Linda's Meta-learning Journal

I went up to Lake Windermere yesterday. I was hoping to go for a ride on the steamer up to Ambleside but got there just too late. Just after these photos were taken there was a downpour and I got soaked !

First a little background:
Last Year our Network Learning Cluster held a 'Pupil's Voice Day' which brought together pupil representatives from all 6 Primary schools to put forward children's answers to the question "What makes a good literacy lesson?" The main conclusion from all the schools was that children wanted a practical approach and enjoyed lessons which were not just 'talk and chalk'. We decided as a cluster to act on this and have been collecting examples of best practice to share amongst ourselves.Find more about my school's approach to this here Or add your own experiences to the PracticalLiteracy wiki page.
Today was an example of best practice which I'd like to share. I will eventually add the details to my Firstclass site but for now here's a brief outline.
We divided the class into mixed ability groups and gave each group an aspect of harvest to focus on. We brainstormed words about harvest and Autumn. I pinned up some interesting pictures and the children described what they could see. The class teacher then read a poem written by another yr5 class based on Kit Wright's poem "The Magic Box." The groups were then given white boards, asked to choose scribes and asked to come up with a verse based on their topic. The teacher and I went round the groups helping by asking questions about how things made them feel or what things looked like. We didn't provide words but encouraged them to choose carefully. When they were happy with their verse They wrote it onto A3 paper.
This was going so well, productive happy groups engrossed in making poems, that with my encouragement, my teacher abandoned her maths plans and we carried on after playtime. The children took great pride in making illustrations for their work with oil pastels and the finished products are lovely. (Photos tomorrow)
Teacher comment "This is what teaching Primary used to be like!" followed by wistful sigh from both of us.
Each group then shared their work with the class and we (as a class) agreed the order of the verses.

Our Harvest Basket

Each group then started to learn their verse by heart to say in next week's Harvest Festival. I typed the poem out for each child to take home and learn.
Finally, at 11.30, we got out the maths books and they did an hours' work in 30 minutes!

I went on a day out to a Nature Reserve with yr4 today. We did Pond dipping in the morning and then after lunch went for a guided walk. The kids enjoyed the pond dipping, found lots of beetles, a couple of tiny fish and even a leach! We saw a fine heron, many spiders and some wonderful toads. But the highlight of the day for my group was this little wood mouse. There are only a few seconds of video of it and the quality isn't wonderful but I think you'll get the general idea.

So a lovely day out? Yes and no. The nature reserve is in the grounds of a nuclear power station. I found it quite difficult to be there at all having been a long-term opponant of all things nuclear. Also there was a very strange 'double think' process going on when they lectured our kids about the problem of waste and recyling!

I went for a walk by the canal today. It was lovely, fresh and sunny. The trees in Thwaite woods show no sign of any colour but green. The only autumn colours I saw today were on this rather wonderful moth

I never know what's coming next in my job- (lol, you may have noticed!) I just spent the afternoon at a meeting of our Network Learning Community. To cut a long story short I have some new responsibilities:

Practical Approaches to Literacy

1. I am co-ordinating the collection of a data base of practical approaches to literacy in use in the six schools.
2. I am leading a group of research assistants to work out how best to document these approaches (use of digital images, video, interviews with pupils and teachers have all been suggested.)
3. I will then be involved in placing the results on line so that all the schools, and other networks, can access them.

Conference Stand

There will be a county-wide conference of all the Network Learning Clusters in Lancashire in late November.

I am co-ordinating the collection of the evidence of everything the 6 schools have done so far.

I am running a meeting to agree and plan our conference stand.

I am then going to be responsible for the design, and presentation of the stand.
There are lots of other things too numerous to mention!
All this for £6.50 an hour! Am I crazy?
Anyway I should have no trouble finding material for the modules for the coming term. Time to do them might be more of a challenge.

This slightly boring movie was made this week to show some yr5 children what a level crossing looks like. We were doing "contols" in IT and talking about things that are worked by computers. The children were incredulous about the existence of level crossings so I made this little film about the one near my house. I thought I'd use it as an opportunity to try out Quicktime pro for editing rather than iMovie. Given the debate about using transitions going on on Andy's blog I thought I'd keep it as simple as possible.

So is this what is meant by auditing technology in the new ILP? Perhaps I could monitor my use of technology in school (must find a good definition for that!) over a set period.

I also used my camera last week to take photos of yr5 which now adorn the French display, edited them in iPhoto and then burnt them to CD to transfer them to the Windows machine - each child having written "Je m'appelle....." and their names underneath.

I also made them into a screen saver for the classroom computers.

I've been asked to take photos of another group of children for the SEN teacher.

spent some time looking for and printing off photos of French speaking footballers also for a display. This one will ask children (in French) to try to identify the footballers and then can lift a flap to see if they are right. (interactive,visual and kinesthetic!)

Lol - encouraged by other people's blogs I decided to try the BBC personality test - I should have known it would turn out just the same as earlier attempts!
iNFj as ever :-)
I also did the careers test:

Artistic

Your results suggest that Artistic type work might suit your interests and preferences.
Artistic types are interested in creativity and art, preferring freedom and independence to following rules and procedures. Self-expression is very important to Artistic types and they may prefer to work alone. Typical roles for Artistic types include artist, singer, designer, photographer, musician, writer and actor.

Social

Your results suggest that Social type work might suit your interests and preferences.
Social types like roles that focus on helping, teaching or supporting others and very much prefer working with people to working with things or ideas. They tend to prefer working in teams and like to feel they are doing something useful. Typical roles for social types include teacher, counsellor, nurse, minister of religion, clinical psychologist or police officer.
No new inspiration there either!

Well back to school last week certainly brought me some new challenges, not least of which may be job hunting! Like many schools mine is playing games with TA funding. Using support staff to be both a TA and close support to a child simultaneously.
This post has been edited as I became uncomfortable about ethical/privacy issues for the child, the school and myself. It is easy to forget sometimes that the blog is not just read by Ultraversity and Ultralab friends but by anyone who comes across it. For that reason I have heavily edited this posting. The situation I orgininaly mentioned has been resolved from my point of view. However, in fact it has just passed on to someone else who was perhaps less aware of the potential risks. Ah well....

So here I am at the end of the summer holidays, just one day left. It doesn't feel like summer's ready to let go yet, warm and hazy sitting here in the sun in my garden, listening to the birds singing. But late at night and early in the morning there's a bite in the wind. I don't mind, I like Autumn. It's better on the East coast though : cool, bright, crisp September and October days, perfect for walking in woods. Here it will tend to be wet and windy, time to shake out the waterproofs and remind myself I don't have to stay in just because it's raining.

What good things have I done this summer?

Lots of learning about using iPhoto and iMovie (see MacFaq on the wiki)

A potentially worthwhile and realistic Personal Development Plan (written during the summer and covering both work and Ultraversity)

A bedroom almost clear of long hoarded junk

Some insights into what I want for the future.

Less time spent on-line - or even on the computer

Less time spent on the phone

Two weeks in a tent :-)

Some good days out

Meetings with new/old Ultraversity friends

Some lovely memories of summer

Negative things?

No proper holiday - my two weeks on Gower couldn't happen this year.

Too much food and wine

Too little exercise.

Not enough time spent with old friends.

For the new term?

Keep checking and up-dating my SMART targets

Back to a wheat-free diet, no more sneaky croissants!

Back to regular walks

Continue to try to maintain a work/life balance

More fun!!!

More company, more time to be spent with friends, both old and new.

Remember: there is life outside the degree!

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shell»
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.
John Keats

After my last entry I thought I'd try to show what the shore line here is like and how different it is to the Solway. Who ever called this village Bolton le Sands must have had a sense of humour. There is sand but you have to walk over a lot of salt marsh to get there. When you do get there you have to be really careful about quicksand.
It was really windy yesterday but the light was interesting. It's frustrating how much of that the digital camera misses even taking stills . It is good to have movement and sound though so I'm not really complaining.

I tried exporting this video at a larger presentation size as it's not really about fine detail - not sure how well it works. Any thoughts welcome..