Q & A

Are there any questions, ideas and feelings that have been raised?    

Audience comments:

Have you used ‘Evernote’ during parent-teacher interviews to showcase student work or video clips of student learning? If so, how was this received by parents?

We only started using Evernote after parent-teacher interviews. Next year, however, I would show student learning to parents by opening up the child’s file; especially if there was a video or a particular picture that demonstrated the child’s learning.

How do students learn the basics (i.e letters) if they’re ‘just playing’?

It’s finding a balance between learning centres and small group instruction. In every centre there are opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy skills. It’s the purposeful/ intentional ‘materials’ that are placed in the centres that are key for allowing students to display their learning in authentic ways. Although we try to get away from whole-group phonic lessons and printing books; these are done in small group sessions such as ‘sock and chalk’ (McCracken Program). The teacher and ECE place themselves in the centres to reinforce the skills that were learned in small group instruction.

How to begin (it sounds great, but overwhelming!) …We have no ECE (teacher only) and we only see our students for half a day every second day. How do we overcome this challenge?

It has taken us a few years to get where we are: an on-going journey. Take ‘baby steps’. Really think about the materials that you are putting in the centre in order to provoke discoveries and learning. Make a point to get into the centre more often and really listen to the students in order to push their thinking. In addition, the use of technology to capture student learning and using Evernote to organize our document has made things more efficient.