It was great to see everyone again. Once again it was Lawn Cafe for breakfast and then the short walk to the KPMG building where we were greeted by the lovely Justine. The space that we get to work in at KPMG is such a wonderful environment to be in. It works so well for the different ways you might want to work, a variety of seating spaces and wonderful big windows, so you still feel connected with the outside world.
Our session was a chance to each share our projects and where we were currently at with them. Wow, there has been some amazing thought and time going into these solutions. I am really feeling like I need to give my solution some serious time to ensure I am continuing to move along the path towards it being something that will be useful in my quest to help the students in my class become more confident in the way in which they share their thoughts and ideas.
I shared my prototype with my colleagues at school and I received some positive feedback and then some good ideas on how I could go about creating my toolkit. I need to keep in mind what solution I am trying to come up with first and foremost.
Maiken and I got to chat together about where we were on our journey and what our solutions are at this stage. That was a great chance to see the amazing work that Maiken had already put into her solution.
I must admit I felt quite relaxed presenting to the group. I feel like we are definitely on this journey together and I always feel supported and know that if the group has any suggestions they will definitely share them with me.
Kia ora Michelle
ReplyDeleteI think including vocabulary builders, sentence starters and frameworks for sharing opinions is a very valuable approach to take. A rich vocabulary enables students to share their ideas and opinions clearly, succinctly and thoughtfully. Using the same rich vocabulary to respond and debate is empowering. I am looking forward to seeing what you add to your site. Have you looked at any of the resources for teaching Philosophy to children? Its a great way to develop vocabulary and critical thinking.
Kia ora Sue
DeleteThank you very much for your thoughtful comment. I began thinking I would be including all sorts of resources on my site but then it got too big and not achievable in the time available. I have started from the idea that I just want to get all students talking and sharing some ideas. I want to build their confidence to speak to others, groups and whole class. I really wanted to go down the building vocabulary track but decided that I will get to that but it was a whole other project on it's own. Of course there has been some vocabulary introduction with the talking frames that I have introduced but not to the extent that I really want to go down this track...there is always next year! I will definitely look into Philosophy resources.