School+-+Baringa+School+Moe

Hi Iam Jacqueline. I work at Baringa School in Moe. Baringa is a specialist school catering for students with intellectual disabilities. My role is teaching and learning coach. I work three days a week with all time allocated to coaching and professional development.

Hi Jacqui, its Bron here. Just wondering if you are staying in the city, and if so where? It might be nice to stay nearby as I am catching the bus to and from the next seminars...clifton.bronwyn.c@edumail.vic.gov.au Sorry, there I go again calling you Jacqui!!!

Well it is Tuesday 24th August and I have just got home from another full and exciting day at bastow institute. I must say i am loving this course and always leave the conferences full of excitement, vision and ideas to share with my school community. Many of the discussions and models used are often used unconsciously weeks later only to have me think "I have heard this before."

Thank you to all who have posted thoughts and resources on their respective pages. I am amazed at the breadth of resources we have and the level of expertise within our small community. Thank you for giving so freely - I have found so many resources useful. Appologies also for being tardy in uploading any thing I have to offer as well as not documenting thoughts on this site. In the words of Tony Abbott - "I am not a tech head" and move slowly in this multi literate world. My diary is on my laptop and as soon as I can work out how to upload some reflections, I will. I am pleased however to find I can actually communicate on this site! I know some of us are in very early stages of learning in this digital world!! Cheers Jacqueline

From Maureen: Hi Jacqueline, It's great to see you posting! If you have a document with all of your reflections, you can upload it as is by clicking on 'File' above or do a direct copy and paste onto this site. Thanks so much for sharing your reactions to our program - and especially that things come back to you and the models help you to notice things. That would be the sort of evidence of impact that we are looking for - do the models help you think through locally? I agree that there is such a lot of wisdom in this group - I love being part of it!

Hi Jacqueline - it's Sue K here, I sat next to you in Jill's session on Kids Coaching (not sure what the offical term is!) on Tuesday. Just wondering how you thought you might use student peer coaching with your students. I'm at another school for Term 3, but will be back at my ongoing position Term 4, and our students have some siliarities to yours - many of the students I have taught have gone on to our local specialist school in year 7, although one of my Grade 6 girls moved just recently - so there is quite a bit in common between your teachers and ours. Many of our students have learning difficulties, particularly attention and memory, which I believe come from their difficult start to life (particulary birth - 2 years). Lots of our students don't qualify for the specialist school or a teachers aide, but they need the same support and teaching strategies. I have been reading some of the material ('reading is probably an exaggeration, just perusing while I eat toast and drink tea on Saturday afternoon while my family are at the local footy!) on being 'powerfully literate' and thinking about what it means for students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and with learning difficulties. It's easier to get your head around for middle-class students like my own children - but how do I get my students reflecting, considering, participating 'powerfully' in literacy??? Meaningful tasks (not imagining what it is to be a kite..... :), connecting literacy to their world are two ways to begin....what are you thinking about for our students in terms of Peer Coaching?? Cheers, Sue Knight

Hi Sue It is such a challenge for some of our students to just be at school. They have so many layers which affect their learning including issues around poverty, disability, gender, self esteem, sometimes trauma and so on. It really makes it difficult to know where to begin with teaching. In my experience, such students require a safe learning environment with clear routines and behavioural boundaries. So what jill was saying about creating a classroom environment together is vaital. The environment built in a collaborative and safe way will foster a place for learning. That and building authentic positive relationships are the pivots. Once in place the other learning can take place. I think it is important to remember these students often struggle with a sense of failure and a sense of inadequacy so small steps. I am not in the classroom this year but have the privledge of visiting others. I spent some time with a group of teenage boys today unpacking their dissatisfaction at school. We talked about power in pairs, classified images of power into good and bad and also explored what power meant. i kept thinking of jill's research about "Whose classroom any way and education being done to them. The boys had a lot to say in small groups, some scribed some dictated others pasted and so on. I facilitated a discussion and kept practising key coaching questions. my goal was to understand why they hated being here and to explore with them what would need to happen to be empowered. As the lesson continued I took less and less control. the students were engaged in the exploration and started monitoring each other's behaviour and saying hang on I don't understand can you explain... I sat back and learnt alot about their thinking. Unfortunately I wont get to do much more with this other than provide feedback to leader ship about their dissatisfaction BUT if it was my classroom, i would continue to explore this issue in terms of rules,responsibilities, negotiation etc with the kids driving the content. A lot of opportunities to study literature in traditional forms as well as you tube, face book, etc etc. I was blown away today by the level of interest, thought and genuine respect the group demonstrated as well as the many levels of comminication skills used in this session. They rarely engage at school and I think it was because I was truly interestedin what they had to say, they had a real audience (the principal will recieve the feedback) and hopefully some small changes can happen so they can see the power of respectful communication. The communication lesson was authentic in that i wanted to understand them as learners, they saw a purpose - change, it was inquiry based so they organised there pairs etc, the challenged each other's thinking as well as reminding each other of behavioural expectations and many learning styles were catered for. Learning wasn't done to them today - a group understanding about a very real issue was explored. i would love to see where this could head in terms of negotiated curriculum, authentic learning tasks, multi literacies and peer coaching. Today I miss being in the classroom. Sorry Sue - not sure if i answered your question. I think authenticity is a key. the kids need a clear purpose for learning, to have fun and to be scaffolded carefully from one skill to the next. In terms of peer coaching I see it linking very closely to the inquiry based stuff I started today. I left the classroom teacher with a wondering "How can I meet student need for control over some of their learning and school experience.." "Am I able to facilitate this.." "Where could I find out more..." I will up load some of the graphics I used for your own purposes.

30/8/2010 Hi everyone i was wondering how people were managing the plethora of professional reading avaliable to us around coaching. i am very behind in my reading and have set a personal goal to read one article a day. I summarised the first one in a flow chart and have uploaded it for your information. Please feel free to use it or not. My personal learning is really about learning to up. Cload something and thought this may be a useful way to manage professional reading. Cheers jacqueline

Sorry - not yet able to upload my documents not sure what I am doing wrong. Will keep trying. Jacqueline From Maureen: Jacqueline, if you describe the steps you took, I might be able to work out the missing link (so to speak)! HI Maureen I click on edit to open the page then on file to insert the document but I can't seem to work out where to from there. It comes up with insert image and external ...?

From Maureen: Firstly, make sure you click your page so that the cursor is where you want to upload your file e.g. under the message above. After you click on File, look to the right of the screen and you'll see +Upload Files. After you click this, you will get a screen that will enable you to browse your computer and select the file you want. Select that file and wait while it uploads. Your screen will return to the Insert File screen. When you see your file in top row, double click on it and it will insert on to your wikispace.

third try at uploading - a summary of a reading I did __**7th September**__ I feel so very excited by my role. I have been practising the questioning techniques taught at Bastow and find they are coming more easily to me. The staff are thrilled by their own insights and visions as I probe. At times they are frustrated because a quick answer from me would be easier. They seem to get that my answer may not suit their classroom, style, values and philosophies. Unpacking their own vision, fears etc has been so much more powerful. I observed someone last week recording the questions asked of students. They all required one word answers. We analysed the questions together and she was astounded by what she found. The same staff member emailed me today with a transcript of her questioning today. She had videoed her lesson and analysed the responses, gaining insight into the capabilities of the student. I congratulated her and left her with the "wondering" "How will this new knowlede inform my teaching?" I can't wait to talk with her about her thoughts. Similar things are happening across the school and I have had to increase my work hours to meet with other staff. Staff are beginning to feel more comfortable with in house coaching and there is real excitement about new reflections. The other really useful thing was we started developing our strategic plan and I was able to make generalsiations about common curriculum concerns across the school. Consequently there will be more of a focus on authentic learning and diferentiation in the next four years. There is a real sense of satisfaction knowing my professional learning is being transfered into the school setting with such positive outcomes. So thank you to all our wonderful presenters at Bastow. I have learnt so much and my school and most importantly, the students are beginning to reap bernefits as staff become more reflective of their own practise. Yeh!!

From Maureen: Hi Jacqueline - what a wonderful 'performance of understanding' in your reflection above!! It's learners like you that make us love our work! You have revealed a contemporary and sophisticated leader of learning stance, strongly oriented to capacity building and that positions your teachers as respected and capable colleagues.

21st October I have had to remove a document due to a privacy issue. I will attempt to upload a modified version. Appologies if I fail - not very successful so far! Hang on I think I just did it!!