Helping Circle - Writing

 When we are working through the Writing Process we seek feedback from our peers, in the form of the Helping Circle. 

What is a helping circle?
The idea is that we share our work with someone else and we are given specific actionable feedback. We aim to focus on the content of the Writing and how it can be improved. Sometimes, students are asked to give '2 stars and a wish' or two things they like about the piece (and why) as well as a wish for improvement.

An important part of any Helping Circle, is listening. This is a skill we cannot practice enough! We encourage students to sit "knee to knee and eye to eye" so their body language says "yes I am present and I am listening to you". We take turns when sharing making sure to respect each others share time.

Student Led Workshops

Our Decimal Workshop
We think this workshop has been good for us because we have been able to share our ideas with others. If someone does not know much about something they could come to watch and they will know more when they leave the workshop.
How it has been effective for us
It is probably effective for us as we have been sharing what we know with others so when they leave they can feel like they have learnt something. It feels really good because you have just taught them something and they are happy. Now, we think that this is a really good method of teaching others.

by Hadley and Theo 

Subtraction

Lately the children have been running math workshops. We have been doing a workshop around subtraction and different strategies. We encouraged students to show their thinking in more than one way. 

By Daisy and Kate

"We ran a workshop about fractions, percentages and decimals"

Binary Code

Flynn: Henry explained very well and he helped me learn.
Ruby: Henry was really clear when he taught us about binary code. I give him a five out of five.
Orla: Today Henry ran a binary number workshop he gave us a worksheet and told us that only 1 counts and not 0 and that you can do it with our her pictures as long as there is a key to understand it. The lesson was fun and I learnt a new thing.
Yasmin: Henry ran a binary number talk it was really fun and Henry was really helpful and he made it fun for us
Neale (Henry's Dad): Henry has been teaching me at home.

Feedback!

Feedback! We have been learning to give, receive and respond to feedback.

How do we know that what we are doing is meeting our goals? How do we know what to do to develop our work in writing our in any other field?

It is hard to know what to do when we are working alone, isolated from others; but we are lucky because we have editors. And, we are all editors, giving each other feedback and respond in kind.



Here we evaluated the feedback a peer gave, trying to work out what the most useful form of feedback is.



We say that when giving feedback, you need to be kind, be honest, connect to the criteria, comment on each other’s goals, don’t say too much. It is truly a Learning Experience!