Students must do the heavy lifting - teachers mediate learning

• The educator mediates learning between the students. She wants the students to learn for themselves; teachers are not supposed to learn for students.
• She involve the students in her lesson by giving them a chance to write their own notes from the previous lesson.
• Then she went through the notes with them adding / and correcting them where it was needed.

Setting goals [on the board] at the start of a lesson helps to focus the mind

What I learned is to have your objectives on the board so that the students understand what they are expected to learn from the lesson. Knowing their objective helps to focus the mind. So it is advisable to have an objective per lesson because if you have an objective according to the topic then each lesson won't be meaningful to the student.

So having an objective per lesson helps the learners understand what they should be able to learn at the end of the day. I also learned that using different learning styles help each learner benefit from the lesson -this accommodates all the students. I think I need to practise that technique especially when I present Setswana.

'Contractual learning' happens when clear goals are set at the start of the lesson

This was a constructive lesson outlining some well presented techniques. The lesson set out a clear goal/intention of what the students should learn by the end of the lesson. The objectives were met at the end of the lesson where students described constructively what they had learned. This check for understanding showed that the goals the teacher set at the start of the lesson had been met. 

I also noticed that the teacher was trying to facilitate learning in such a way that minimized teacher centredness, instead allowing the students to apply their prior knowledge of the lesson material. I would describe this as 'contractual learning'.

Lower School whimsical ways are definitly greener than Upper School pastures

We were talking today about how different the space of the Upper School is from the Lower School. We all think it is greener on the other side but it really isn't. Although I think I would love the calm of the older students I know I would definitely miss the free spirit and whimsical ways of my Grade R. I know I am in the right place.

TLAC techniques catch on

I enjoyed  sharing with the group tonight! I just discovered I am a lot more better than what I thought I was. The one thing I learned in this forum today is that the TLAC techniques are more easier to incorporate in our teaching. They are very flexible and fit in so easily. I am so excited about trying those I haven't tried in the past, because those I did try have surely worked like a BOMB.

Measuring the capacity of liquids

Today's presentation reminded me of the lesson I taught about Capacity. The students were very engaged and were excited since it was a highly interactive lesson. 

We started as a class discussing the containers that were placed in front of them and filled with water to different levels. Afterwards they had to individually estimate which container held the least and the most water. Then  they had to complete a worksheet in small groups which required the students to first fill the containers (such as a bucket, bowl and ice cube trays) with water using spoons and cups. 

After doing this the students had to record the results on a graphic table and write what they noticed. 

The students enjoyed the lesson as they were working together to fill-up the containers. They counted out aloud and if they made a mistake they would start over together as a group.  

Playing with the number Nine in Grade 1

My mentoring moment of the week  definitely has to be the Mathematics Nine Village the Grade 1's did. They were learning about the bonds of nine and had to create a village using coloured paper, 3 shapes (a square, rectangle and a triangle) to form a house. They were allowed to stick these shapes however they wanted to, but making sure that they are creating a village of nine houses/huts.  After forming the huts/houses they wrote out the bonds of nine, but not necessarily the bonds that consisted of two numbers. They could choose more than two numbers and decide if they should write addition or subtraction sums or both - they had to choose. For resources they used their counters to help them form the different numbers. Another  fun part of the lesson was when they created a name for their village! Creative names that came up included: Nine City, Nine America, Ninena. It was a very interesting lesson.