1907 - High School Teacher Workflow

Designer:Nicola Donaldson
Scope:Document teacher workflows around NCEA prep

Start of school year

  • Nothing she has to do unless she wants to change an achievement task
  • Most of the time I get told what to do
  • I receive unit outlines
    • TBD - breakdown of schedules and learning outcomes
    • Specific activities or activities I have to do
    • List of standards I have to run my class by and they have to be completed and marked by X date
  • Doesn't plan anything until she meets her kids
  • Meets kids first day of school
    • Start with exam - evaluate capability
    • Refer back to last years stuff to inform this exam
  • Visible planning doc
    • Covers specific learning outcomes, learning activities, questions, practice questions
    • Do the plan
    • If cool activities are included, she either makes them or finds them provided they match learning outcomes
    • Adjust timelines based on how quickly the class learns



  • Process for bringing in an expert?
    • Find friend / scour network 2 weeks before event
    • Ask them to come in
    • They come in
    • They talk about stuff for an hour
    • They leave



  • Unit standard vs achievement standard
  • Can only pass or fail unit standard (achieved / not achieved) - faster - usually for kids who don't pass achievement standards


  • Achievement standard have merit or excellence
    • For achieved you just have to describe/state/name
    • For merit or excellence you need to explain, analyze, discuss, justify - show thinking


Prep for internals vs prep for externals

  • Internals
    • 2-3 weeks of teaching - expert / activities would come in here
    • 1-2 weeks of practice / full practice with loads of feedback
    • 1-2 weeks for the internal where she is just supervising
  • Externals
    • 5-8 weeks of learning -
      • Learn, practice, question
    • Mock exam
    • Then the real one


  • Keywords
    • Interactive, simulation, animation, for kids
    • easy



  • If I wanted to change something -
    • Read title of achievement standard, and what each grade requires
    • Refer to NZQA clarification - this provides more guidance about what you can and cant do while teaching this standard - also tells you how much help you are allowed to give
    • Refer to exemplar tasks and they should get a judgement schedule and a marking schedule
      • Judgement schedules provide examples for X grade ie: excellence is justifying your opinion and this is what this looks like
      • Marking schedule
        • Sometimes included in exemplars
        • Quite literally how to grade
      • Examplars of standards, answers etc