Kay

Kay Inquiry learning with Lyn at Patuha made a lot of sense to me. What had begun to look a bit complicated was brought back to sensible steps. I really like the idea of finding out about your topic , then coming up with THE QUESTION, Funnelling into what we need to find out. Our experience with “Jackie’s” Action Learning meant that Lyn’s model of Inquiry just slots into place. I would like to carry on with developing thinking skills and questioning through guided reading, and ‘news sessions”, but also to model these during inquiry learning, as I think this works well for my level. I think, also I could have a lot of fun with one off question sessions using humorous pictures. I would like to develop the use of some thinkers keys, to provide a base for future learning.

Mainly I want to try out the hats and see what they can help with and where I see myself using them in the future, ||
 * ** Teaching and Learning Appreciative Inquiry **  (Trial 2011)  ||
 * **Name: Kay Jones** || **Class Level: Year 1** ||
 * **Achievement Target**** : ** What outcomes am I aiming to achieve? What outcomes do I want my students to achieve?

I want to develop children’s thinking. I would like to have children: * asking questions * able to discuss beyond the obvious ( not just white hat thinking) * Comparing new information with what they already know. * Using metacognition. //I plan to do this with the whole class but will use a group of children as a focus group. These children are in the top reading group but at the moment are not thinking deeply, can answer questions but don’t do much in the way of reflection. // //Barriers to thinking, beyond just age and stage : // //One child is an only child and is used to being spoon fed, // //One child just wants to move on and doesn’t stop to think. // //One child is, I think, a thinker but seldom shares her ideas. // //One child is obsessive about one or two topics and manages to turn most things round to those // // I also plan to use PMI’s as they are one thinking plan which I have not used much, not really appreciating them in the past. // || Baseline: Find out what students can already do and what more they need to learn. Refer to National Curriculum and other resources ||^  || // I will use 7 servants as help to ask questions at news time, in guided reading lessons and using pictures and video clips. // // I will use De Bono’s hats to help focus children’s thinking. I plan to do this while analyzing information from our inquiry, and again after guided reading lessons. // // Initially I will introduce hats with an activity to explain the ideas behind the different colours. // // I also plan to use PMI’s as they are one thinking plan which I have not used much, not really appreciating them in the past. // || Research to see what has worked for other teachers and contexts. Formulate a plan. ||^  || // *Introducing White Hat - Children to brainstorm which footprints they think we will find in our tracking tunnel, using what they have already learned about pests and predators of our native birds. // // *Children coped with this activity really well. Emphasised that this was white hat thinking. // // *Focus group read a book about a tall tree – activity - place pictures of animals onto tree in appropriate place, tell children that this again is white hat thinking. // // * All group able to recall information. // || Use this new information to decide what to do next to ensure continued improvement in student achievement and in your own practice. ||^  ||
 * **Discovery** ||  **Focusing**  || // Initial plan. What am I going to do? Develop? Strengthen? Why? //
 * ^  || Potential – what might be? Prioritise outcomes.
 * **Designing** ||  **Teaching**  || // What is my plan for doing this? What strategies will I try? //
 * ^  || What craft knowledge do I already have? Search your own and colleagues' past practice for strategies that may be more effective.
 * **Delivering** ||  **Learning**  || // Put my plan into action. Monitor; collect evidence; write regular dated reflections; interpret data. Plan next steps //
 * ^  || Monitor students' progress towards identified outcomes and reflect on what this tells you.
 * **Evaluating** ||  **Summarising**  || // Analyse data and observations and draw conclusions. Prepare and present findings to colleagues. //
 * Children in focus group quite able to recall information, but still have to do some more work to do so that they have something to compare when other hats are introduced. ||