What a great start to the new year Crew Mercury have had!
I was so pleased to see everybody and to see the crew members in person.
This year we have started Crew Curriculum, and crew have really embraced Thoughtful Thursday. As a crew we looked at out most recent data for HOWLs and grades, then each member made an academic pledge.
Check out some of Crew Mercury’s pledges…
Josh – ‘I pledge to achieve a 3.0 or higher in HUMS by asking more questions’
Jayden – ‘I pledge to improve my be kind HOWLs to at least a 3.0’
Ella – ‘I pledge to improve my HOWLs in PE and crew are going to support me by giving me lots of encouragement’
Even with COVID-19 nothing has stopped us having our weekly whole school community meeting. Every Friday we have had the community meeting via Hangout and lots of appreciations, apologies and stands have been made.
Would just like to give a big shout out to Lynden for making his first stand during the community meeting. Well done Lynden! Lots of courage shown!
I am super proud of the attitude and commitment to learning Crew Rowling have returned to school with! It has been great to get back together as a Crew following learning from home and the long summer break!
Our return…
Crew sessions have had a revamp! Although we’re still checking in and catching up about what we have been up to over the weekend/ night before, we’re also getting down to the nitty gritty! Our week in Crew now looks like this:
Each day we have a different focus and it has been lovely to hear more of the quieter members of our Crew getting involved and voicing their opinions too!
Today we considered ‘Why is reading important?’ exploring the effects of illiteracy… none of us are there (thank goodness!) but we now know why we also need to make the most of our AR reading time in sessions. Some of the feedback gathered in our closing circle really highlighted the answer to our mini ‘Guiding Question’ and reflected just how much our Crew has grown (even literally!) over the Summer.
Proof is in the pudding…
It has been really refreshing opening the Dashboard and having supporting evidence that what i’m seeing in Crew is also happening in sessions. Two weeks in and we’ve all picked up at least one praise point, we’ve not missed any homework, we’ve not gained any conduct logs and most importantly… we’re top of the leaderboard! (not that we’re competitive!)
Year 7, who?
This year we’re determined to go bigger and better, making pledges to build on our success from Y7 and send us soaring into Y8… Please hold us to account!
(Due to iPad technical difficulties, please wait in anticipation for Shawn and Layton’s!)
After a few weeks off blogging, i couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to express how proud I am of Crew Rowling for their attitude, hard work and dedication to getting stuff done!
We decided to set up a new deadlines doc for this term, one whereby the students could project manage their own workload and track their progress. And WOW. I’ve been blown away… i can’t even count how many people i’ve bragged to already, and now i’m here to brag even more! Just look at all the completed tasks on here:
I mean LOOK AT IT!
A Crew average of 98% completion rate!!!
We’re working our socks off!!
So I know you want to know, how do we do it?!
Every Monday i sign on to my laptop with messages, which will usually have already been replied to:
Crew are keen to use Google Chat to check when hangouts are and send regular reminders which means no one can forget:
Sometimes we struggle and we need a helping hand, we know we can ask teachers but in our crew we have our own experts:
If we can’t resolve it over a chat, we take to a hangout:
I so wish i’d have recorded this so you could hear how well Harvey explained these tasks!
If we can’t solve the problem over a chat or a hangout, we leave it to the experts:
We continue to hold each other to account (they even catch me out!):
But most importantly, we recognise how hard people are working:
So as you can see, our fantastic outcomes are as a result of Crew continuing to maintain their fantastic HOWLS throughout lockdown, sticking together, supporting each other, holding one another to account and knowing there is no ‘i’ in team. It’s no good one of us being at the top of the mountain after all!
I couldn’t be any prouder as a Crew Leader.
To me this proves, ‘if we get crew right, we get everything right’.
It doesn’t get much better than being blessed by these smiling faces twice a week (yes, we even get 100% attendance on those!) Keep going, we’re nearly there. I’m so proud of everything you have all achieved so far.
Thank you Crew Rowling, and your parents for all their support!
Another great week from Crew Mercury, every member is producing real quality learning and also enjoying their time at home.
Kaylen has been learning many new skills during this time, including learning to play the guitar, doing lots of gardening and baking.
Have a look at this bread!
And my favourite new skill he has learnt…how to crochet! I’m sure I’ll have a new crochet buddy when we get back to school!
As well as all of this, Kaylen has been doing amazing with his online learning. He has done so well working independently! Mrs Collinson is very impressed with his Spanish saying how she is ‘really proud of his courage and commitment’.
I can’t wait to get back to school to hear all about your new skills Kaylen.
As the weeks go by homeschooling seems to becoming easier for Crew Rowling! We’ve had a much more productive week this week and i’d like to appreciate the parents for their support in us reaching this point!
At the end of the Crew Session on Monday, I asked Crew if by the end of this week they could share with me some work they are proud of and I have to say it has been extremely uplifting to see my inbox inundated with positivity and work which has well and truly blown me away! This blog post will highlight some of the fantastic work thats been going on!
Hums has proven difficult for many of us in Crew Rowling, many a hangout has been conducted in order to assist us all in reaching the ‘hand in’ button… but we’ve done it, and we’ve done it together! It gave me a real sense of achievement for all of the Crew members therefore when I looked through some of the work I had been sent, and it was Hums!
I particularly liked how Faith has used persuasive techniques in order to capture the readers attention alongside our shared language of ‘making a stand’ in order to emphasise her points. Excellent job, Faith!
Rhys wanted to write something he was passionate about in order to change peoples viewpoints, therefore his speech surrounded the idea of children gaming:
Its great to see Rhys also including some presentational devices in his work, meaning his speech can be displayed for clarity! Great work Rhys, keep it up!
As Harvey is whizzing through the work that has been set for him, he spent some time this week completing tasks for the new Y7 Expedition:
This work clearly captures Harvey’s understanding of ‘The Lorax’ by Dr Seuss. I am impressed with the vocabulary Harvey has chosen to use! You are working so hard- i am really impressed with the progress you are making!
Layton had trouble completing his speech, but with a little help from his friends in Crew he was able to produce this belter:
A fantastic job showing clear understanding of the topic and implementing some persuasive and presentational devices, alongside a link to really get his point across! Fantastic! Well done Layton for persevering with this.
The stand out Crew member for me this week though, had to be Cerrina! Its no secret that Cerrina has struggled to settle into a new routine, working from home, managing her own timetable and deadlines and in the first few weeks we had to strip things back, take manageable chunks, and settle for getting done what we could, when we could! And that was fine! But this week we’ve seen a huge leap forward in Cerrina’s progress, she has met all her deadlines for this week, is happier, and has also been able to spend time doing things she enjoys! It was particularly uplifting for me to receive emails from other members of staff this week about Cerrina’s progress too. Check this out!
The best part for me about all of this though, although the work is superb, has actually been to see the smile return to Cerrina’s face! Sometimes we all need to take a moment to remember that having an off day (or couple of days) is fine! We need to give ourselves time to rest and recuperate in order to return to our best!
Well done Cerrina, i am incredibly impressed with all that you have achieved this week. You have worked super hard and it has paid off! Keep it up!
It would be fair to say that Cerrina’s success has stemmed from having the support of Crew around her. Every day I am blown away by the support and compassion they show one another. I mean, just imagine stumbling across Crew messages like this.. using language like this!
To quote Cerrina’s Mum: “The support from Crew is great!”
The commitment they show to helping each other ‘up the mountain’ in times of trouble, at such a young age is like nothing i’ve ever experienced. Thank you all for your time and patience, for not only each other but me too!
Inspired by my talented crew who love to bake, I decided to do a live bake-a-long on Youtube for my crew. This is so we could bake together, give students a break from school work, do something fun and be part of our new routine.
This week it was banana bread which seems to be a new craze at the moment since going into isolation! I had pictures sent from Crew Obama parents and crew members of their versions of banana bread… they looked even better than mine!
Click on the image below and check out my baking superstars.
The ingredients and equipment are in the description box of each video (click on the video and press show more to see this) which are posted a week in advance.
Another fantastic week for Crew Mercury, lots of hard work finishing off expeditions and completing final products.
Have a listen to how amazing Poppy’s speech is for the final product of the expedition ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ with the guiding question ‘When is it right to make a stand?’.
…another week down, and here we are with another Crew Rowling break down!
After a long weekend of rest, recuperation and sunbathing in the garden Crew Rowling were feeling refreshed and ready to attack the work set from a different angle, meet any outstanding deadlines and crack on to meet this weeks!
Our Crew Classroom has been busy with members of the Crew logging in and checking the ‘Crew Deadlines’ spreadsheet, supporting students to manage their time, meet deadlines and most importantly gaining the huge sense of achievement when you can tick something off your ‘to do’ list and say ‘I’VE DONE IT!’
The satisfaction of going from red to green.
Each week I have been outlining the deadlines Crew have for each week. This has been shared with them in order to provide a visual aid of all the work outstanding alongside the due date and a colour code so you can say: Nope, i’m not onto that yet. OR Yes, smashed it!
In previous weeks much of our hangout has been spent with me going through each of the students individually and asking for a yes or no for each of the pieces of work outlined. As you can imagine, this has been gruelling for the likes of Faith who is superduper organised and even keeps her own second list to ensure she doesn’t let any go under her radar!
I’ve therefore been asking students to mark this off themselves once they complete the tasks and this will help them to manage their time and (hopefully) become more productive. I have to say this week they’ve amazed me!
Especially Charlotte! Having suffered some technical (and motivational) difficulties, we were gathering up a long list of work which was outstanding from previous weeks before even getting onto the current weeks deadlines in order to check them off. But she hasn’t let this stop her in her stride this week, piece after piece they’ve been submitted and crossed off the outstanding list and this week… WE EVEN SMASHED THE WEEKS DEADLINES IN!
This is a huge achievement if you consider that in previous weeks Charlotte had only completed 1 or 2 pieces of work! I have been so impressed with her perseverance and determination to catch up this week. We have also loved having you in Crew Hangouts more frequently!
Speaking of hanging out…
After our Crew Check In where both Cerrina and Logan expressed some difficulty with the work they were completing, i caught them using the Hangouts feature in order to gain the support of whizzes Harvey and Ben!
Hearing the discussion from the students as they worked through tricky calculations and Spanish Lingo was incredible! Even I learnt a thing or two!
Well done guys!!
About those ‘challenges’!
Well as you can see… Crew Rowling would stop at nothing in order to ensure they could meet the deadlines and would even work as a team to do so! No more problems here!
What we did find however, was that some Hangouts were more productive than others, through no fault of the students, but the use. We therefore got together and decided on the following protocol for gaining support from a friend via Google Hangout:
Be polite and respectful. You must stay engaged throughout the call! (and remember to thank them for giving up their time at the end)
Listen to the information given.
Make notes- You may wish to ask clarifying questions during this process.
Share your screen with the person you are speaking to, this will help them to support you further.
Share any work you are currently working on so they can see where it is specifically you need further help.
We’re hoping that these 5 simple steps will help ensure that supporting a peer via Google Hangout isn’t an onerous task and stops you from making progress too!
Again, we’re going to review this next week to see if there are any amendments. So far, so good!
The Rowling Quiz
In line with our Friday Challenge, this Friday I created a quiz for the Crew as a bit of fun and some downtime before the weekend commenced. The quiz consisted of 5 categories:
TV/ Film
School Subjects
Sport
Music
General Knowledge
A mixed bag of questions, the win was anyones for the taking! But… it was GIRL POWER! Charlotte, Lily and Faith shared the winning score of 16 leaving the boys wallowing in self pity! As a consequence of being our lowest scorer of the week, totting up a total of 6, Layton was nominated to host next weeks quiz! I am looking forward to being able to take part this week!
Upcoming stars in Crew Rowling
It all seems a very long time ago now, but this video from The Edge Foundation captures some unseen footage of Crew Rowling in action in Wales at the very start of the year! Crazy the changes that can be seen already!
The week ahead
Lots to look forward to! More deadlines to work towards, more Crew Hangouts (Tuesday and Friday), more structured ways to receive support from peers, but most importantly… more staying home!
So following on from last week’s post showing what Lewis has been up to, it is Daniel’s turn this week.
Daniel has completed some real quality learning including a HUMS assessment where he achieved a fab score and showed great understanding of Africa, development and the DRC. He also completed an assignment answering the question ‘How far can Maycomb be called prejudiced?’. Mrs McCarthy said ‘What an absolute joy to read! Well done, great understanding and detailed yet clear explanation!’
In addition to completing his learning, Daniel has been enjoying walks with his family catching Pokemon!
He has also been enjoying quality time with his sister 🙂
It has been great the hear what Daniel has been up to, it’s been lovely keeping in touch and seeing the pics!
Have a look at these amazing cards that Ella from Crew Mercury has been making this week!
Ella has been giving these cards to her mum so she can pass them on to her fellow front line workers in social care. A lovely way to show her appreciation for everything they are doing in these difficult times.
I’m sure these cards have been massively appreciated, such a wonderful thing to do Ella! I am very proud!
I so wish i’d have recorded this so you could hear how well Harvey explained these tasks!
