First Adventure Learning Reflections

This was the first week that Room 8 had participated in the discovery part of Adventure Learning. At the end of the session I had a conference with each group. During this they reflected on their learning, challenges and how they could overcome these. Overall it was a really successful first session. There were a couple of teething problems e.g. some children found it challenging working as part of a team and knowing what to do when they were stuck with their learning. Other than that it all ran pretty smoothly. Next week we will reflect in greater depth as a class about how we can overcome these challenges as a class. 

Each group has an Adventure Learning scrapbook that they use for planning, recording their new learning, pasting in photos etc. Because we are reflecting on Padlet I'm going to create a QR code that will link to the Padlet wall. Each week the QR code for the weekly reflections will be printed and pasted into their group scrapbooks. Photos of the scrapbooks to come, once there's a bit more in them. 

Here are their first reflections. 

Created with Padlet

Using Padlet for Reflections

Last year the children regularly used the digital cameras to complete video reflections. The kids have a lot of fun creating video reflections, but they can be time consuming. Because of the time factor I often found that I was running out of time to enable the children to regularly reflect and identify next steps. I was looking for an alternative tool that could be used effectively with my year 4 class. I wanted something that was simple that didn't require the children to do a lot of writing. It had to hook them in.

Initially we used Twitter and then I would Storify the tweets. Then I came across Padlet. Padlet allowed each group to write a quick reflection from a device at the same time. The interactive whiteboard displayed the reflections like magic as each group completed their writing. To begin with I modeled and recorded each group's reflection. The children are now a lot more confident with Padlet and can now use it independently. Here is an example of how we've used Padlet in Adventure Learning. 

Created with Padlet

Tracking Learning and Conference Times

I'm constantly looking for ways to improve how I track children's learning during Adventure Learning. Currently I track the children using a Google Doc. The document consists of a table with the following headings: date, what we have achieved over the past week and where to next? The Google Doc is added to during the sharing circle time at the start of Adventure Learning, during conference times or whenever a group feels the need to add to it. All children have access to this via the Google Account. It is also displayed on the interactive whiteboard during Adventure Learning.

Conferences are initiated by the children and are student-led. Children book themselves in for a conference time with me by writing their name beside a time on the whiteboard. The children shared that they found this system useful as they could book a conference time when they needed and as often as they wanted. The purpose of the conference times is for children to share their learning journey so far, as well as any problems or questions they need support with. They also identify their next steps. I don’t provide children with the answers they’re looking for, but aim to challenge their thinking and enable them to self-discover. I keep track of who I see throughout the week so that if there are any groups I haven’t seen by the end of the fortnight I can touch base with them. 


Here is a link to an example of how I track individual projects. 

http://goo.gl/fjYv8