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I remember what it was like when I was a student, sitting on the floor as my principal sat above me ticking off the words that I could read. The ticks always seemed so big and I always felt so small. It had such a profound effect on me that I still remember it like it was yesterday, one of those yesterday's that we don't ever want to revisit. This long lasting memory of my own schooling was not going to be part of my student's learning journey!
Part of teaching is the use of assessment but why is it we rarely allow our children to understand or be part of this.
Benjamin Franklin's quote below really connects with me and my classroom practice and the value of involving each and every learner in their own learning.
Being the teacher I am I decided to start unpicking what I was doing and challenging myself to do it in a different way. As part of our language learning I had noticed the children were still trying to develop their understanding of vowels and how to apply their knowledge to writing and reading.
At the beginning of the lesson I gave the children the different aspects of vowels we needed to learn and why this was important. We wrote these up and stuck them to the wall so that they could revisit them. They were able to assess their own prior knowledge and work out what their next steps where going to be. As they gathered information about what they knew I talked to them about how did they know they knew it and ensured they looked beyond the surface knowledge. You could feel them starting to challenge themselves as they looked at their deeper understanding of these letters and their sounds.
The example of learning below shows a child gathering information from a variety of learning experiences. This helped them to find out what they knew and to then discuss what they wanted to learn.
I then sat down with each learner and discussed what they had noticed with their own learning, what they knew about the vowels and what their next steps would be. We also started to discuss what would help them with their learning.
After each learning session we would meet to discuss the what we needed to learn and then the how. It was interesting to see how the children's thinking developed over time.
This learning went on over several blocks of time. Each time I would let go and allow the children to drive their own learning and plan what they needed to do. By the end of the week the children showed a lot more independence and understanding of not just what they needed to do but how they would do it.
Throughout the course of this learning I continued to record their voices. For me, really listening to our learners and really engaging with what they say drives the learning forward.
Here are their voices:
"It is better to tell us what we need to learn so that I know what I can do to learn better. We need to decide what we need to learn as we need to be in charge of our own learning".
"It was good you shared with us what we needed to learn it helped me. I can tick that off as I learnt how to do it. I know I need to keep sounding out words that have vowels in them. That will help me to learn them. The more I listen to the sounds and make them the more I will learn".
"I want to find some words that are organised by the vowel sound then I can practice them and make sure I have used the right letter sound. If they are not organised it won't be easy for me to learn".
"It helps me to know which vowel sounds I need to learn then I can focus on them in my writing and reading".
So did it make a difference. I truly believe it did. When you hear what they had to say and share it is obvious by knowing what you need to learn you can be more actively involved in your learning. Benjamin Franklin was so correct in what he said and I have seen already the more we involve them in their learning the more they are able and want to learn.
After the learning sessions a child got out their hand writing book and started to look for vowels in the sight word list. She then told me "If we work out which words we don't know then we can start to learn the ones we need to learn. If we make a list this will help us and we can tick them off as we learn them".
This for me showed that ticks can be used and presented in a different way and can be something that motivates our learners to learn and reflect on who they are.
That memory of a child sitting watching the teacher tick and cross does not have to be a memory that our children today have. It can be something that is meaningful and helps them with their own learning.
As I look ahead I am inspired to carry this journey on with my KG learners and to be able to learn alongside them!
