It has been an unusual start to 2022. Normally T1 is all about routines and relationships but there have been other things to contend with like prolonged absences, low confidence returning to school, students returning to school with no stationary, students struggling socially and/or struggling with the routine of having to get up early and learn for a whole day.
For me I have put big focus on relationships and hands on learning in order to engage students and get students back to school. With students slowly returning to school then disappearing to isolate it has been very difficult to get testing done in order to establish a starting point. Because of this we have been doing a lot more group work and whole class learning. This has been doable only due to the low numbers.
Instead of reading groups we have been doing read five in attempt to get up milage. We do poetry twice a week and big book twice a week in a whole class setting followed up by independent activities. Instead of independent activities I changed a lot of activities to small group work or pair students up in mix ability groups.
Having completed our testing the next step is returning to formal learning and trying to do so even in the current COVID climate. The question I'm asking myself is how do we do this while also keeping confidence high and continuing to keep student well-being at the forefront.
My focus is first and foremost going to be reading as this is the area I have noted as an area of focus. While I will maintain the read five that I have been teaching this term and the online learning component the students have got used to, I will start to incorporate guided reading for all groups and follow up tasks via EE. I have slowly been reintroducing EE into their reading program. On top of at school reading I have started a reading reward chart for at home reading which is starting to be a regular part of the students at home routine with the focus on mileage. Writing has been quite structured from the beginning but as numbers increase there will need to be a bigger focus on select groups and students with specific needs to help support their writing. The smaller class size has given me a lot more time to spend with my top writers to extend their writing instead of spending most of my time focused on the learning writers. Making time for all writers is something I want to focus on moving into term 2.
Maths is an area I have focused a lot on this term. Small bursts of learning. Coming in from MT and Lunch the students simply read a number, as they have got better they tell me the number before or after and some students are going into + 10 and - 10. Repetition is key here. Like the other areas, small class sizes has made whole class learning much easier. As numbers increase and after completing testing I am starting to see what students needs are and through group work I'll be able to meet them.
The big thing is going to be sticking to the schedule no matter what numbers there are. If there is 1 student in a reading group then that's who gets the teaching. For students who have missed out and therefore are behind in certain areas a decision will have to made with what to do with them. For example, if a student is normally in the top maths group but has been away therefore doesn't know the topic, they can be paired up with someone that understands it and can support. If that is not possible, I would look to move the student down a group until the new topic starts. I think this allows the students to enter the class without the stress of missing something and minimises the stress on me while trying to recap while also teach new.
I think for me it's going to be about going hard on formal learning while also being fluid to the different needs of the students and their wellbeing requirements as students come and go from school. This term has been all about preparing students for formal learning. I have put in very solid routines and focused lots on the independent tasks students will work on while group work is being done. Because of these foundations I believe we are all reading to jump back into formal learning.
How is the transition to formal learning going for you? Have you been doing formal learning from the start? How have you found the fluctuation of class numbers?
