My junior students know that we use a range of languages when we do the roll in my class - they're getting very good!
0 Comments
I'm still running with words of the week and it's going pretty well (considering my subject is music and it's simply a literacy support activity...)
One student today read a word on the board and asked what it meant. Another student piped up and said "I know that word, it was a word of the week last week!" and proceeded (correctly!) to tell the student who asked! I was actually a bit blown away, especially because it was actually a word of the week 2 weeks ago and not last week! I am also including 1 Maori word in the 5 'words of the week' to contribute to the learning of Maori in the school. Lately one of our big staff PLD concepts has been the importance of learners being more informed, engaged and invested in their learning goals and processes. I have also been going through major shifts in my approach to the role of music in our school, my own goals for the dept. (made up of me!) and the specific skills, experiences and abilities I want my students to be capable of, or at least more willing to try. In a nutshell, my primary goal since arriving here at Okaihau College is to simply get music seen, heard and cracking in the life and culture of the school!!! I have decided to go back to basics with the year 9, 10 and senior class involved in all aspects of their activities and course outline content, starting at the planning. In fact, I want to be more of a facilitator and coordinator, while giving them a whole lot more responsibility as to what they do and how they work. I'll see how it goes - it's not easy, especially when they are fully accustomed to being told what to do, but I'm going to try anyway! |
Author
Teacher/ Musician from Northland, New Zealand. |