St Agnes' Primary Learning Collaborative - a Journey for ALL staff

We were still at a stage where people weren't booking in Case Management Meetings. So we were able to release every teacher in the school over two days to have a CMM and experience the process. Here is a sample of one of the CMM's that occurred during these days.  

  In Term 4 Week 3, the Learning Collaborative went for three days of learning face to face with Lyn. We were asked to share where we were up to in our journey with other schools.

At this weeks staff meeting we reviewed the CMM purpose, reflection and learnings – sharing in groups. Staff had all experienced a CMM. Feedback from tables was the following. Some teachers reported that going back into the classroom armed with different strategies had resulted in g rowth, in fact some had seen immediate impact.   Teachers recognised the value of only one strategy being taken away to implement, even if you want to work on them all. There was consensus that the p rocess was quick and that we are already seeing results, offering us an opportunity to see  a change that we can celebrate.  Many of the strategies were s imple and quick.  Teachers found the CMM itself i nformative, with one teacher remarking how using EALD scales was new learning. For many what was s urprising was the learning we attained from being a knowledgeable other (KO).   One teacher in particular shared her story – about a student that had not moved on the data wall. She remark...

  Started PLT this week with the data! Last term, every PLT engaged in conversation around how they will use the data wall to inform their practice, when and with what. The following agreements were settled upon, with each team determining their own timeline' within the space of a term (see photo). Year 2 used a Grammar and Punctuation assessment (see photo) and a cold 'whole-text' write (see photo) as well as student book work/observations from the last 3 weeks of term to determine current student placement on the wall. The assessments used reflected the modelled, guided, shared and independent instruction focuses the team had incorporated into their Literacy block time. The team found that students who have stayed within a particular CrT section might have moved within that section (a continuum within). They had some students making large jumps they could celebrate. Only one student went backwards, which the team felt was a reflection of the student 'trying to impress...

We are exploring ways to use the data wall to help our instructional practices in the classroom. First we mapped sentences to the CrT sections of the Learning Progressions. The little yellow ripped up numbers equate to where the sentence matches on the data wall CrT section. These sentence examples would become the Bump It Up Wall for students to compare themselves to. The teacher then used these sentences for their Bump It Up Wall. They specifically are using the strategy: 2 stars and a stair. This is the Bump it Up wall in its entirety. Then there are zoomed in photos of the specific sections of the BIUW. The star indicates what's right about the sentence. The stair helps the student to identify what is the step they need to move to the next level. The next level might match part of or all of the next CrT section we want the student to achieve. Additionally, teams have been using the waterfall to guide their English unit planning for Term 4 (kind of like a concept planner). This ...

This was an opportunity for all participants (teachers, students) to share, reflect and especially celebrate their cohort or school improvement accomplishments (in this case in the area of writing) and their shared work as communities of learners. Lyn talks about 'Learning Fairs' as ways schools can share their learning with other schools in the Diocese. We adopted this approach as a strategy for our own students! Groups of children were invited to prepare a “storefront” that showcased their literacy work within a country study. A storefront is a visual representation of the learning that has emerged from the writing work. Students included books, photos, flags, artefacts, language translation posters, interactive audience question and answer cards, samples of food, slideshows, maps, boarding passes and any other selection of relevant resources to support their informative text which they had collaboratively written as a group. Teachers began this process by examining their dat...

I email photos/videos weekly to staff so they can see the work of each other. It also helps with opening up conversation between colleagues about 'the work' and scheduling time to go and observe each other/conduct LWT with KO's. Kindergarten self-assessing with the teacher. Peer assessment process in Year 5. BIUW (of whole text) with action steps from one level to the other in Kinder and Year 1. Whole staff ghost walk. The first of many. Staff really enjoyed, not only seeing what people are doing in their rooms but focusing on the evidence of 'student thinking.' A teacher adding to her Success Criteria throughout the learning cycle to help steer feedback in the future. A teacher and student at an anchor chart - using it as a resource to help with the implementation of feedback. Peer feedback - Year 6 using a protocol to support conversation. These protocols have strong links with our Renew work. Goal setting and Peer Assessment - Teams have been working on their ped...