Learner Quality Symbols

Katherine one of our teachers in hub 1 has been working with her colleagues and learners to develop symbols for each of our learner qualities.  She has found this to be a powerful way of developing this language of learning for the younger learners.

A big focus for us at Stonefields School is to reinforce and give feedback on an individual's effort rather than on the behaviour.  For example replace 'you are so clever' with 'I can see that you have been really determined to try a word you haven't used before in your writing'.  The child who is constantly reinforced for being 'smart' or 'that's fantastic, you are so clever' can be cautious about taking risks, making mistakes and comfortably taking themselves into 'I don't know situations'.

Being in the Pit

The 'pit' is a metaphor that is used more and more in each of the hubs to show that being stuck (being in the pit) is a good thing.  It is the learning process and the learner qualities that are key strategies in helping our learners get out of the pit.

John Edwards, James Nottingham

We want our learners experiencing being stuck every single day.  This is where the true learning starts.

Learning Highlights

Check out our engaged learners this month. Lots of great progress being made.

Learning Highlights May 2011 on PhotoPeach

Mad Scientist Day

What a blast to see our teachers having as much fun as our students! On Friday we all dressed up as Scientists and enjoyed doing what Scientists do. Students were doing experiments, comparing and sorting all in aid of our terms focus on developing Scientific concepts.

Mad Scientist Day on PhotoPeach

The Polka Dots come to Stonefields School

Polka Dots - Travelwise Launch on PhotoPeach

Breaking Through Assembly

Breaking Through Assembly on PhotoPeach

Building Learning Capacity

Rocky Checks out the days learning from Stonefields School on Vimeo.

Learning Highlights

Learning Highlights on PhotoPeach

Using talents to show case learning!

Brain Rap from Stonefields School on Vimeo.

Great job boys - loved your assembly item.

What happens in the brain?

Learning hub 1 thinks about their brains on PhotoPeach

Meet Rocky, Peebles, Roxanne and Cliff

Advice on Goal Setting from Stonefields School on Vimeo.

Rocky, Peebles, Roxanne and Cliff think about goal setting

Knowing what to do when you are stuck!

The Stonefields School staff spent considerable time dialoguing and discussing the necessary dispositions needed for the future. This dialogue was an important one as we wanted to create a shared language that is reinforced throughout the School to actively build each learners Capacity to learn. This dialogue lasted over a number of days and we are pleased with the outcome. There are seven competencies that will be intentional explored and taught to ensure our learners know what to do when they don't know what to do.

They are;
Be determined – push through when the going gets tough
Wonder – to image and be creative
Reflect – Think about my thinking and about how I might improve, what I might do differently next time
Connect – Make connections
Question – Ask questions
Se Self Aware – Grow an understanding of how I best learn, what my strengths are
Think – grow thinking skills and tools to solve problems and make informed decisions

One of our teachers spent the day videoing learners to capture their thoughts about what makes a good learner a good learner. From our baseline we can see we have some work to do. Having interviewed hundreds of students using similar questions the responses are quite disturbing as often children will say ‘I don’t know’, ‘pick up rubbish’, ‘do what the teacher says’, ‘sit quietly on the mat’, and ‘listen’. Deep and engaging learning is not about being passive or being good, it is about engaging and knowing what to do when you are stuck in your learning. We look forward to focusing deeply in the next few weeks on ensuring our learners understand more deeply what it is to be an effective learner.

They journey begins.

Learning - The bottom line!

There has been lots of dialogue amongst staff in the last week or so about how to cause/activate learning and ensure as Guy Claxton so beautifully puts it 'get as much learning juice possible out'.
The learning design is two fold or better termed split screen. The design of the workshop (small group) teaching session where as much (sweet) juice as possible is packed into the experience so that the potential for gaining the goodness from the juice squeezed out. Graeme Atkin's question "How do I know my students need this learning at this time" is a superb question and has been asked many times as we reflect, critique and think about how learning is going to be designed and activated at Stonefields School.
The other side of the screen is ensuring learners are involved in worthwhile, rigorous learning experiences when not involved in a workshop with a teacher. Our inquiry/learning model is proving powerful at helping us design learning at stages beyond building knowledge. The thinking required to make meaning and apply understandings is what we want students to be involved in to develop the necessary thinking and powerful learning skills.

Exciting times - the journey is a privilege.

How do we pack as much juice in - how do we enable learners to get as much learning juice out?

The Resources Arrive

The Resources begin to arrive on PhotoPeach

Staff Induction - Think Big and Be Brave

Staff Induction on PhotoPeach

Staff Induction - Think Big and Be Brave

Staff Induction on PhotoPeach

Staff Induction

There was certainly lots of 'Thinking Big and Being Brave' happening at our staff retreat. Some incredibly powerful thinking occurred as we collaborated together to make meaning and develop a collective understanding of our Core Business 'LEARNING'. We worked through a process of defining what learning will be like at Stonefields School.
“Learning is a dynamic, fulfilling process of actively building on what we know; by questioning, thinking and connecting to make meaning, expand knowledge and deepen understandings.”
The understanding of our vision becomes richer, deeper and fuller as together we have further unpacked the learning we would like to see caused and activated at Stonefields School. It became very apparent,very quickly just how talented, committed and enthusiastic our staff are as we brainstormed how the learning hubs are going to function. Our students and their families are in for a treat.
We are ready to open and getting more excited as we move closer towards our grand opening 3 February.