Picking up the assessment ball and running with it.

Last year I took a big step and volunteered to re-write a Year 8 English assessment.  This was a big deal for me for a few reasons:
* I only have one English class,
* some really experienced teachers were also teaching that cohort, and
* the assessment I was wanting to replace was written by the Head of Department.

However, I went through with it and we ended up with an assessment piece that I'm really happy with, and the students seemed to enjoy.  This year, one student in particular has taken this assessment ball and run further than I could have dared to hope just over 12 months ago.

I was inspired by Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - a play that my own English teacher in Year 11/12 set for my class, and which is to this day nearly 20 years later still one of my favourites.  For those of you who haven't heard of it, it tells the story of two characters from Hamlet that we don't encounter much in Shakespeare's play.  Tom Stoppard lets us into their world and shows us what they are up to when they are not on Shakespeare's stage.

We've been reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and this final task involves the students giving a character a voice.  We know Katniss' story, we know most of Peeta's, and a fair amount of Rue's - but what about the other 21 Tributes of the 74th Hunger Games?  The students need to choose one of the remaining 21 tributes, and produce 2 blog entries a la reality show contestant 'piece to camera' insights.  The first piece needs to be set before the tribute enters the arena, and the second is set after.  Each entry is limited to 300 words, and needs to make the audience 'feel' something.  I gave the students the example of Survivor or Masterchef - there are always one or two contestants we really love, there are two or three we can't wait to see eliminated, and the rest are 'meh' - the students need to ensure their chosen tribute isn't 'meh'.

One of my students this year has decided that he wanted to tell us more for his tribute.  He has written his 300 word first post for the assessment, but he has also written 4 more (word unlimited) installments from his tribute 'because I felt like it Miss, I wanted to tell people their story.'

Year 8.  Boy.  English subject.  Way more work than required.  Highlight of my year.

Playdough and Pre-Service Teachers

**transferred from old blog**

So I’ve been really lucky with the pre-service teachers I’ve been assigned – they are generally ready for the classroom, but more importantly, they don’t mind team-teaching some fun stuff.

The latest has been Year 9 WWI playdough concepts and events.  Teams were assigned topics from militarism to the Gallipoli landing.  They had a variety of materials available – the main one being homemade cooked playdough.

Here’s some of the progress shots:

In addition to the models, the students had to compose a paragraph to accompany their display for our ‘Classroom Museum’ exhibition on WWI.  They’ll be displayed alongside the models and posters from classwork earlier in the term.  By the end of the term we’ll have a series of podcasts and videos to add to our exhibition.

I love my 9s, and my praccy.

Chasing the light bulb

One of the most rewarding parts of my job as a high school teacher is seeing the 'light bulb moment' happen; that moment when a new idea is born, or the connections in the thinking circuit complete to bring light to the student.

My aim for this blog is to document and share (if anyone wants to read) the goings-on in my classes.  I am not claiming any sort of authority or expert status - I just want to get things down on digital paper.  I am also hoping to show my students how important they are to my own teaching and learning odyssey.

If any of the ideas grab you feel free to use them, and I'd love to hear how they worked for you and how you tweaked them for your students.

Thanks for visiting,
Kelly