Lesson 20

What were ALL the learners contributing to the lesson?

The visual (and audio) of a lesson can be very telling. It gives an opportunity to revisit the lesson and see exactly what each learner was doing in response to my questioning and scaffolding. It gave me an opportunity to closely study each learner and note exactly how much they were contributing to discussions and listening to the scaffolds provided. This could in turn be compared with the independent work they completed so I could see that learners were (or weren’t) taking information and discussions into account when completing these activities. Additionally, as a direct result of watching Class OnAir episodes I changed the way some groups of learners were completing activities. This enabled them to come to the teaching table having already considered some of the comprehension questions and they could refer back to their prepared answers during discussions. I found these empowered my quieter learners to contribute more and gave them more thinking time (prior to the group discussion).

HOOK the learner, increase the ENGAGEMENT!

This is not a new concept, and I can remember it being discussed many times during my teacher training. However, throughout the Class OnAir lessons I noticed the level of engagement (and contributions to discussions) increased as the lessons became more interactive and I followed tangents that the learners themselves wanted to investigate. This was particularly noticeable during Lesson 16 (Measurement) and Lesson 17 (Lemonade). In the former lesson, learners were given the freedom (within some set boundaries) to choose items to measure – giving them this simple choice really upped the engagement (even I was surprised how enthusiastic they were!) and how this enthusiasm continued for much longer than I had expected. Similarly, the learners’ engagement was contagious when we made lemonade. Surprisingly, even the failure of our first batch did not dent this enthusiasm, instead leading to a robust discussion on what we could do to improve it during the second round.

Being REFLECTIVE in practice means being willing to make changes.

Initially I found it difficult to “watch myself” as I feel I can be my own worst critic. Early in my Class OnAir journey I was determined to ensure that the experience would impact positively on my own practice and that I would be “positively reflective”. By this I mean that I would use the recordings as an opportunity to look at what I was doing on a day to day basis and actively search for ways improve my teaching. In my early recordings I could see that I was talking more than necessary and not allowing each learner to contribute. In fact, I had a tendency to move on to the next learner without allowing that all important “thinking time”. Additionally, some learners were so keen to contribute that I allowed them to do this repeatedly, at the expense of other learners. When I compare my lessons from Term 1 to those recorded in Term 3 and Term 4, I’m pleased at the changes that I’ve made to my teaching practice. The learners are definitely more confident when it comes to contributing and the opinions of all learners are included and valued – I even see myself using thinking time and coming back to learners to ensure they all get to share their valuable thoughts.

It has been an honour to be involved in Google Manaiakalani Class OnAir during 2016 and I'd like to thank both Google and the Manaiakalani Trust for their support, without which it would not have been possible. Though I'm not continuing with Class OnAir in 2017 I look forward to viewing the lessons of new teachers as they join Class OnAir and showcase their classroom, teaching pedagogy and unique, inspiring learners.