Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 January were set aside for staff professional learning. Here is a little of what happened.

MONDAY

MTS Online Maths

Mathematics expert Peter Nowland conducted a session with all teaching staff on how to best use the MTS Online Maths Program to plan, teach and assess in mathematics. As a whole staff the decision was made last year to not continue with the Stepping Stones program but to give teachers more creativity when planning for mathematics and scope for extension. The MTS online Maths program is one tool available for teachers to use. Peter ran a highly engaging  and practical session.

Problem Solving – A Whole School Approach

After looking at a range of data in 2016 the Mathematics Curriculum Team has made developing a whole school approach to problem solving a target in 2017. Andrew Streeton lead an information session introducing the KSAR approach to problem solving and the need for it to be explicitly taught and included in all mathematics lessons. Please click here for more information on KSAR.

There will also be a Whole School Problem Solving Challenge launched at the first assembly.

Asthma Foundation 

As part of our North Perth Primary School retaining its title as an Asthma Friendly School all staff attended a 1 hour session run by the Asthma Foundation.

Peer to Peer Observations

Peer to Peer classroom observations is simply teachers observing other teachers teach. The focus of classroom observations will link to the Business/Operational Plans, explicit teaching framework and/or Performance Management. E.g. an element of the explicit teaching lesson structure or a whole school program such as Talk for Writing. The purpose of the observations is for teachers to reflect on their own teaching practice and engage in professional discussions and give feedback to other teachers.

Student Surveys

Focus 2017 states, ‘Strengthen use of student surveys for feedback to teachers on their performance and on classroom climate.’ Students will be asked up to 7 questions on the performance of their teacher e.g. ‘My teacher gives me feedback on what I do.’

The data is to be used by individual teachers to reflect on aspects of their teaching and at a whole school level. The surveys will be administered at the end of Term 1 and in Term 4.

Classroom Planning Expectations at North Perth Primary School

There was a confirmation of expectations developed by teachers at the end of 2016. Teachers are also encouraged to use collaborative planning strategies when planning e.g. Professional Learning Communities, Curriculum Teams and use of common DOTT time.

Curriculum Team Meetings 

All teachers met in their core learning subject Curriculum Team for planning. There are Curriculum Teams for English, Mathematics, Science, Technologies and HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences).

 TUESDAY

The entire day on Tuesday was dedicated to Oral and Written Text Instruction. This was lead by Cindy Stirling, Senior Speech Pathologist North East Metro Language Development Centre and Outreach Service and Charlotte Walker our Year 2 Teacher and leader of the English Curriculum Team. The main focus was on the macrostructure of texts and developing common text instruction strategies.

Teachers also spent time looking at available resources and how they can be used to best compliment their English planning, teaching and assessing.