#17: 2022 Term 2 Department Meeting Reflection

Review of Graduating Cohort’s Performance + Skill Will Matrix

Takeaways from the review:

(+) Resources is a commonality across subjects - Giving students greater sense of ownership - Enabling peers to be resource providers (through good examples) - The use of tech encourages collaboration and curation.

(+) Modelling - Sharing of good responses cultivates students' confidence - For weaker students to draw comparisons between the responses for them to bridge/close their gaps - Enable peers to be resource providers (through good examples) (+) Creating own cheatsheets

- Consolidate learning (especially helpful for high-will learners)

Skill Will Matrix

Connect

How do these ideas connect to what you already know?

Collaboration is an important means to learn. Peers are valuable 'resources', not just as someone to discuss concepts/socially construct idea with - we can direct students to their peers' responses, especially to get the weaker ones started.
[Something my CT shared with me during practicum: showing student exemplars are more impactful than showing model answers crafted by teachers for 2 reasons: 1) The language/sentence structure is more accessible, 2) show students that the outcome is achievable since their peers have done it.]
The above pointers aren't exactly new to me (in terms of importance of collaboration, quality resources and modelling)- I strive to achieve that across all my classes. Wherever possible, the consolidated notes given to students are co-constructed by the class. (So I tidy up what they create instead of it being a 100% teacher effort).

Extend

What are some things that you may want to implement in Term 3?

What I would like to practise in Term 3 is to be more purposeful in terms of curating student exemplars and directing students to their peers' answers for my Geography classes. [Similar to sample marking that we do for SS WAs, I would like to meaningfully use students' responses in reinforcing concepts or the structure/demands of Geography questions.]
I think it would be valuable for students to create their own cheatsheets for in-class timed practices as well. The preparation for the timed practice will be more focused, and gives students the space to consolidate their learning and organise it in a way that makes sense for them. [For high-will/high-skill learners]. For high-will/low-skill students, I would consider giving a scaffolded cheatsheet template to get them started.

Challenge

Which area(s) would you require support/clarification in?

Just thinking about other ways of meaningfully implementing 'differentiation' for the students in the different quadrants. [apart from the cheatsheet idea].

Inquiry-based Learning

Takeaways

Learners build on own experience and prior knowledge to discover facts and relationships.
Learners synthesise information and organise in a way that makes sense for them (develop skills and mental frames). As a result, they are more likely to remember concepts and knowledge they discovered on their own (in contrast to frontal teaching).
Promotes autonomy, responsibility and independence (encourage active engagement).

Use of technology in the classroom:

Substitution - purely hardcopy to softcopy

Augmentation - technology enhances learning experience (e.g. hardcopy map VS GIS)

Modification - change in learning outcome

Redefinition - 'no tech cannot do'