I have committed to teaching boys food technology this year. The students I met have only just done hospitality unit standards before and have no indepth prior knowledge of the Technology strands. I started by setting these goals for my yr.11-13 students:
Know my students
Offer approved standards/credits for university entrance
Project Based Learning
Interesting, fun contexts
Cross curricular inquiry and collaboration
Invite male role models into class
Encourage digital learning
Change perspective- #SM can be used for learning
2 minutes of mindfulness at start of lesson
I started by doing some research and checking if I was on the right track. It only reiterated that some of my strategies were already addressing the recommendations. But after two lessons my goals, my intentions were on shaky ground. This weekend I have reflected and reviewed my goals.
Need to scaffold a lot more as this is the first year of introducing all achievement standards
Review my expectations of what I can achieve in a lesson, especially with no laptops, iPads
What did research suggest and what I needed to do?
“Research is clear – effective teaching makes the biggest in-school difference to student achievement. It also identifies that there is a positive relationship between ongoing professional learning and effective teaching.” - http://success-for-boys.tki.org.nz/
Further research (http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/604-gurian.aspx) suggested:
1. Use graphics, pictures, and storyboards in literacy-.
My action plan: Conceptual designs will be presented on a storyboard for conceptual designs, TED-Ed lessons to promote deep thinking and discussions
2. Classroom methodology: project-based education in which the teacher facilitates hands-on, sensory learning.
My action plan: PBL, Practicals, experimentation, functional modelling
3. Teachers provide competitive yet cooperative learning opportunities.
My action plan: Gamification in food technology, group presentations/unpacking brief
4. Classroom curricula include skills training in time, home learning, and classroom management.
My action plan: Guidelines for practicals and theory lessons
5. Approximately 50 percent of reading and writing choices in a classroom are left up to the students themselves. Regularly including nontraditional materials, such as graphic novels, magazines, and comic books, increases boys' engagement in reading and improves both creative and expository writing.
My action plan: Blogs, Websites, animated stories, Food NZ magazine, Clickview, My textbook and CD
6. Teachers move around their classrooms as they teach. Encourage physical "brain breaks"—quick, one-minute brain-awakening activities
My action plan: #Mindfulness, Breaks
7. Students are allowed to move around as needed in classrooms, and they are taught how to practice self-discipline in their movement.
8. Male mentoring systems permeate the school culture, including use of parent-mentors, male teachers, vertical mentoring (e.g., high school students mentoring elementary students), and male peer mentoring.
My action plan: Set up Food technology twitter handle for peer mentoring, organize parent involvement sessions so that parents can work together with teachers.