Trip and events
Planting the seeds of inspriational learning
by Cynthia Kaiser, photos by Carol Cretaigne
On November 9, 2011 the Wednesday Morning Primary teachers took on the role of students during an enriching Teacher Development Day organized by Jenny Bennitt, head of Primary. The day was led by Jo Robinson who is currently a Year 6 teacher in a primary school in the Midlands of UK. She is also what is known as an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) which means her ideas and practical contributions to a number of schools have been recognised as having a significant impact on raising the standards of writing in the classroom. She has led workshops for NATE, National Associaiton of Teachers of English, and has written articles on Literacy for the NATE magazine.
Back for an encore performance at SIS, Jo Robinson once again provided a myriad of ideas for enlivening classroom teaching.
The conference, with an enrollment of 52, was attended not only by SIS primary teachers but also by teachers from international schools all over France including Lille, Lyon and Clermont Ferrand, as well as from many well known international schools in the Paris area.
The day began with a poetry workshop. Attendees participated in a series of activities Jo uses with her students that are designed to provide raw material for poetry writing, and then tried their hand a producing a few poems. Next Jo had participants explore some ideas to foster non-fiction writing. She soon had budding reporters interviewing the Little Red Hen’s friends as to why they had not helped with the wheat harvest. The morning ended with a look at constructive marking techniques, and much of the afternoon was devoted to assessment practices in the UK.
Comments from visiting teachers included, “Lots of ideas for good classroom practice.” “It’s good to get out of the classroom, meet other teachers and talk about new ideas.” “An amazing day.” The SIS primary team were very pleased to have Jo back this year with more ideas, as many of her techniques have already been put to good use in the classroom. To quote Monica Perillat, "I think she inspires us greatly to motivate and encourage our students. I love her igniting writing, her wow words, threee stars and a wish and her sparkle box ideas. We laugh well and she finds humor when she teaches too."
Many thanks go to the SIS office for their help with organization including providing a delicious lunch.
On the following day, Jo visited Mrs Bennitt’s integrated classes in Boulogne. In the morning she worked with P4, using visual supports to stimulate writing. After sharing what they knew about baboons and the moon, the children watched a short fictional video about a baboon on the moon. Using the techniques of sculpting and a learning line (see photos), they then explored how the baboon felt on the moon. Finally they wrote a letter from the baboon to his family on earth.
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In the afternoon, P3 were introduced to a variety of ways to improve their writing, particularly to think about using connectives to make longer sentences as well as to use synonyms for ’said’.
Dernière modification le 15-12-11 par
