Term 1, 2018

Week 1 29/01/2018 - 02/02/2018

Highlights - The first week of school is filled with many highlights, ultimately being introduced to
my class on the first day of school and seeing them all so eager to be back into the school routine.
Secondly, interacting with staff and meeting new staff was beneficial for me to meet those who I
will be working closely with, especially as a group of beginning teachers. A warm welcome into
the school through a Mihi Whakatau allowed new staff, students and families to be united into the
Halswell School community. Expressing New Zealand cultural significance to international
families was very special to see.
Lowlights - Lowlights were few and far between this week, with systems running much more
smoothly than I could have hoped. Communication with parents was effective to ensure I was up
to date with student information. However with this communication I was informed about some
students social competencies and their ability to make friends. It is sad to hear that students are
nervous to come to school, carrying doubt that they will make friends. Although after seeing the
students interacting after the first couple of days, it doesn’t seem to be a visible issue at this stage,
but I will be proactive to check in and make sure students are fitting in.
Learning Curves - Entering a new workforce is sure to come with many learning curves, therefore
just to outline one would be the effectiveness of ensuring international students are fitting into
their new routines. Halswell School has a large international program, therefore it is probable to
have one of these students joining our class. With little English, I need to adopt effective
communication skills to be able to confidently interact with this student without causing too much
confusion for her.

Week 2 05/2/2018 - 09/2/2018

Highlights: A continuation of learning students and their individual characteristics continued to

be the highlight of the week. It is pleasing to see friendships forming and new students slotting
into the school routine with ease.
Lowlights: Now that academic classes are in the swing of things after the first week of the school
year, some students are slipping into old habits with work avoidance. A couple in particular
expressing time wasting strategies and not producing completed work. This is disappointing to
see so early in the year.
Learning Curve: Seeing gaps in writing ability was an issue this week, my expectations of writing
level was decreased when initial writing samples were handed in. Lack of simple punctuation and
spelling has opened a large skill range that will need work throughout the year. This of course
isn’t a generalisation across the whole class with some students showing great capabilities in their
writing. This however creates a wider range of ability levels across the class to cater for, ensuring
that the work set needs to be suitable for all students.

Week 3 12/2/2018 - 16/2/2018

 Term 1, 2018

Highlights: There were many activities and events this week that allowed an opportunity for
interaction with parents and the wider community. First up with swimming sports, interaction with
parent helps and those who attended as support. Meet the teacher night allowed for an
opportunity for the teachers to elaborate with the parents about what our day to day routine looks
like, and how each curriculum area unfolds within the class activities. After this, parents took the
opportunity to meet me and express and questions or concerns they had about their child. To
finish off the week the school picnic was held as an informal way of mixing with the wider Haswell
community.
Lowlights: Work avoidance of particular students is continuous low light from last week. In a
modern learning environment it is particularly hard to keep track of the work efficiency of particular
students. This will be an area to work on to ensure all students are able to be tracked effectively.
Learning Curve: I accompanied Yr 7 students to their first technology session of the year at
Hillmorton High School to ensure they settled in with the new environment. They are provided
with some interesting subjects e.g. digital tech, food tech, hard materials, science etc, which
allows them to grow their technological minds through the expertise of specialist teachers and
equipment. It was also interesting to note a change in behaviour of some students. As they were
surrounded by older high school students in the transition of classes, the behaviour of notable
students changed for the better. Having older students who demand authority set an expectation
of younger students behaviour.

Week 4 19/02/18 - 23/02/18

Highlights: This week saw a stronger focus on main curriculum area routines. Maths and reading
groups have been sorted which means students are beginning to learn through sessions and
activities that best suit their needs. With this routine brings an opportunity for me to become aware
of the resources available for me to incorporate into my planning. A second highlight would include
becoming more aware of the registration process from our PTC workshop. Documentation and
collection of evidence for this process was made a lot more clear.
Lowlights: Main lowlight of the week was hearing feedback from a parent that their child was
arriving home upset about their ability with writing in particular. This student in particular is very
proactive in seeking help, however is very demanding of time and ends up taking over other
students opportunities. This creates a tricky situation in me wanting to help this child get over their
writing anxiety but also need to factor in all the other students in the class. Another lowlight was
experiencing another episode of a student losing self control and lashing out at another student.
It is sad to see this students’ fuse blow at the smallest of incidences. When this student lashes
out, surrounding staff and students become powerless and unsafe. It would be beneficial to
acquire a response process to make myself feel more equipped if this were to happen again.
Learning Curve: On the topic of planning as above, this week has allowed me to concentrate on
planning for my own groups. With time I will become more competent with knowing the appropriate
ability levels of my students, how long each session should be to be able to spend time with as
many students as possible, in addition to where to find appropriate follow up activities.
 Term 1, 2018

Week 5 26/02/18 - 02/03/18

Highlights: The Friday Winter Olympics were a highlight in week 5. As the first house event of
the year, students had the opportunity to interact and work together with a team of students,
different to their usual T Groups. This sports day allowed students to display their sportsmanship
and sporting talent. It was pleasing to see year 8 sports and house leaders taking charge and
making sure this event ran smoothly. They did a fantastic job and have a new understanding of
the challenges of teaching.
Lowlights: Catching the cold that had been travelling around the students proved to make this
week difficult. Days away from school still need to be planned ahead of time for the relieving
teacher, therefore it is important to keep on top of planning for situations like these.
Learning Curve: With camps approaching it is important to stay on top of information coming in
and start to look into the students' medical information to ensure any situations that arise on camp
can be dealt to with ease.
Reading the new professional standards book revisited aspects that I need to keep in mind
throughout my professional teaching practice.

Week 6 05/03/18 - 09/03/18

Highlights: Testing procedures are kicking off to test the students’ knowledge initially then will
be tracked throughout the year. It is pleasing to see how most students are able to apply
themselves appropriately in test conditions and most looked as though they were pushing
themselves to do their best.
Lowlights: An incident during wet day lunch provided an interesting situation this week. Two
students who had a history had a heated moment, resulting in a parent consultation. Having a
stressed parent approach the situation was a little frightening, however with the support of other
staff made the situation easier to deal with. It is hard to comply with all parental requests to keep
particular students separated at all times, especially in a modern learning environment. It is
important to teach these students the benefit of self control to keep themselves safe physically
and emotionally.
Learning Curve: This week Kaka teachers had a parent/teacher meeting with parents of a child
who has diagnosed dyslexia. They were able to provide an official report that gave insight and
particular information of the areas that this student struggled with along with appropriate
techniques to help this student to make learning less stressful for them. Knowing these strategies
is not only helpful to maximise this students education, but also provides tips to assist others that
may suffer from similar difficulties.

Week 7 12/03/18 - 16/03/18

Highlights: Heading out on my first school camp as a teacher was nerve wracking but exciting.
This was a definite highlight of the week, spending 3 days with the year 6s at Pudding Hill. Seeing
students out of the classroom environment was exciting and interesting, observing behaviours
 Term 1, 2018

that may be out of the ordinary, whether it be an increase or decrease in confidence and
participation depending if they were in or out of their comfort zones.
Lowlights: The class started the week unsettled, disruptive and not on task. The excitement of
approaching camps may have been a contributing factor but still unacceptable attitudes were
shown at the start of the week. Some friendships throughout the class have been tested which
have needed assistance in overcoming the disagreements.
Learning Curve: Heading away for a camp is a huge learning curve. As it is the first camp I
attended as a teacher there were immense amounts of learning occurring at all times. Students
show different characteristics when in an unfamiliar environment, therefore it is important to react
to these and support them in an appropriate manner. For some students it was one of their first
times away from home therefore it is important to respect that they will be out of their comfort
zones.

Week 8 19/03/18 - 23/03/18

Highlights: A highlight for this week is similar to last, attending a second camp where I was able
to interact with students outside of the classroom environment and see them tackle challenges
that puts them out of their comfort zone. This camp involved yr 7 and 8 students so was interesting
to see the difference in behaviours from the yr 6 camp. The year 7/8s really stepped up and
showed impressing levels of maturity at times which is satisfying to see.
Lowlights: Having to adapt to being back in the classroom after 6 days of camp for the rest of
the week was challenging. It was apparent that students were lacking in energy. This was not
only observed in the students, but in myself as well, getting back into routines was difficult and
remembering where we left off was tricky.
Learning Curve: Again on camp it was full of learning curves. This camp was full of activities that
pushed the students physically and mentally, therefore it was really important to gage how much
to push students to extend themselves out of their comfort zone, but not enough to upset them
and put them off the challenge altogether.

Week 9 26/03/18 - 29/03/18

Highlights: Camp recounts was one of the follow up activities to be completed after camp. Some
of those finished were of good quality which was pleasing to see. It is also great to see the camp
experience through the eyes of the students as well as how much appreciation some of them did
show toward the parent helpers through the language they used in their thank you letters.
Lowlights: With such a short week it is difficult to fit everything in. Since returning from camp
students have a lot of finishing off of follow up activities which some seem unmotivated to
complete.
Learning Curve: Thursday was committed to a teacher only day in the SW Cluster. The focus
was to introduce the new digital curriculum in more depth to the schools in the area, showing us
the resources we have available. The first workshop was held at Te Hapua where they displayed
 Term 1, 2018

all the resources they had on hand for schools to access when they chose. The afternoon session
was held back at school hosted by various digital technology teachers from around the area. They
were talking about the various activities and units they have trialled with their classes already to
give us more insight about how easy and fun digital activities are to implement.

Week 10 04/04/18 - 06/04/18

Highlights: It was good to see students out with their house spirit again this week for the
Commonwealth Games sport day! Students were really getting into the activities. This time it was
more enjoyable for the year 8 students who were able to participate instead of running the
activities.
Lowlights: Another short week this week saw not a lot of time to get things started. Again, chasing
up work is getting unreasonable for some students therefore some contact with parents needs to
be made.
Learning Curve: I was able to complete my first running record on some students which was a
positive experience. After observing one being done I was set to go by myself. The process seems
reasonably straightforward, however one aspect that I will continue to work on will be the pace in
which you need to operate to record what the student is reading at their pace.

Week 11 09/04/18 - 13/04/18

Highlights: Making it through the term was the highlight of the week, most students have done
well to keep it together for the long 11 week term and to see them maintain a level of work ethic
is applaudable. Students were given a few sessions this week to start their community inquiry
projects. Some groups have gotten really involved in their planning and research for their
presentation, this includes students who sometimes normally struggle to find motivation to work.
The topic has obviously struck an interest in some students so will be interesting to see the results.
Lowlights: Weekly reading club sessions has continued to provide disappointing progress from
most of the groups. Most students tend to forget to complete their tasks, leaving it difficult for the
rest of the group to have rich discussions about the chapter they have just read. It is difficult to
motivate them to get it finished to a good standard when the students aren’t necessarily in my
class. By week 11 I would have thought they would be well in the swing of the routine.
Learning Curve: Biggest learning curve is to try and keep the students engaged during the last
few days of term. Their minds have been busy for 11 weeks, so it’s understandable that some of
them may be losing focus. It is important to try and find an activity that is engaging, yet takes a
little bit of pressure off. The community inquiry project was perfect, the students were working
with groups of their choosing, and even though it was a pretty big project, with time to work on it
over the holidays as well as the first two weeks of term two, didn’t apply too much pressure to
them in this particular week.