When there is a problem, ask a question!

The main focus question we ask at the beginning of the week not only inspires new thinking about how to be a learner but secretly resolves issues you are faced with in the classroom. The questions are directed from your observations as a teacher, facilitator and mentor for your students. These questions are key competencies which develop reflective thinking about how to be the best learner.

Listed below are examples of how teacher concerns or reflections from their planning becomes a focus question to unpack with the class for the following week.

It is imperative that this stays displayed at all times for parents and learners to refer to often.

We also encourage putting the child's name by every idea shared so you can see you is actively participating and contributing and of course, who you need to follow up with.


Issue - No one is visiting the writing table

Question - How could we make the writing table more exciting?

Student voice captured in new entrant classroom

Twisting pens
Envelopes
Paper with lines
Pink and blue paper
Felt tip pens
Writing booklets
More ipads
Playdough

Other questions you may ask;
How has writing changed over time?
How do people tell their stories?
How did people share their ideas before pens and paper?

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Issue - Planning that will engage for next term

Question - What Action Stations would you like for next term?

Student voice captured in new entrant classroom

• Sticking things
• Making things with boxes
• Cutting things out
• Paper planes
• Brainbox
• Colouring
• Puppet show

Other questions you may ask;

What makes a great learning station?

What kind of station would help us learn from each other more?

We haven't done much learning around the environment. What would a great learning station look like to help us learn more about it? 

When you know your students you will be able to assess if they are now focused on learning or playing. You will also be able to identify who is not engaging and current interests.

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Issue - Children not focusing on learning

Question - What do you want to get better at?

• Blowing up balloons (speech therapy with lip action) 
• IXL (maths) 
• Reading Eggs (reading app)
• Doing my reading 
• Doing experiments
• Measuring at the science table
• Using my eyes to find things
• Addition facts 
• Writing stories 

Other questions you may ask;

- How do you know which station to go to?

- How long should I spend at a station?

- What is a learning goal?

The children are then invited to consider what station they would need to choose to get better at their goals.
The ideas shared here will scaffold and inspire others

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Issue - Setting expectations of learning not playing

Question - What is learning?

Student voice captured in new entrant classroom

• Looking at books
• Learning by looking
• Growing
• Trying new things
• Using your body
• Sharing
• Checking what you are doing
• Learning is our work 

Other questions you may ask;

How do you know you are learning?

What is thinking?

What is collaborating?

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Issue - Children don't have language to talk about their feelings when learning

Question - What words can I use to explain how I am feeling?

Student voice captured in new entrant classroom

• curious
• hot
• fine
• brave
• good
• happy
• excited
• tired
• proud 

These should be built on and scaffolded throughout the week in everything we do. A word incline is also fun to do with the students, displayed within the environment. This helps with measuring the intensity of the feeling. Bottom of ladder or the top. 

Issue - No one reading during reading time before Action stations starts

Question - How can we develop our reading skills?

Student Voice captured in new entrant classroom

• Read your own reading books twice or even more
• Practise reading lots
• Writing gives me ideas for reading
• Practise your words every night
• Read to the full stops
• Read
• Look at the pictures and sound out the words. 

Other questions you may ask;

What makes a great reader?

What kind of things can we read?

What makes a great book to read? 

Provides the teacher with a great insight to next teaching step, pre test, post test, scaffolding language for all to hear and learn from. 

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Issue - Some students left working on their own or social learning and collaboration not progressing

Question - How can you help other learners?

Student voice captured in new entrant classroom

• Show them how to tidy up
• Listen to them
• I show them what to do 
• I ask if they are alright 
• Talking with them 

Other questions you may ask;

How can I learn from others?

Why should I work with others?

Why is it important to tell someone my thinking? 

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Issue - Children not recognising real learning, persistence or perseverance

Question - What does tricky learning look like?

Student voice captured in new entrant classroom

• You might have to get help
• Practicing what I need to get better at, even at home
• Making things happen
• Follow the steps to work it out
• It makes you feel happy
• It's trying something new
• Trying things again and again
• You can't give up 

Other questions you may ask;

How do you know you are learning?

What makes learning hard?

How does the students reflections shape your next weeks planning?

The power of student voice is incredible to provide insight to current thinking, skills, knowledge and social emotional foundations.

Gathering student voice to inform planning is by far on e of the most powerful things you can do for engagement, accelerating learning, empowering self confidence and collaborative learning experiences.

Top tips 

• The students suggestions guide the activities available in planning
• student voice in suggestions, interests, focus, new learning introduced or ignitors for new teaching coming up 
• I ask the students for their ideas
• Through my observations I find activities to meet needs in learning, skill, thinking, dialogue. 

How are Action stations meeting the individual needs of your students?

Planning for diverse needs and interests is always challenging. In many cases you are exposing students to new experiences and thinking through careful planning and design. 


These are a few tips to follow to ensure you are meeting the needs of your students. 

• Planning carefully with the students in mind
• Reflecting on PMI at the end of the week on planning
• Math goals for maths and reinforcing learning through inquiry with equipment  taught at math time
• Challenge Board to get shared language happening and peer support, addresses hot spots in spelling and maths
• Reflection time is a powerful place to do this and carry out an expectation
• Focus question at start of week must address learning to learn and scaffold the learning throughout the week.
• Buddies for those who need it or work with a friend for a bit
• Ensuring they know what they want to get better at and they can verbalise it clearly and confidently 

High alert for the children who cannot self manage - student is taken to Action Stations Board asked to hand over their name tag as they cannot make choices for their learning, name tag is put up high on the board. This is for a very short time and student is kept with teacher during targeted teaching groups. They must make a good choice for their learning before going back to stations. 

How do you keep your room tidy?

Ahhh the age old question!! 

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It is really important children value what is available to them in their learning space. I often talk about showing others who visit how much we love our learning space. Values teaching is great here. 


Top tips
- make time to teach how to clean up. Sadly this is not taught to many of our students at home.
- allow time for the students to clean up and own the mess
- have discussions about respect and what it looks like at school and at home
- play the clean up song (of your choice) Must be on the mat as the song ends not during the song. 
- have high expectations that it will be done, otherwise you will be spending hours at the end of everyday cleaning up others mess
- When it becomes a real issue reflect on your stations - do they have too much on them, stop action stations. Some words you may need to share could be....
"I'm sorry, you have been given so many chances to show respect for our learning spaces. Have a look around. Is this ok?  Tomorrow we are won't be having Action Stations until we have cleaned up. Who can write a message for the cleaners to let them know they don't need to clean up your mess tonight?"

How many activities work best at each station?

Always refer to your planning sheet to support the implementation of diverse needs in your class. Remembering learning happens in many different ways - multisensory, kinesthetic, social, emotional 

Quiet space 
- options to learn spelling, handwriting, 
- options to write stories 
- options to make and do through literacy
- exposure to a variety of genre - poetry, picture books, sequencing cards to tell a story, instructional. 
- challenge board to develop shared learning and dialogue

Number Space
- equipment for learning to be nurtured in math goals
- options to read and write numbers
- large numbers
- challenge board to develop shared learning and dialogue


One activity at other stations with exemplar or model of what the finshed product could look like
- equipment to scaffold the thinking and learning - ie architects board and rulers at lego station, Van Gogh starry night at art attach

Less is more! 
The setting out must be clear and easy to understand. 
Too much and being overcrowded will create a mess to clean up everyday and children will bypass the learning you are trying to implement and scaffold through the environment. 

How does your class solve the problem of only three people at a station?

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• Discussing strategies with and alongside the children
• Some children are learning powerful negotiation strategies to get what they want rather than just screaming and demanding
• we talk about how its important to wait our turn
• No children are allowed to stand at the board and wait for a space
• Lots of checking in done by the students
• Only putting out equipment for three people has been helpful 

While this strategy might sound annoying it provides a place for observation of children's behaviours when they don't get their own way, don't understand turn taking, develop naturally a way to negotiate in a powerful way. Great as a writing motivator!!

What would Action Stations look like in Senior Classrooms?

Although the first publication of action stations is aimed at new entrant classrooms, the pedagogy and philosophy is one that could easily be implemented at any level.

To paint a picture for a more senior class - the stations may be set up the same but different contexts such as;

Design and Innovate 
- Follow a brief to research, design and create a toy for a preschool child, animal in the zoo, native bird in captivity
- Design, create and make a wearable arts costume, promote an event to showcase your designs with your own label
- Investigate 'worry dolls' history and meaning and design your own to give to a small child.

Cultural 
- Learn a new language by networking with another schools overseas
- Design and make an advertisement to promote your culture in NZ
- Make a traditional costume from your country using newspaper as a teaching model.




Sport Science
- Use educreations to explain a strategic defence or offence skill
- Design a sports game that will develop the skill of ball handling in netball
- Create a lesson plan to teach a year 1 student in skipping

Performing Arts 
- Plan, and create a TV advertisement for our school
- Choreograph a dance that reflects who you are
- Mash-Up and Remix a song to send a message to our Principal, community, global

Cafe 
- Design conversation activities for the class cafe
- Table setting - how is it done in different countries research and create
- Make a hot drink to perfection and meet friends at the cafe

Solar Powered Oven

Science Lab
- Research instructions to make a smors solar powered oven
- Explain how planes fly
- Explain how our respiratory system works
- Add your wonderings about our world on the class wonder wall for others, or yourself to research
- do an activity from Sciencebob

Computing

-Learn how to do coding
- Critique two similar apps to promote them best one for teaching and learning ie educreations and explain everything
-Get involved in quadblogging
- Create a learning activity that creates awareness of digital citizenship

Visual Arts
- Explore two different artist models and combine their most distinctive features
- Use one art piece and recreate in three different media types. Discuss the challenges you had
- Make a purposeful garden sculpture using found objects

In all cases you must allow students to share work in progress not just completed tasks. This is to develop skills in the process of learning and to scaffold the journey to higher levels of thinking and production each time.

The questioning will be similar but using more higher order thinking

What an exciting environment you would be creating. The concept of self regulated learning on steroids. The ultimate way to learn from each others ideas and passions and strengths or to develop new ideas from each other in a respectful way.


Would love your ideas and feedback. This is all new territory.

What are the skills of a classroom facilitator?

Our aim is to develop a community of learners who ...

• Question
• Share
• Reflect
• Talk about goals
• Inspire
• Challenge
• Create next steps
• Develops language of and for learning

The best skills a facilitator can apply in the classroom can be defined in four words 

Observe -  Listen  - Responsiveness  - Question

The first step is to create an environment of curiosity, engagement through providing fun thought provoking interactive stations and learning spaces that are;

• appropriate level - not too hard or too easy
• look engaging and fun - clean, simple, inviting
• child centred - what do they want to know?
• invite curiosity - pose something in a different way
• thought provoking - use conjectures
• less is more - children must know what to do when they get there

Teach the students to be a learner by questioning;

• Why is it important to try something new?
• When am I proud of my learning?
• When have I finished my work?
• How can someone help my learning?
• Where do I get new ideas?
• How can I make my learning even better?
• What do you wonder about?
• How do I learn something new?
• How do I choose a station?

Can you match these to key competencies?

Listen

• share learning, achievements, success, problems, new ideas

• inspire more learning
• develop curiosity in a new learning
• motivate a want for success

• develop language of learning 
• identify learning needs

Capture their language anyway you can

• ipad videos
• camera provided for tv interviews -("What are you learning?")
• reflection booth
• modelling books
• educreations app
• think boards
• think pads
• discourse cards
• whiteboards
• investigating books
• setting success criteria for key competency question each week
• class list of anecdotal notes when they share and reflect
• wonderings wall
• peer assessment

Create a purpose for sharing - What you say will help others. Create a culture that sharing is learning.

Be responsive to what you observe through questioning

Creating expected standards is vital to turn play into learning. Why is this great learning?

Considering Feedback - Why did you choose this station?

Identifying Next Steps - What can you do on your own now?

Developing Thinking - What was the tricky part?

Creating a Community of Learners - How can I learn from someone else?

When considering learner dispositions what would you do to inspire these in your classroom?

Independence

self direct, self manage, and organise themselves for learning

Creativity

curiosity, innovative and use their imagination

Resilience

to bounce back after frustration, stress, challenges and to problem solve creatively

Self Motivate

to engage fully in their learning, be responsible for their next steps and get stuck in.

What is an investigating book?

With a plea to reduce the amount of paper our children were using when practicing their learning I sifted through their extra stationary and handed out a line exercise book. We named it the investigating book

The children could use this book for any learning they liked.

The rules;

1. Can't use crayons, vivid's or felts that will go through paper
2. Must be respectful at all times
3. Must be used to explore, practice or design. 
4. Can't go home 0 just in case we forget to bring it back the next day causing stress for all parties
5. Teachers never mark them!

The children used it for designing their constructions, practicing their handwriting, learning their math goals, drawing and labelling diagrams, The ideas were endless. Some of their best work was done in this book. 

The fact that teachers never marked these books is what made them so powerful. The children could explore and take risks without being judged. 

We used a book that was not too large and had lines to support neatness and handwriting skill development. 

How do I teach children to use numeracy equipment?

To support children in learning their own number knowledge goals we have to empower them with the skills to use equipment. 

Throughout the inquiry process students will…

• -       ask more questions
• -       make conjectures
• -       plan and monitor their activity
• -       develop collaboration skills
• -       Identify when they need knowledge
• -       Ask the teacher for instruction
• -       Explain their reasoning
• -       Prove their results

Do it Daily

Pose the question….

How many ways can we make 10?

What is 10?

How can a number line help my learning?

How can a tens frame help my learning?

How can lego help my math thinking?

Record their ideas

Put their name to it so you can see who is sharing.  Give them ownership of their idea

Give them the equipment

Let them work on their own with a buddy or small group to explore opportunities for learning. Observe, listen and record what you hear. Math language, thinking, discourse, identify their next steps for scaffolding.

Regroup and discuss

Scaffold thinking to explore new ways of using equipment. Invite questions. Challenge them with another question.

Record new ideas

On the same page and first ideas. Display on class wall for referring back to.

Now they are ready to teach themselves their own math goals in number knowledge

This is a powerful way to not only scaffold children into using equipment but the children come up with such diverse ways I would never have thought of. 

I display these on the wall as a reference point for later teaching. It also informs parents of how children are learning especially if they come in as parent help. 

Children are never old enough for these skills to be developed. Showing your thinking in different ways is vital in all mathematical workings. 

 

How do I set up the visual display?

The visual Cards make it really easy for children in developing their thinking assisting in making a choice. It also makes the framework look attractive. 

The Quiet Space - all literacy - imagine your local library plus more. Handwriting practice activities, story retelling resources, ipads for recording or writing own stories, a library of books of all genre, stations for drawing labelled diagrams, instructional text for creating and making. 

Any children can visit this station at anytime. 

Also see 

- Spelling visual Pathways for self directed learning 

- Learning environments on pinterest tab

The Number Space - all number and strand - trolleys holding an abundance of equipment organised for ease of access and learning. Number lines and hundreds boards on the floor, number formation activities, challenges and activities to support the learning of number knowledge. 

Also see 

- number knowledge board game, visual pathways for self directed learning. 

- learning environments on pinterest tab

The other stations are developed to meet the needs of your students while covering many curriculum areas. 

Fit Kit - fitness, skipping, ball skills, innovation of new games to build a skill, PMP reinforcement, developing gross motor skills

Science Lab - exploring physics, design and technology, chemistry, our world

On Stage - drama, dance, cultural awareness, retell, puppetry, 

Digi Kids - Learning the skills to connect and collaborate, learn and share online. We use many apps to support leaning in handwriting, spelling, maths, science and recording own learning journeys. We use blogs to share our lessons and connect with like minded students 

The list is endless.

The action station planning format assists in the design of your action station framework. 

One of the most important stations are those that cater for the emotional needs of your children. The ones that recognise how special they are, helps them to relax and develop a sense of belonging. 

Each child will need a laminated card of their name. Thee get stuck with either blutac or magnetic tap under each station. 

Quiet and number space can have any number of children at any time.

The other stations can only have 3 to manage success for all. 

There are no limit to stations. 

The children can move their names as often as they like. 

They must never be told where to go - no matter what. Its all about choice and what that tells us about that child. 

The children can move their name whenever they like throughout the day. 

The stations must be.....

• appropriate level - not too hard or too easy
• look engaging and fun - clean, simple, inviting
• child centred - what do they want to know?
• invite curiosity - pose something in a different way
• thought provoking - use conjectures
• less is more - children must know what to do when they get there