15/4: Reflection of Year 9 Challenge by Choice Unit

Reflection of Year 9 Challenge by Choice Unit

15th April 2016

Things to consider for next time:

Starting the year on land

The first thing that I think I would have done differently would have been to start the year on land. For Term 1 our Year 9 students had two units to complete; Challenge by Choice in water setting and a Safety of Myself & Others. Looking back I think starting on land with the Safety Unit would have been a smart move. I think being on land it is more of a controlled environment compared to the water and I believe that it would have been easier to set boundaries and expectations. By starting with the Safety unit I would have also got the students used to thinking about physical and emotional safety before getting into the pool.

Another point is that in some ways I believe it would have been easier to get to know the students on land e.g. personalities of students and who I may need to keep an eye on.

As for the unit...

• more structured teacher challenges at the start of the unit e.g. 1x swimming related, 1x water polo & 1x water safety focussed
• use of a wider range of teacher challenges as I would hope it would influence students to get more creative when creating their challenges rather than focussing just on the swimming side
• I liked Dan's idea of the 'idiot grass' - students who were misbehaving had to sit on the grass as punishment and all students knew what it was called
• I would have spent more time going through the rules and expectations to make sure they were clear to students including consequences

15/4: Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews

15th April 2016

Pictured below were my Timetable schedules for our Term 1 Parent Teacher Interviews. As I only teach students in years 9 (split into day students and boarding students) & 11 I had to attend a total of 3 nights.

Below the pictures is my written reflection on all 3 of the parent teacher interview nights.

Reflection of parent interviews:

Before the parent interviews I made sure to do some prep to help me feel confident while talking to parents. By having the notes all in one place I could also skim over the notes in between interviews.

Prep included:

• taking booking sheet off interview site (as pictured above)
• date/ time/ student and parent names
• Year 9s:
• attitude & effort grades
• CBC work hand in
• mid unit checkin grade
• any comments
• Year 11s:
• interim attitude & effort grades
• Term Order grade + A&E grade
• any comments

*These notes for year levels have been saved

As the Year 9 interviews came first I felt quite nervous for them. Not only was it my first ever parent-teacher interviews but I also didn't know my Year 9s as well as my Year 11 classes. The Year 11 interviews came easier having had practice and also seeing most of them 4 times a week.

Notes were made on my spreadsheet in regards to the direction that students should be heading in, along with any other notes mentioned by parents, especially in regards to contacting them. 

Moving forward I could possibly contact parents in Term 2 via phone or email to catch up and review their child's progress.

14/4: Cultural Awareness PD

Cultural Awareness PD 

14th April 2016

2x PD sessions on cultural awareness - held by Lincoln Savage

-focussed on Maori culture

Notes in links below:

Session #1:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8SyJqn0M1mhT2JHRUQ3bDRYdTg 

Session #2:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8SyJqn0M1mhRkFfWU1SYXM0ZWM

13/4: Reflection on 'Class Incident'

Reflection on 'Class Incident'

13th April 2016

13/4: Mentor Group

Mentor Group

13th April 2016

This is a class list of girls within my mentor group. As their mentor I am there to help support these girls. This can be both mentally & emotionally, through supporting their wellbeing while at school. This can include both academics and co-curricular activities. 

An example of support from their wellbeing in regards to academics is tracking student progress through Gina, Term Orders/Reports and one-on-one conversations. I help to guide the girls with setting goals for improvement.

After receiving feedback within the first half of Term 2 common key findings were:

• They felt I was supportive and non-judgemental when they asked for advice/help
• I was doing a great job
• One thing to think about is getting the girls to work with others that they usually don't choose to work with
• One comment came back saying Mentor time seemed pointless

Within Term 3 I will get the girls to provide more feedback with more specific questions and include positives, negatives and improvements. I will also encourage them to give constructive criticism as there feedback will be more valuable that way.