Ruby Tuesday

This is my 52nd blog post about learning and teaching in Kindergarten. The collection of posts here in Ruby Tuesday have been a way for me to document my insights, connections, learning and reflections throughout my first year teaching Kindergarten. Routinely, a new post was published each Tuesday, and each one contained gems that were significant to me in my learning journey, and that I thought might be of use to others. Ruby Tuesday (named also for my love of music) is documentation that I have gone back to and will continue to go back to.  There are many threads that run through the posts. Values I had before teaching Kindergarten have been upheld and affirmed - conceptual learning, inquiry, deep thinking and a commitment to the philosophy of the PYP (Primary Years Programme). Other ideas have become rich inquiries for me. I have spent the past year deepening my understanding about, playing with, wondering about, wrestling with and genuinely intrigued by play and playful learnin...

When thinking about feedback, Dylan Wiliam writes, "Good feedback causes thinking." Good feedback moves learning forward and is integral to monitoring and documenting learning and being responsive to the learning that is evidenced. Feedback should be focused and aligned with the learning intentions.  John Hattie writes, "The simplest prescription for improving education must be dollops of feedback." The PYP's From Principles into Practice also advocates the notion of feed-forward, the focus of which is thinking ahead to tasks not yet attempted. As a Kindergarten teacher, the feedback I give is alongside the learners as they play and engage in explorations and playful learning opportunities. The feedback comes from listening carefully and observing attentively, and is often in question form to engage the learners in further reflection, sometimes as mini conferences.  It is important for learners to be assessment-capable themselves. Trevor Mackenzie writes passion...