A Mid Year Reflection

I have spent the better part of today reflecting on my students and where they have come from this year as I write their mid year progress reports. It seems like the perfect time to reflect on the process and learning that we have all gone through this year.

What have we learnt:

• How NOT to set up tablet devices.
• How young students take to an online learning environment.
• How strong a role the Key Competencies play in the classroom and in learning.
• How articulate young learners can be when given the opportunity to talk about learning.

What are we still working on.

• The best way to set up tablet devices.
• How can we encourage young learners to fully engage in an online learning environment?
• How far can we entrench and use the Key Competencies to even further support learning?
• How much more can these young kids surprise and encourage me as we talk about learning?

Major Successes

• Week 2 Term 2. A child before school was using their Chromebook and remarked to a friend. "Look at our class site, I can see what we are learning today and what I can do for my learning."  5 other students gathered around to look and remarked that they too could "see what they are doing today."  Up till this point, despite being shown and told numerous times a day, the learners had yet to engage with the fact that a class site held that information 24/7 -  since day one of school.

• Week 4 Term 2. I remarked to a student that I had noticed they were more engaged and participatory in class and that it was such a good thing to hear their ideas. He replied "Yeah Miss, I realised that when I listened and joined in I knew what to do and learnt more. School is fun and easier when I participate, contribute and relate well to others."

I can feel that we are beginning to emerge from the learning pit and are truly developing strategies, ideas and new, exciting ways to learn. 

Our next learning steps, as a whole class, is to delve much further into the idea of exploring our learning and taking it to that place where curiosity resides and thrives.