17/2: Reflection - BLENNZ Meeting

Reflection: BLENNZ Meeting

17th February 2017

Today at lunch we were lucky enough to have a member of the Blind and Low Vision Education Network NZ (BLENNZ) come in and talk to us. This year we have a student in Year 9 with Oculocutaneous Albinism. The school and BLENNZ meet his teachers to discuss what this meant, learning challenges and how we can help him to overcome them.

Oculocutaneous Albinism means that this student has a lack of pigmentation in his hair and skin and it effects his eyes. The fovea (pit at the back of the retina responsible for sharp vision) is affected and this particular student has a vision ranging from 6/36 - 6/60 (the "normal/average" vision is 6/6. We were told that he can fluctuate depending on the level of tiredness, stress of hunger he is experiencing.

As his vision is impaired it can challenge his learning. Examples could be; struggling to navigate school especially when busy, not being able to see written work well without the use of technology, could struggle in situations such as sports/ games when a ball could be moving fast.

So as his teachers what can we do to help?

• use digital format so he is able to enlarge the screen/text
• may need extra verbalization of tasks e.g. not practical/visual demonstrations of work
• be conscious of glare on whiteboards/desktops
• use blue or black markers on whiteboards rather than red or green
• use black and white or blue and yellow on data projection
• consider everyday language of over there etc and try and give directions in more detail
• if watching video clips in class send the link to him prior to the class or after so he can review it

Personally I think a meeting like this proved valuable. I can now actually understand his condition and what his vision is like. I can now take this information into consideration when planning lessons for the class. I can consider if I need to modify lessons to better suit his needs and ensure that he is still included in all activities. 

A handout from today's session with more information on Hugo's condition can be found here.

16/2: PD - SAMR Model

PD - SAMR Model

16th February 2017

Tuesday's Professional Development time slot was allocated for Departments to look into their technology use. Our eVangelist (department expert), lead the session based around the SAMR model. The aim of our PD this week was to refresh ourselves as to what the SAMR model is and to identify where we think we currently sit in the model. Below is the YouTube clip we were shown that nicely explains the SAMR model:

SAMR standing for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification & Redefinition: 

Substitution - using technology when you could complete the same task without it e.g. answering questions or writing an essay on Google Docs

Augmentation - technology slightly enhances the task e.g. students can comment on each others work 

Modification - technology now has a great impact on the task e.g. creation of videos 

Redefinition - tasks that are set would be impossible without technology e.g. QR codes for gaining new information or interactive textbooks in iBooks

Pictures above give further examples of different apps and where they may fall in the SAMR model

Last year was the first time I had heard of the SAMR model. I was interested to see how one teacher was using the SAMR model to increase her use of technology in the classroom. As this is one of my goals for the year I thought this would be a prefect way to reflect on my use of technology so far this year.

When we were asked to identify what level we are currently sitting at on the model I originally thought I was at the Augmentation stage. My example to the department was a recent lesson I have completed with my Year 9 Health class. They had been given a task to answer about themselves and find a visual way to present this. As I gave the class the opportunity to choose how they would like to present the task this meant that I would have stepped closer towards Modification. I gave students ideas as to how they might like to present. Some stayed in their comfort zone while others decided to try something new.

I suppose this discussion made me feel that maybe I'm not as far behind in the technology scene as I thought I may have been although I know there is definitely still room for improvement and creativity.

8/2: Reflection - 12 PE Progress

12 PE Progress

8th February 2017

This year is my first time teaching Level 2 Physical Education and I was excited to see a lot of familiar faces from Core PE last year. Going along to my first lesson I thought that this class would be the easiest to form relationships with, having taught most of them before. Although I have a good relationship with most of the students in the class I noticed in my first lesson that they were rather awkward with each other.

Our first lesson was only 20 minutes long due to a '6 period morning'. I decided to use this time to learn more about my students and for them to learn more about each other. I decided to start off with an activity called Connections that I learnt on a PD course last year. This activity starts with someone sharing information about themselves. They choose what they are willing to share. While sharing they aim to make a connection with someone else in the room. When a connection is made that person says "I can connect with that". They then explain the connection, introduce themselves and share something new about themselves.

I have used this connection activity a few times with different classes and it has always worked really well, but this time it was just plain awkward.  No matter what question I asked the 12 PE class, in or out of the connections activity they were very reluctant to share in front of each other. The time they seemed most comfortable was when they were talking in their small friend groups.

Since that lesson we have spent 4 lessons completing a variety of ABL activities. The purpose of these activities were aiming to loosen them up and get them communicating with each other. Pictures and examples of those ABL activities are below:

Leap Frog 

Hidden Pathway

River Crossing

The way they were awkward in class, with the boys and girls keeping to themselves, I was worried about our first assessment of the year, 2.4 (Ki-O-Rahi). Even throughout the first couple of lessons of ABL activities the girls would work with each other and so would the boys. I trying to help them grow their confidence levels and start working together in a range of contexts.

By the end of our 4th lesson I was really proud with the progress the class had made. They were more open to communicating with each other and were working together better as a class. Even the segregation between the boys and girls was slowly disappearing. Fingers crossed that this improvement continues and the class keeps blossoming!