Learning @School Conference - reflections

Sitting down with a glass of wine and reflecting after two full on days at the Learning @school conference.  As with any conference you end up with an overload of information and you need to take the time to work through all your notes and handouts. 
Day one I went to breakouts that focused on quality feedback and feed forward and how this can help our children talk about their learning on their blogs. The first breakout was on metacognition- thinking about thinking. The presenter explained the need to teach specific reading strategies and how to do this successfully.  While many of the ideas presented we already knew due to our PD with Alison Davies there is always things to learn.
The main ideas I took out of this presentation were
the need to model one strategy at a time
to work together with your class or group to practice this strategy
to give children the time and opportunity to practice this strategy independently in a range of contexts.
By providing this scaffolding the children should be able to use this strategy confidently and you can then move on to teaching another reading strategy.
When modelling teacher uses THINK OUT LOUDS. This is when the teacher puts down her book and models what  she is thinking.  "I am inferring that...."
Teaching of reading strategies must be planned for to be effective.  Postit notes on the book with your Think Out Louds written down will make the lesson flow.
Teaching in this way enabled children to be articulate about their learning   "I am learning to make inferences about texts" and they can then use THINK OUT LOUDS on their blogs to articulate their thinking. Other class members and teachers should be able to respond with quality feedback and feed forward because learning is specific and learning intention is clear.
Will definitely use this in my class and on our blogs.
Ideas to help children reflect on their learning that I am going to try in my class are the
Exit Pass -post it notes after lesson before they leave the room. or
 3-2-1
3 things I found out
2 interesting things
1 question I still have
Stop and Think Card and Think marks