MID-YEAR: WHAT’S HAPPENING?

What am I doing to help strengthen, build, and support the development of oral language with my students?  I realised that while they can generally answer simple questions posed to them, they don't know how to have a general conversation - asking questions, making comments, gathering information about what's going on around them. 

One way I had thought of to get children asking questions was to let them play ‘Guess Who’, but I was put off that idea because they would not have been able to read the names of the people in the game.  One day I had this brilliant idea that I could have made it easy by simply removing the names and putting letters in their place.  So that’s what I did.   I printed off a picture of the people in the game, twinked out the names and wrote letters.  As I was laminating three sets of the game I thought ‘Why aren’t I just making the game available on their iPads?’  So…I did.  I made it into an EE slide and they all downloaded it to their own iPads.  We still needed actual hold-in-the-hand people cards so we would know who our ‘Guess Who’ person was.   

Only one or two children in the class had ever played ‘Guess Who’ before, so I needed to teach them the game.  Initially they found it challenging to ask questions that would help them work out the answer.  They started out asking ‘Is your person B?’  Actually – they started out by just saying ‘B’, and I’d teach them how to ask.  ‘Does your person have….?’  This whole question and answer game has been great.  They’re learning to not just think about their person, but to listen to their partner’s answers and make decisions on who to cross out (it’s how you do it on an iPad).  Now that they’re getting the hand of this person-orientated game, I’m thinking of shifting it up a notch and creating a game that has food, animals, people, and other random items on it so they’ll have to get more creative with their questions.

In Term One I had asked children to identify features of two puppets that were the same.  They were unable to.  So I created an EE called ‘What’s the Same?’ so that kids could choose things that were the same and record themselves explaining what was the same about their choices (sometimes there was more than one way of choosing things that were ‘the same’).  The EE started off fairly easy and got more difficult as the slides progressed.  Some children found it quite challenging, and I think I should re-visit the EE and give them the opportunity to have another ‘go’ at it.

We have also begun making very short stories on the iPads.  I simply call it ‘Tell a Story’.  The students choose a background from some I’ve selected, then they choose two characters from a selection, and the create dialogue between the two characters.  Along with the actual story, there are a lot of skills that they’re consolidating – copying and pasting, unlocking/locking, sizing, recording, and moving. They all really enjoy being creative – though there are a few children who copy my stories.  But at least they’re speaking and having fun while doing that. 

The question is, with all the fun and learning that we’re doing in Room 17, along with the repetition of how to ask things like ‘Can I get a drink of water, please Miss Hockly? or ‘Are we having milk today?’ – Is language acquisition on the incline?  The answer is ‘Yes’.  And, of course, it’s at different rates.  But all students are becoming clearer and more confident in their speaking.  

The goal for Term Three (along with consolidating what we've begun) will be around asking for clarification if they don’t understand something.  This will not just be focused during Maths, where we’re working on word problems and sharing ideas, but also when I might say something, and they don’t understand, or may want further information.  I had tried this earlier in Term Two when I said

‘I’m really happy today’. 

Everyone just sat. 

I asked

‘Is there anything you’d like to ask me about that?’ 

Silence. 

‘Does anyone want to know why I’m happy?’

And everyone did.  So we talked about how they could ask questions to find out more information.  I’ll do more of this in term three – perhaps with small groups, so I can gauge growth in general conversation.

Thanks for reading.  Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts about my blog, or your experiences of teaching young ones.

A NEW YEAR, A NEW INQUIRY

                  LANGUAGE – THE KEY TO A BRIGHT FUTURE!

My inquiry focus for 2018 is around developing oral language.  I am not focussing on a particular curriculum area, but am looking to develop the oral language of my students in their general talk - and hopefully that will transfer to Maths and Literacy. 

By the time a child begins school in New Zealand (most begin on their 5th birthday), there are certain expectations about their oral language.  ERO (Education Review Office) advises that a 5 year old should:

* have a wide vocabulary
* be curious about language and willing to experiment
* use correct grammar when talking about past, present and future
* describe and ask questions about a picture
* put pictures in a sequence to tell a story
* be able to talk about recent events in detail
* seek or give clarification in conversation
* be able to talk about what might happen

(this is not the full list.  It can be found here).

What I’ve noticed about the students in my room:

They have a limited vocabulary, but they sure are willing to experiment.  When exposed to new vocabulary, the majority of students happily repeat the word after me and some have even attempted to use it in conversation.

Their grammar is, on the whole, incorrect - tenses are non-existent.  They don't look for clarification about what they've heard, and my hunch is they don't know how to, or perhaps don't think they're allowed to.

One thing I have noticed, is my students do not have good imaginations.  They can't seem to see things in their minds and create make-believe scenarios.   What they see is what they know. 

What I plan to do:  

While this inquiry will involve the whole class, I will have a focus group of four or five students that I will gather data from and will work with them as a specific group.  

I plan on using our iPads as much as possible.  Students will create short stories using pictures and photos and will record themselves telling their story - initially based on fact, then make believe.
Guided creative play will become a part of my day.  Guided, because I need to ensure the students are not just left to play alone, but are interacting with each other.

We will sing songs and rhymes, and read fairy tales - something that has been lacking.

I will gift new vocabulary during explicit shared writing

We will describe objects, people and scenes.  We'll start off simply – identifying objects by colour, shape, texture etc.  Will move to deeper thinking/talking as the year goes on.

What I hope will happen:  

Language will be strengthened, and children will be able to clearly explain their thoughts.  They will develop active imaginations, and will be able to tell what is happening in a picture, as well as ask questions about the picture.

2017 Inquiry.

Slide 3:  This is my second video (the first one didn’t work out). In the first one the boys said things like ‘I’m making a plane, Miss Hockly’, while the girls carefully organised theirs into colours. In this video, the boys are taking one colour (TJ has his most favourite colour - green), and the girls are sorting the sticks again. This could show that girls are more ‘wired’ to organise, or it might just have been a morning for the boys to choose their favourite colours.

Slide 4:  Guided is the key word - not simply left to play. Students need support to ensure their ‘play’ is meaningful, so that there is ‘on time’ learning.

Slide 5:  This was a question I had to ask myself. It felt a lot like they were just playing, and I was struggling to make the ‘play’ meaningful. So...I decided to change my focus. No longer would I work on ‘play-based’ learning, but I would inquire in ‘Learning with Movement’. To me, this sounds more manageable. Movement while learning is more doable, and easier, I think, to put into practise. We’ll see.

Slide 7: That says it all, really.

Slide 8:  While I’m classifying this as ‘movement’ it’s still play to some extent. I just find this idea of movement as being more…..structured (is that a good thing?). Activities can be used for lots of new (and reinforced) learning. All good, in my book.

Slide 9: I decided it was important for me to encompass these three ‘M’s.Manageable - so I feel like I have some control (some might say I should be giving this up - I’m not so sure, at this stage).Measurable - so I can see there’s progress (and perhaps it’s quicker in Maths than in other curriculum areas). Meaningful - it’s not much use being active if it has no meaning for the students (or for me, for that matter).


Slide 10:  The group were learning to identify the words for numbers. We had races to see who could do it the quickest (that really motivated some of the students). They enjoyed putting the words on top of the digits, but sort of knew when they’d made a mistake, but weren’t so sure that they’d fix it up. We continue to make progress in this - even though some take longer than others. It’s fun. It’s movement. And it’s Measurable and Meaningful. Tick, tick, tick!