Pause - Breath - Smile

In 2021 we had some professional developmental around mindfulness.   We were introduced to pause, breath smile to have all teachers upskilled in mindfulness in the classroom.  The techniques taught were based on science and had been proven to have a calming effect on students.  Lots of the workshop lesson were based around an approach called straight backs soft bellies to calm students by using breathing techniques from the bottom of the belly.   The ideas is for students to become more self aware of how they are breathing and what their bodies are doing in that exact moment.  It helped us to become more aware of being present in that exact moment in time.  It taught me alot about "name the feeling, tame the feeling" and srategies around moving from the red zone (anxiety, anger, rage, frustration) into the green zone (calm, content, restful) by using a dong to settle the class and to talk in a softer voice than normal.  Most likely we will all have children in the classroom that are heavily in the red zone on a daily bases so equipping them with positive strategies and mindfulness can help them over come some emotional barriers.  

IPADS - Ako Ano

Last year I was introduced to Ako Ano for my teaching practice.  Initially I was a bit unsure about how this would work in my teaching practice as with anything new you always have alot of uncertainties running through your mind my biggest fear was how can I fit this into an already busy day.   I first started to implement this in one curriculum area once this curriculum area was established I introduced it into another curriculum area and gradually I was able to have established Ako Ano in all 3 curriculum areas.  The idea of doing a Ako Ano everyday is not always possible in a Junior classroom as you often have repeated learning Intentions.  To make it achieveable and realistic I would do one Ako Ano a week for each group.  Before they came to the teacher they could then view this on their own ipads.  As a teacher we like to be perfectionist but the idea of Ako Ano is not to have the perfect recording as you do not have the time to have lots of takes.  So the raw authentic recordings is what you see with real voices.  Over time my recordings did get sharper and the children got more use to you just having the ipad ready to record as part of their lesson structure. 

IPADS - Digital Capability

 

Last year and this year I am teaching in a 1-1 single cell N.E/Year 1 class with every child having their own ipad.  There is alot to unpack for me as a teacher in this learning enivoronment.   Although at times very challenging and time consuming I can see the benefits in the childrens engagement with learning and the sense of pride when viewing their work on their blog.  Our initial first Smart literacy focus has been around the care of their ipads and what this looks like in the classroom.  Strongly embedding hug holds and how to handle the Ipad when on flat surfaces are always the intial focus at the start of the year.  Also teaching the students how to put their device carefully away along with making sure they have their device on charge every night.