Co-ordinator welcomed everyone, and congratulated them for getting to the top of the primary school, and explained while they now had increased privileges, and with that expectations of behaviour, participation and responsibility levels also increased.  By not living up to their end of the deal, privileges can be removed.

The tasks for the day were all fun things - like designing personalised library cards, cover pages for workbooks and 'getting to know' you games.  I took all the kids photos (one smiling and one silly) and we printed them out in various sizes for a range of other tasks for during the week.  We have one clown in the class who put on the straightest face and said it was his smile, and then kept the exact same expression for a silly face.  He's actually a pretty funny kid, I think he's likely to be quite bright too.

The school sets for Literacy and Numeracy from Year 1, and today we had a Reading Comprehension SAT which is part of defining the Literacy sets.  It took a bit over an hour, so a lot of concentration was required.  There is another literacy test tomorrow and Monday, and two Numeracy tests next week.

I taught my first lesson of this prac today - an overview of Science for the year.  Listed all general topics that will be covered, and a teeny-tiny bit about each.  Then the kids designed the cover page for their Science Workbooks.  I am going to be teaching Science over the next 4 weeks - the topic I'm covering is Forces (friction, gravity, buoyancy, thrust, magnetism, balance, etc.) so it was nice to teach science from the beginning!  My Smartboard presentation skills need a bit of work.  Although I'm sure they'll be on track by the end of prac!

I'm enjoying prac thus far - am a bit concerned about all I have to do... lesson plans, plus learning the content, 2 assignments, keep up with my readings and coursework and, of course, continue to be wife and mum!  Keep on top of it all, stay organised and hopefully everything will stay on track.

Three days down, 22 to go!  But I'm having fun, and not really counting down!

Induction Week

I am starting a 5 week prac in Year 6 on Tuesday.  It is the first day of term for the new school year.  After the long summer break, there has been an induction and personal development week for all staff.  The primary headmaster was kind enough to invite me along to attend any and all sessions I was interested in.

Some of the sessions included:

• Assessment for Learning
• Assessing Pupil Progress
• Personalising Learning
• ICT training - including Moodle (an online learning envt) and Serco (register and reporting system)

I felt lucky to be a part of all this, as it gave me a 'real' view to how teachers really do so much above and beyond the classroom, and are looking for ways to enhance the learning experience for all the students.  

I also enjoyed becoming part of the school community, and listening to the Headmaster talk, by gearing up the teachers for a successful and opportunity filled year.  Hearing what some of the staff were up to over the holidays and the new ideas they would like to implement was inspiring. 

Getting our Year 6 classroom ready with wall displays, and new name labels, and books was refreshing. Discussing with the other Year 6 teachers the plan for the year, made it all quite concrete for me, the actual level of work to do.  Because there were 2 new teachers, meant that nothing was glossed over and every requirement was spelled out clearly.

Compared to working in business, my very high level view, is that it is really nice to be able to wipe the slate clean at the beginning of each school year, and start afresh.  Issues in business can hang in there, occasionally one or two may be wiped at the start of a new tax year, or after a legislative change.  But the opportunity for a true fresh start really only comes with a new job, so a fresh batch of kids and a new school year means you can work on doing things better than last year, change approaches and targets accordingly and work on becoming a better teacher.  

Introduction

Hi - I'm Abby, and I'm studying to be a primary school teacher.  As part of the course, we need to create an ePortfolio, and as such, this is the start of mine!

I am half way through my course, a Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning through the University of Southern Queensland.  It is one year full time, but because of having 2 small children under 4 years old, I opted to take two years and do it part time - two subjects per semester.

I live in Shanghai, China.  And next week am starting officially my prac at one of the International Schools here.  I am going into a Year 6 class, and am looking forward to it very much!!

That's about enough for my first post...

Thanks for joining me, and hope you come back to keep in touch with my journey.
Abby