12. Demonstrate commitment to critical inquiry and problem solving in professional practice

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Critical Inquiry and Problem-Solving in Professional Practice Criteria and Indicators

Criteria 12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice Indicators i. systematically and critically engage with evidence and professional literature to reflect on and refine practice ii. respond professionally to feedback from members of their learning community iii. critically examine their own beliefs, including cultural beliefs, and how they impact on their professional practice and the achievement of ākonga

March 2017
Beginning the ALL Year 3 intervention .....Professional development as a staff............
ALL Inquiry
(Also refer to PTC #4 for further ALL blogs/notes)

Following our camp, children wrote thank you postcards to parents on camp and to people we encountered while on camp.  They also helped draft (as a class) a letter to the Waihi Leader (Letter to the editor) thanking the people of the Waihi Community who helped us when the weather turned terrible.  They were very excited to see our letter in the paper and also the emails we received afterwards from places we had visited in the community.

Writing in Rimu on PhotoPeach
At the start of my ALL intervention, I decided to try writing in pairs.  I did this for a number of reasons 1/ I have a small group of reluctant writers - one of these is actually a great writer once he gets motivated and engaged.  These reluctant writers are all boys. 2/ I have a child who is very low academically and is challenging behaviour-wise (refuses to work with Learning Support Staff etc).  I wanted him to experience success as a writer with support. 3/ I wanted to up the engagement/motivation of writing 4/ I wanted some of them to have less focus on surface features and more on writing for enjoyment.
It was a great success.  They loved writing in pairs (I asked them at the end of the session) ....They want to do it again.  All were successful at writing today.  They worked very well in their pairs. My behavioural child was teamed with a very supportive child and she mentioned how he had some great ideas to share towards the piece of writing.




Following on from this, the following week we had another 'paired writing' session.  A reading group had been reading about bears.  There seems to be a great interest class-wide.  So we took Bears further....and have been reading and writing about all sorts of bears.
Today we watched a youtube clip on polar bears and children brainstormed things they know about polar bears from past reading and from the youtube clip.  I made sure to include these targeted writers so that they were feeling successful.
Then the children went off and wrote in pairs their information about polar bears.  They could draw and write.  I was really impressed with how MUCH some of my targeted writers wrote. Christian was quick to get started and had clear, thought through information. I noticed that there were a couple of pairs who just needed a little help starting and then they were away - writing many facts on their paper.