Jenni

Today {Thursday 26th} was an extremely full on day with lots of info to get my head around. As a Primary teacher of Prep children I can see the benefits of using the planning document to make our planning much more detailed as well as more accountable. As for using the thinking tools with Prep students, I feel that they would need a lot of explanation for the students to be able to understand them. I am really looking forward to exploring them further and seeing exactly how to incorporate the thinking tools into not only my year level but the other levels as well.

Day 2: I enjoyed having the time to work with other people getting to know and understand the tools better and how to write up my Plan. I feel like I'm coping better today than day 1, but I wish that my school had sent 2 people instead of just me so that we could bounce ideas off each other and decide what to put in our unit plan rather than me make the decision on a plan that others will be working from. If my team at school were part of this, they would have a degree of ownership and be more committed to following the plan rather than be handed something they had no say in. I hope they like what I will present to them.

Day 3: Wow! I think I'm getting it. Things finally seem to be falling into place after a lot of thinking, thinking, thinking. Really enjoyed getting my hands onto the 2 tools and exploring them further. Thanks for all your help with the wording of things in my unit plan, it always helps to have someone elses view.

Day 4: Lots of thinking!!!! Showing evidence is a very valuable tool but not something easily adapted to Prep. Have been discussing my new knowledge with some of my work mates back at school, and they seem really excited by what I've been telling them. I can't wait to get back to school and really show them what we've been doing throughout this terrific course. Learning is really quite infectious isn't it!

Day 5: Thanks to all, particularly Anne and Trudi for a great experience. I've really loved being a part of a great team of people and being able to gain some terrific and very useful knowledge to take back to my school.

If you have not done the Essentials course: How have you found the course in general? This course has been amazing. I've really enjoyed the professional discussion about the use of the tools and getting my teeth into them. The facilitators Anne and Trudi have been extremely helpful and supportive of all the participants regardless of their knowledge and expertise in this area. Having the course over the five days with a break after two days was great as it gave me a chance to really have a play with the tools at my leisure and gain a better understanding of the tools and how they fit into my unit plan.

Have you felt that you have been disadvantaged by not having done the Essentials course? Not having done the Essentials course, I don't know what I may have missed out on. I don't feel that I've missed out on much as Anne has always mentioned relevant sections that correlate to the Essentials course and recapped the important info for us. I seemed to have coped well with the unit plan and the 3 tools once I got my head around what I had to do, but even those who had done the Essentials course seemed to have had the same feeling, going off discussions.

Do you feel equipped to run the course back in your own school? I feel that I will be able to run the course back at my school and equip my staff with the relevant knowledge in order to present the tools to their students. I am really looking forward to presenting it to my staff, in particular my Participating Teachers as they have already shown an iterest in what I've been doing.

What are the things you are wondering or still have questions about: Always questions, but need to think a bit more over time to really take it all in.