Design for Learning

I have kept on top of all assessment required throughout the year both formative and summative. This includes running records, probes, JAM tests, Tirimoana maths assessments, writing samples and BSLA assessments. My books are regularly marked and often with the child present. I try to have a conversation with every child about their work atleast once a week and use the stars (achievements) and rockets (goals) symbols to feed-forward to my learners. As well as putting information on Edge, I also keep my own personal spreadsheets with colour coded tracking data so that I can visually see their progress and find targets that need to be worked on for teaching. I have used assessment data to create GAP analyses so that I can adjust my learning intentions/success criteria based on where the gaps are in my class.

Something that has always resonated with me since studying teaching at University has been the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). I am pleased to see that this has been a focus at our school this year and I look forward to developing my learning further. From what I currently know, UDL offers a 'people-first approach to planning learning'. In this sense, when designing my lesson plans, I am encouraged to think about learners as individuals before I begin to plan the content. Classrooms are always filled with a diverse array of learners with different abilities, backgrounds, ethnicities and learning needs - from those on the autism spectrum, to those with dyslexia and ADHD.  Rather than grouping students by ability and having them complete separate learning tasks, I try to create flexible plans that offer different ways for each student to connect through whole class learning. 

An example: in Maths the learning intention may be to recall our 5 times tables through skip counting but there will be a variety of different activities on offer throughout the week to connect with this. Hands on activities such as skip count weaving through a paper plate or organising arrays of counters, SeeSaw activity, online 5x tables game, written exercises, active games outside jumping between multiples of 5, rich task image that provokes them to use their knowledge of 5x tables to solve or even creating artwork of 'array cities'. For those who are close to achieving the learning intention, this gives them a chance to consolidate their learning and for those who are still struggling to reach their goal, this gives them a multitude of ways to have the 'lightbulb' moment and grasp the concept. No two learners will learn the same and even as a teacher I have to be careful not to just teach something once, the way I know how to do it, and move on expecting everyone to have met the learning intention.

Another example: as an end of year activity, I have created a small ongoing project for the last week where learners can become the teacher. They have chosen topics that they are passionate and knowledgeable about and are going to 'teach' me about them. They had oral language opportunities through 'Think, Pair, Share' and then made brainstorms (using pictures, words, ideas). They were able to research topics further on the iPads if necessary and have now been thinking about how they would like to 'present' this teaching. Some might do a poster, some might write an information report, some might do a drama or oral lesson - there are no rules about how they present the information. The success criteria is that I am able to gain some new information based on what they have taught me. UDL isn't just about presenting different means for learners to connect with but it's also about giving learners different ways to express their ideas and share their own learning. This is definitely a skill I aim to continue developing.