Teachers at Alexandra Primary School have found novel ways to help children understand the language and thinking behind key competencies.
As a teacher of new entrant children I found I needed to unpack the language of the key competencies so they can articulate what it means to them.
The thinking key competencies really deepened children’s understanding. We worked a lot on thinking tools in the senior school and we developed tools that supported the key understandings we wanted them to have and this in turn deepened what they were experiencing and discussing.
As a teacher of new entrant children I found I needed to unpack the language of the key competencies so they can articulate what it means to them. So when we’re talking about reflection it needs to be in child speak. The reflection book is goal setting for them. It has silver paper on the outside so they can see it reflects their image and they are looking in the mirror to see what they know and what they will learn next. This can be used for group work as well. They are always reflecting and thinking the next steps.
The senior school also needs to unpack the key competencies. We have a wall of words that children agree on to unpack the key competencies. They have developed their own key competencies kids that have goals on the back and they can place their key competencies kid on the continuum according to how they feel they fit in the key competencies in focus each day.
We also have ‘you rock’ certificates where every child and the parents of the child email a comment about why the child ‘rocks’.
At the bottom of the banner there are lots of little rocks and they represent everyone in the community. The children know they are one of those rocks. The children have brought rocks to school and these sit on their tables. We are writing the key competencies and value on the rock as we introduce a new one. It is a reminder all the time of the values and key competencies they have at Alexandra Primary School.
Updated on: 15 Jun 2009
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