Chapter 6: Giving Students Greater Responsibility with Valuable Work.

The trouble with low-level Work

Setting the Scene

Tedium is what low-level akonga are often given

More often that not remedial akonga display "smaller vocabulary, lower reading levels,and gaps in basic skills" Rollins (2004). Reportedly, although teachers can agree these very akonga tend to have disciplinary issues, low self esteem and low expectations of themselves.

Key question: How do we design must do and can do tasks that are not tedium?

Answer: Creativity and higher level thinking tasks. Learning experiences that are authentic, meaningful, varied and appropriately targeted at their age / stage.

Implementing Student Work Sessions:

Begin a lesson strategically, hook the students into the lesson and pique interest. Establish a purpose. Lead mini-lessons to model and explain. But focus on student engagement.

Direct instruction time and attention spans are inextricably linked.

The longer the instruction time the less attention paid by a student, the less they have heard or are willing to receive. Working memory has its capacity at around four items, according to Sousa and Tomlinson (2011). So therefore, longer periods of instruction time do little to aid a student to retain knowledge; after four items, the brain rejects added information.

By relinquishing power as teacher, the learner is empowered.

As academic talk amongst akonga increases, so too, does work progress. A teacher must become the facilitator and therefore monitor the quality of work and provide feedback to enable a learner to advance toward their goal. The akonga I teach should only have 8-12mis instruction time.

Cooperative learning is a facet of this style of teaching, it requires akonga to evaluate.

Through lessons whereby akonga are leading their learning, they have processed and practised new information, not the teacher. Too often, so kaiako do all the thinking, leaving akonga to sit idly by as learning happens to them.

Learning Stations:

In the text, there are a range of "Strategies for Effective, Differentiated Student Work Sessions":

Learning Stations:

One of the several examples in the text, that really sung out for me, was LEARNING STATIONS. They’re akin to ‘Explore’ in Piako One. A system by which one of the collaborative teachers sets up several stations for students to explore learning in. The other collaborative teachers take other subjects, and withdraw the necessary akonga for their instructional groups: reading, writing and maths.

Each station is customised for a variety of learning levels and styles, from a kinesthetic word sort, a short video to a digital learning task or technology problem solving activity. Vocabulary games, error analysis, map skills, thinking with materials, creating plays, role plays, creating videos, drawing posters, sorting pictures into categories. Analyse advertisements- still image and moving, examine packaging, explore KWL or other graphic organisers by showing understanding on post it notes.

Teachers need to keep in mind that their purpose is to MOVE students towards mastery of the LEARNING OBJECTIVE. Teachers are able to lend their talents by creating learning stations with their expertise in learning areas, the arts, science, technology, digital learning, physical education, literacy and numeracy.

Hear it from me here.