The A.O.'s and S.L.O from our plan:
We introduced the idea to the seniors at the start of the term and they were so excited. Many of them had done a similar rock hunt using the 'Tronrocks' in Hamilton so were familiar with the concept. They were also really inspired by the rock images we had found to show them.
The students were really focused researching, discovering and planning original ideas for their rocks.
It was really neat to see the children who really understood the purpose of the rocks and were creating images that the junior students would really keen on, like the 'Paw Patrol' group who painted pictures of the paw patrol cartoon.
We spent 1 session choosing our rocks and painting our base coat. Then 2 sessions painting our details and creating our group hunt cards.
Students creating:
Our last session was the actual hunt. We hid our rocks in our preplanned hiding spaces and then meeting with our junior classes and completing the hunt. We had a small amount of time for the children to reflect on how the whole process went.
We were really impressed with the students during the hunt with the juniors. We saw students crouching down to talk to their younger group members, highfiving and cheering when a rock was found, being excited to encourage their younger people and making sure their group stayed together. We noticed children who often stood back and were quiet in class really shone in this situation and were great leaders for their group. We also felt the kids were very reflective, and had many children comment about how they needed to create clues were easier or more specific, or that they needed to hid their rocks in harder places.
Photos from the hunt:
Changes we discussed after our last session to make the unit even better:
- Was difficult after the group cards were created trying to access students cards as they hadn't been shared with us or some photos hadn't been loaded. This resulted in a lot of our own personal time getting them finished and printed in time. Not sure how we could of managed this better.
- That's the nature of school, particularly in a MLE, however an extra session would of meant we could of spent a greater amount of time reflecting on how the hunt went with the kids and discussing things they would of changed to improve their hunt.
- Another session would of been great after this so we could have perhaps invited the middle students and then completed the hunt again based on the things the students would modify to make their hunt better.
Link to the Practising Teaching Criteria:
- Design for learning
- Design learning based on curriculum and pedagogical knowledge, assessment information and an understanding of each learner’s strengths, interests, needs, identities, languages and cultures.
- Design and plan culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches that reflect the local community and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in New Zealand.
- Select teaching approaches, resources, and learning and assessment activities based on a thorough knowledge of curriculum content, pedagogy, progressions in learning and the learners.
- Learning-focused culture
- Develop a culture that is focused on learning, and is characterised by respect, inclusion, empathy, collaboration and safety.
- Develop learning-focused relationships with learners, enabling them to be active participants in the process of learning, sharing ownership and responsibility for learning.
- Foster trust, respect and cooperation with and among learners so that they experience an environment in which it is safe to take risks
- Demonstrate high expectations for the learning outcomes of all learners, including for those learners with disabilities or learning support needs
