Second Thoughts

After the initial get together as innovative teachers I was inspired by the discussions among the group. This got me thinking about what I can do to help overcome the problems faced at my school and in the community. I felt that my initial concept was too unrealistic and will require a lot of time and effort from both myself and my students to achieve.
I went back to the drawing board and tried to think of ideas that could derive from my initial concept. I still wanted to base my inquiry around my Level 1 Physical Education class and possibly tie it in to NCEA assessments. With the help of a colleague at school, who is experienced in the subject field and a competent user of digital technology, we bounced ideas off each other and finally came to a conclusion. Providing positive feedback on student work and blogs. Students lack the confidence to write what they perceive as correct due to the set backs they have received in the past. Students had constantly been critiqued about their writing and perceived this as a bad omen which dented their confidence. So I thought by providing only positive feedback hopefully it will help increase their confidence and efficacy in their writing. Being able to have confidence in their writing ability will inevitably help their chances of passing the course and going on the achieve NCEA Level 1.

Initial get together

Today was the first time we gathered as a group of innovative teachers. After the formal introductions, we presented our problems faced in our respective schools which helped form the basis of our inquiries. I outlined the problems faced at my school, which was poor student attendance, low literacy levels and a lack of self-efficacy in students ability to achieve. These problems stemmed from underlying issues at home, lack of support structures put in place by schools and previous failures associated with school work. As a group we identified many inter-related issues within our respective schools, which provided a perfect opportunity to bounce ideas off each other. After these discussions it has given me motivation to implement strategies to help my group of students be successful. I look forward to working with these like-minded people and improving student outcomes in 2017.