Writing Moderation

We had a staff meeting around writing moderation today. We were looking at one piece of writing and deciding how to grade each area before giving our feedback in order to see how similar/different our marks were.
  It is good to hear the opinion of others who think different from you as it challenges your own thinking.

Do others offer a perspective that you didn't think of before which could possibly lead you to change your answer?

OR

 Do you have enough evidence to support your stance which others find difficult to challenge?

One of the challenges I notice sometimes is understanding what it means when the e-asTTle rubric says: 'May attempt to use words with two syllables' or 'paragraphs may have minimal development e.g. one sentence'.

Words such as 'may' 'some' 'a few'  'minimal' etc. also leave room for interpretation which is where some of our dialogue came from.  Does a few mean at least 3 times? Does 'may' mean that it doesn't necessarily need to be in the text?  When you are looking for precise detail,  how many precise details are sufficient to feel confident enough to move that student to an R5 rather than a R4?  If you know your student, do you use your OTJ's  to influence the mark you give them? or do you only go on what they presented in that particular piece of writing?


Why is writing moderation important?

• Brings together collective wisdom, resulting in greater consistency of judgment, and focused teaching.

• Provides greater confidence in teacher judgments, and assurance that judgments are consistent with those of other professionals.

• Leads to shared expectations of learning, and understandings of standards and progression of learning.

• Develops deeper understandings about content and progressions of learning.

• Improves quality of assessment.

• Aligns expectations and judgments with standards or progressions, and hence improved teaching and learning.

• Assures parents and others that interpretations of students' achievements are in line with those of other professionals

One of the areas that I sometimes find challenging is staying focused and not letting other perceived errors influence my thinking. For example, if you are marking a student on sentence structure, it can be challenging to not let the lack (or incorrect use) of punctuation affect your ability to grade only  their sentence structure.

It is important to understand what each area means i.e. what are you specifically looking for within the text and within each area what criteria qualifies an R1- R6? 

The dialogue that took place during our staff meeting helped me to think critically and learn when to try stay firm in my position and when to take on others perspectives that my differ from my own which can lead me to change my original decision. This wasn't a time to take things personally if others thought differently than me. This exercise helped me to look at the evidence and use that to guide my decision. This is helping me to reflect as a learner, and it is shaping my future professional needs as a teacher.

I am still learning...

Goal Setting - Teaching a lesson effectively within the time frame given.

Why have I identified this as an important focus for me?

I usually find that more time could be spent for students to work on follow up activities from the lesson taught and lack of this impacts the students outcome and stretches a lesson to carry over more days than expected. This area of focus is relevant because there is a lot going on in my syndicate with a small window for teaching times. It is crucial to make the most of the learning times provided each day. In order to know that I am on track I would want to see at least 2 lessons in each learning area being taught each week.

What initial steps forward am I going to commit to and why have I identified these as my first steps?

Setting time markers in my planning to help me to stay on track. This is to increase my awareness of how much time I am spending on certain parts of my lesson. It will also help me to reflect by asking " Did I spend enough time in this area? Did I spend too long? etc. There will be times where feedback from students will inform me if I need to spend more time in a particular area. For the most part, setting time frames will help me to stay on track. Collecting student voice after lessons will help to inform me about how to plan future lessons.

How, by focusing on this, do I propose to contribute to and influence Student Achievement Outcomes?

By focusing on this I will maximise the opportunity to learn for the students. I will learn how to identify what will make the most impact and how to make the most out of the time I have to work with. Student efficacy will inform me if I am on the right track and results of both formative and summative assessments.

Who may I need support and assistance from and what might that look like as I look ahead to achieving success?

Student Voice will to help inform me if I am on the right track. Observations from my colleagues will help guide the direction that I take next in helping me to achieve this goal. Consistent reflection of my teaching practice will also assist in the success of reaching my goal.

What are your thoughts? What strategies do you use to make the most out of the time frame given for your lessons?

Planning

Another goal this term is with my planning and making sure that my planning is not only at level 4 but that I can successfully break down lessons so that Level 4 is achieved and I haven't skipped key steps in their learning.

How am I going to achieve this?

Step 1	Look at exemplars at Level 4 in order to guide me
Step 2	Speak to colleagues for feedback/ideas on planning
Step 3	Using the yr 7/8 targets to guide my planning
Step 4	Start with the end product and work back from there
Step 5	Observe colleagues during release time

Colleagues will help me through observing my lessons and giving me feedback on my planning. I want to make sure that all of my students are challenged appropriately. Meaning that it isn't too overwhelming that they have no idea where to start and yet it isn't so easy that they are not accelerating their learning. Finding that sweet spot is my goal for this term. I know that this goal will be ongoing as there is always ways we can improve. 

How Is Your Teaching Voice?

One of my goals for term 4 is around behaviour management...tone of voice. The reason I chose this as a goal to work on is because it became very apparent that my students didn't follow through with instruction unless I raised my voice. It was if they said to themselves " Ms. hasn't raised her voice yet so I don't need to follow through just yet" 

In an effort to manage this I involved my students in process. Just like they have goals, I have goals as well and I needed their help with one of them. I told them that one of my goals was to not raise my voice. It seemed to work well. Sometimes all I would have to say is : "What is my goal"  or "You can help me achieve my goal by following through with what I ask the first time" There were days that I didn't achieve that goal. I now realise that I didn't stop to ask myself why or what could be done so that tomorrow I had a better chance of success. This term I want to work on this even more. 

The following are the steps that I am going to use in order to help me be successful.

How am I going to achieve this?

Step 1	Continue to ask students to help me keep my goal ( not raising my voice) - involve students in giving me feedback to help hold me accountable
Step 2	Reflecting weekly on how the week has gone in this area - what worked well? - what didn't work so well and why do I think this?
Step 3	Consciously using a calm, responsive yet firm voice when giving instructions or logical consequences.
Step 4	Pause for 2-5 seconds before responding in order to give myself time to remember what type of tone is appropriate to use.

Who will help me?

I will be recruiting the help of my peers and my students. Also friends & family. The more I practice and become aware of my tone, the better I will become with my ability to successfully communicate with others. 

Why is this a goal for me?

It is important to think about what your objective is when you speak to others. Do you just want to vent? Do you want for them to know how you feel? Do you want them to listen and follow through with what you have to asked? I think how one says something has a lot to do with how a message is received and the chance of eliciting the intended response. If I want people to actually listen and follow through with what I am saying then I have the responsibility of making sure I do what is needed in order for them to listen and respond appropriately. 

I have been doing some research about this. I have also been using what I have learned through PB4L to help guide me.  

QUOTE: If you  emphasise EVERYTHING, you  emphasise nothing. 

What do you discover about your learners from reading through their blogs?

 Ask any teacher and they will tell you that they usually have 7473623 things on their plate.
How many of you actually tried to read that number? 😊 
How often do you take the time to read your students' blogs?
When you do read them, do you notice any patterns? such as what they often like to blog about?

When I read my students blogs, instead of trying to understand who they are and what they are interested in, I find myself checking: Did they start their sentences with a capital?... What kind of vocabulary did they use?... Did they spell everything correctly?... Did they add enough detail? 

Yes those things are important, however, I think I'm missing a huge opportunity to understand who they are. Know thy learners right? When I stop to reflect, I realise that when I read their blogs it is more about assessing me. It has become a tool to view what their blogs say about me as their teacher more so than what their blog says about them.

Make it more about them Lesa and less about you! 

I also wonder how my students might view blogging.

Do they see it as a great way to express themselves? Like a digital journal/diary?

Do they see it as another task that their teacher is asking them to complete?

Do they only see it as a way to blog what they learn at school? 

What is the hook that I can use to engage my learners to blog more? 

It shouldn't just be about their learning in the classroom but also about what they are learning outside of the classroom.

What are they learning through the relationships they have with others? 

What they are learning in terms of what is happening in the wider world?

Are they even aware of what is happening in the wider world?
What are their thoughts about the experiences that they have, see or hear?

Do they feel safe enough to share? or are they worried about how it will be viewed?

 I continue to work on how I can give feedback so that it doesn't discourage them. Genuinely getting to know my students on a deeper level is important and a goal I would like to set for myself. Reading their blogs is one way that will help me to achieve that.
The question is, how do I do this without spending ALL of my time reading blogs? 

Something to definitely think about. 

7473629 things that need to be done. Yes, if you checked the previous amount of things I had on my plate, you'll see a few more things have been added since I've been writing this post. A teacher's job is never done. I am still learning.