tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28965424594763070062024-03-14T22:30:21.005+13:00#learningAn ongoing collection of thoughts about my learning journey, and the journey of Douglas Park SchoolAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-65165148409244430722018-09-09T21:01:00.002+12:002018-09-09T21:01:58.592+12:00A Glimpse into the Present<br />
<b><u>Rototuna Junior High</u></b><br />
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Wow. Still quite stunned by my experience visiting Rototuna, bit surreal...was a glimpse into the future of learning (but the present...). We were shown around by Terry, an amazing man with a great depth of understanding of the WHY behind what his school does. He lives their beliefs, all his talk was about learning, purpose, audience...never content.<br />
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The learning experience those young people were getting was a total contrast of my own experience of secondary learning...and was one of the more 'real' learning spaces I have yet to encounter. It probably took 30 minutes at least for my brain to even register, to cope with what I was seeing:<br />
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- First encounter with a class...designing smoothies for students (as they have noticed poor eating habits and want to make a nutritious snack on the run)<br />
- First teacher we speak to...a Digital Technologies teacher taking her class with the PE teacher. They had been using Makey Makey, cardboard and tinfoil to make pressure switches as part of their mashed up PE/Digi Tech learning. The children had noticed a lack of physical exercise, so were creating games for students to engage in (pressure switch on the floor...as you do a pressup your nose should touch the floor, hit the switch and the makey makey registers a point. Beep test, netball shooting, jump counting...)<br />
- We walk past some sculptures made of tissue paper and bamboo...I ask Terry what those were, and he explained they were an art installation that had just been taken down. Art, mashed with Science...each piece was about DNA.<br />
- Kids making Ethanol from food waste to solve fossil fuel use<br />
- Making a wearable art piece out of rubbish to show impact on the ocean environment<br />
- Creating giant Jenga to encourage collaborative game playing<br />
- Making a table, etching the glass top with the image of earth, underlaying with rubbish and backlighting with LED's for a coffee table to go in the school foyer...<br />
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All learning was social. All had a social/community action. All involved something 'real', making something. All designed for someone else. So authentic, purposeful, engaging...and any other fancy word you want to throw at it.<br />
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We asked Terry what skills he wished his Year 7's entered with...expecting to hear things about coding, device use or some such. His response was the highlight for me:<br />
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- I wish children wouldn't come up to me and ask "is this was good enough"?<br />
- I wish children didn't ask "what do I have to do next"?<br />
- I wish they came in curious...<br />
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That's amazing, that's visionary for us in the Primary sector, and that really shows where learning needs to head. Not attainment, not teacher driven, and not content based...flip it to be student-centred and about progress.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-31759118203711073842017-07-12T12:36:00.000+12:002017-07-12T12:36:05.157+12:00The Long and Winding Road: Week 32 - PRACTICE - Changes in Practice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been a crazy 32 week journey...my wife and I had a personal loss on the first day of the course, and since then we have sold our house, started building a new one, shifted in with my parents while we build, discovered and started dealing with big health issues in my Mum, became pregnant with our second child, and I won the Principalship of my current school...all as well as (mainly) keeping up with the week to week work of the course (love those 2 week extensions though!).<br />
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The first 16 weeks were a great mix of practical, and thought provoking content. I enjoyed the digital work, even if some of it wasn't new. Being able to discuss ways of using it in the class, and how to spread the message within staff...priceless. But it was the Leadership content that really impacted me. When the course started I was happy in my little leadership bubble as AP...but week by week the readings challenged the way I operated, made me look closer at the way I worked with others, delivered content and ideas, and how I sourced new ideas. Analysing my leadership in such detail, week to week (and more deeply in the assignments) wow...super harsh, but super constructive. I was able to adapt many of the leadership ideas into reality at school, the biggest success being taking the nursing model of RAPID care and translating that into a structure to be focussing on our targeted learners in our 4 ILE teams.<br />
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I think PTC4 and PTC 12 have been the main winners for me across the 32 weeks. While I did consider myself to be someone who kept themselves developed, engaging in academic research was a first for me since teachers college...and I found myself really enjoying it. Being able to say this approach works, or is worth trying, based on research has been a big shift...in the past for PL sessions at school Blog posts would be been some pre-reading, now using research as a step up. As someone recently said to me...without research you're just another person with an opinion!<br />
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Using the assignments as a way to inquire into both my practice and leadership has also been a real win. Again, deciding on an approach based on research, and determining how to unpack success...a big change from previous inquiries. Engaging with others on the course as well, what are you doing...why...how is it going...would you do it again...what did you learn...questions about practice and outcomes that seem deeper than in the past.<br />
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When the opportunity came up early in the second half of the course to apply for the principals job I decided that I was ready for that next step...and thankfully the BoT and external facilitator agreed. Across this last term, the reflective posts and readings have been useful to 'get my head right' leading into Term 3 and stepping into my new role.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGFSdgWkv5D5KlTJ4gga8dMT7GP_FIp8JnXq6paDXdi__K8a1mnGCnoOo8R7qsL4FUIxUWZSKZO7RUu-lzrgauzyED-nu08IbdeCAWH641Y99DwGR3NIu6SWxAVAK319-ye-wN7S2pQX1/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-07-12+at+12.12.41+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="429" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGFSdgWkv5D5KlTJ4gga8dMT7GP_FIp8JnXq6paDXdi__K8a1mnGCnoOo8R7qsL4FUIxUWZSKZO7RUu-lzrgauzyED-nu08IbdeCAWH641Y99DwGR3NIu6SWxAVAK319-ye-wN7S2pQX1/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-07-12+at+12.12.41+PM.png" width="320" /></a>Using Rolfe's (2001) model to examine my learning the what has been the course content as described above, and the So What has been the impact on my leadership...the way I view leadership, my own leadership style/s, and how I can become better. It is the What Next that is the real challenge.<br />
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While it isn't new to me that education is changing, and that the role of school and teacher has to adapt, the Mind Lab programme has brought that firmly to the forefront in terms of importance. How can I go on such a learning journey, engage with the research showing how and why schools need to adapt and change, engage with leadership literature pointing out the critical role that school leaders play in creating environments focussed on developing great learners...and not DO something with that in my new role?<br />
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The coming of the new Digital technology curriculum is well timed, and my literature review into coding, robotics and learning will help a lot with this. Supporting my 2 staff currently still on the course, and allowing them to spread their learning and knowledge also vital. Building leadership in digital learning within each teaching team, another important step. And, being able to find the time to carry on with my own development and learning...maybe not right away, but carrying on to wards my Masters is something I will look into.<br />
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As an aside, some feedback for those thinking about joining the course: Being the only one completing the course from school has had its challenges also...in the second half of the course, trying to keep on track would perhaps have been easier working as a team. Having a weekly time to meet, to discuss what is coming, to bounce ideas off...all the great things about the first 16 weeks I missed in the second. We have 2 people in the March intake, and I've recommended to them that they try meet regularly to keep on top of it all.<br />
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References<br />
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Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/<br />
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Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001).Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-49775643940711173132017-07-11T16:24:00.000+12:002017-07-11T16:24:02.776+12:00Many Rivers to Cross: Week 31 - PRACTICE - Professional Context - Crossing Boundaries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Breaking out of the National Standard silo's has been on the school to-do list for a few years now. We aren't seeing the changes in achievement that we would like, no matter how much we put in. A time for a re-think.<br />
This year we have allowed our Inquiry Learning to include our Literacy programmes...to have the morning and afternoon parts of the school day work together, and build off each other. Small step, but so far so real strength has been seen (and a few weaknesses). The Ross Spiral curriculum seen in the video describes what we know learning could be like...exciting, personalised and challenging, and it also nicely shows what we can't get to with this relentless focus on reading, writing and maths.<br />
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My connections map shows the various people. groups and types of learning that I interact with. As I shift into Principalship I've noticed that the job I have been doing, and about to do, is quite different from classroom practice...and the people/ideas that I will be interacting with are different also. In many ways I will be taking all of these disparate threads, and trying to find alignment between them...alignment between the schools vision, beliefs, actions in the class, and how the community and various agencies can best support the learning of the children.<br />
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Community of Learning<br />
In my final weeks of being AP, the Masterton schools had their final meetings about commiting to setup a community of learning. The (then) principal took me along to these...but so i could have my voice, and so I could see the lie of the land. A CoL will be the very embodiment of interdisciplinary connections...as the story of a learner from ECE through to tretiary will need to be considered and enhanced.<br />
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While these meetings at their very infancy, a lot of planning and idea sharing has happened already. The ACRLog (2015) suggests that successful interdisciplinary collaboration requires a synergy of Qualities/Attitudes, Workplace Conditions, and Common Goals. It was interesting reading about this in light of the steps towards a CoL...getting the mix right, how will that look? The Primary cluster have been working on some shared learner qualities for several years now, so this could be the start of one piece. Setting an achievement challenge as a group will help determine some common goals. But it is the Workplace conditions, the way we will operate together...that will be a real challenge I believe. Keeping communication effective between many organisations, of varying sizes and complexities...keeping the functional elements of all...almost hurts the head just thinking about it.<br />
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It will be a challenge, but we aren't the first...so learning from established CoL's about what worked for them, and adapting those ideas to suit our context will be important going forward.<br />
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References<br />
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ACRLog. (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration<br />
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Ross Institute. (2015, July 5). Ross Spiral Curriculum: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Science. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHZhkB0FJik<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-10350831403085267082017-07-10T14:47:00.001+12:002017-07-10T14:47:20.438+12:00Stop! Collaborate and Listen: Week 30 - PRACTICE - Professional Online Social Networks<br />
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In an age of collaboration, how will educators who are not connected get on? Are they missing out, or are they wiser than the rest?<br />
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I joined Twitter for the first time in 2009, sent out one tweet...then decided it wasn't for me. I had heard how it could be great to connect, to seek new ideas and knowledge...but the reality left me a bit cold, the connection asn't there. In 2014 a group from school went to uLearn, and as a part of that I completed the Connected Educator month through Core Ed. A lot of the skills weren't new to me, but the application really opened my eyes. This blog was started, and I reactivated my twitter account...and started to connect with the people i was meeting and seeing at uLearn. Suddenly the tool had a purpose, and I was away.<br />
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The purpose was important...I wanted exposure to new ideas, to thought leadership, and to influential people...to move beyond the knowledge in my school, in my town. Towards the end of that month I blogged about being 'connected', and how the 'knowledge was in the room', and that Twitter just made my room so much larger. Through twitter a connection to Russell Street school was formed, which has led to a sports exchange. That same connection has led to the beginnings of an educamp being run in the Wairarapa later this year. I've asked questions of experts, had my thoughts shared, and collectively built knowledge with others. The Twitter feed on the side of my blog shows show of this connecting (and I also do a fair amount of lurking and viewing!). being able to bring outside ideas to your practice, to see innovative people and what they are doing, to be able to ask questions to those with the answers, and to be exposed to differing methods, approaches, and thinking is the benefit of using such a tool.<br />
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Melhuish (2013) says that these social media allow teachers to "engage in an informal kind of professional learning" that meets their needs, and is 'just in time' for them. This is fantastic, and also the biggest challenge to overcome. For this to be the case, to be successful, teachers need an inquiring mindset, they have to want to learn. Otherwise the tool fails. If its purpose is to bring and share knowledge, and this isn't what is wanted, the tool will be seen as an extra, the PL opportunities seen as a waste of time, and the idea swiftly falls over. I see this as the case in many of the postings on the NZ Teacher Facebook page...where instead of a great place for sharing and collaborating, it (at times) becomes a place to offload, to complain, to try avoid doing the hard thinking/work required to be a learner. Lots of the posts are fantastic, but sadly the group doesn't appeal to me...the PLN I have through twitter provides much more, in a much more positive way. The Netsafe video (<a href="https://vimeo.com/49216520" target="_blank">linked here</a>) sums this up nicely.<br />
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Ultimately I think that if you are a learner, if you are a seeker of new ideas, then using a digital tool to access these is a must. It won't replace people (hearing first-hand from excellent practitioners is awesome), it won't replace reading (this has its place for sure), but it does supplement these, and make them more powerful. Watching someones practice from another country...not easy without social media, asking questions of the author of a study you want to know more about...so much faster through twitter.<br />
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As with any tool, the user will make what they want to make of it...and use of the tool alone will never be enough.<br />
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References<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Education Council.(2012). Establishing safeguards.[video file]. Retrieved from </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/49216520" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1aaf5d; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">https://vimeo.com/49216520</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Melhuish, K.(2013). </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved on 05 May, 2015 from </span><a href="http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han." style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1aaf5d; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han...</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3N_1qJJKfUQu8GzW5Lrh2g" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #46db6e; cursor: pointer; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Office of Ed Tech</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">. (2013, Sep 18). Connected Educators. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=216&v=K4Vd4JP_DB8</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-62833794054048544592017-07-04T10:49:00.000+12:002017-07-04T10:49:06.121+12:00How Social is too Social? Week 29 - PRACTICE - Influence of Law and EthicsHow Social is too Social?<br />
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A few years ago now we had a teacher who made what I considered to be some social media faux pa's, the biggest of which involved Facebook, parents, and student data.<br />
This teacher had 'friended' some of the parent community on Facebook, something that I had always been very wary of...but not something that the school had taken a stance on (this was 2010). Some of her status updates could be seen as a bit disparaging towards the school, and the learners, such as "yay, can't wait to get out of here, sick of it", "do I have to go to work today, can't be bothered" etc. School Leadership would talk about it about it, and some reminders sent to staff. The big one was after some STAR testing, and she posted "So proud of my Year 4's, made huge progress in STAR Reading. Wish I could say the same about my year 3's, sigh, they're the opposite". Clearly this is not appropriate, especially as parents (and staff) in the school could see that (and perhaps identify children).<br />
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Ethically she had taken the private, and made it public, sharing to people that didn't have the right to know, and sharing in a way that was negative about learners in her care. Those learners and their whanau have the right to know about how their child is progressing, but that information stops there. Do other people have the right to know, and is it fair that the choice was taken away from them?<br />
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The issue I guess is where is the line between personal and professional life? How public can you be about yourself when you hold a professional role in a public organisation? The Teachers Council later came up with a guide to Social Media, which would have been a great help back then.<br />
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What was done to address the issue? Not a lot other than a repeat of previous attempts...a conversation, and a reminder to staff about the perils of Facebook. The teacher did promptly 'unfriend' the school leaders...which meant that her posting were no longer visible to us.<br />
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What could we have done? Following Hall's process, we get to the point of asking what restrictions are there to our actions...and this is where we fell down then, and still would, as we don't have a clear policy about social media use in the school. While we can talk about maintaining professionalism, we don't have policies or procedures to fall back onto.<br />
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The New Code of Conduct/Standards from the Education Council now give us the means, even without policy. It is clear about describing what a teacher has to do to uphold the profession, and to maintain relationships within and without school. She may have failed by:<br />
- disclosing a learner’s personal or confidential information beyond those who have a legitimate need to know<br />
- communicating in a dismissive, disrespectful or inappropriate manner<br />
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The Code examples make things clear by having the negative view of the code, describing behaviours that we don't want in the profession.<br />
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References<br />
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Education Council. (n.d.). Retrieved July 01, 2017, from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Hall, A. (2001) What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">IIPE Conference</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">, Brisbane. Retrieved from </span><a href="http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1aaf5d; font-family: open_sansregular, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-77926318417465509862017-07-02T20:29:00.000+12:002017-07-02T20:31:37.973+12:00I Believe, We Believe: Week 28 - PRACTICE - Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural ResponsivenessWhat is Culturally Responsive Practice?<br />
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A big question...but perhaps with an easy, entry level answer?<br />
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Believe in the kids (get rid of the deficit thinking), believe in your actions (agentic teachers) and care for your students as people.<br />
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Unpacking what Bishop (2012) is getting at...he wants for teachers to care deeply, and genuinely for the students that come through the gates, and to have high hopes, dreams, and expectations for them without letting backgrounds get in the way. To truly believe that as teacher I can create conditions, and facilitate powerful learning that will help make the difference for that child.<br />
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Easy to write, easy to believe, harder to put into practice....but should it be?<br />
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As a teacher, as a leader, and as a school we have struggled with this across the years. Don't get me wrong, we do many awesome things for our Māori students, but have often grappled with the meaningful vs tokenism debate. Are we doing this to celebrate and grow a culture, or to tick a box for somebody? This has led at times to slow change, and actions not being valued...no matter their ease of implementation (eg daily karakia). This area is still a work in progress.<br />
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I was intrigued this week by the Mauri Model of self-reflection, a simple and powerful tool. Using the concept of Mauri, a life force, we can see how 'alive' an idea, a concept or an action is in our practice. Pohatu (2011) used these descriptions of Mauri:<br />
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Mauri Moe has two levels: first level is inactive state which can be thought of as “being dead” and the second level is proactive potential which can be described as “sleep” state.<br />
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Mauri Oho is the state of being proactive, being awaken from the Mauri Moe.<br />
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Mauri Ora is the state of being actively engaged.<br />
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<u>Our Vision, Mission and Values</u><br />
Last year staff, students and whanau inputted and created our new graduate profile, the DPS Kid. This Kid embodies all that we want for our learners...academically, behaviourally, environmentally and culturally. Interestingly when we asked our community what they wanted for their kids they overwhelming wanted us to help foster great kids, nice citizens, kids who felt safe to be themselves, risk-takers, and just to be happy at school. This ties in so well with what Bishop asks of us as a profession, to know and care for the kids. We used our 5 PRIDE values as a base for this DPS Kid, using the Māori words for them (again, the token debate...) and using a whakatauki to bring a richness to each value. This cultural story that the whakatauki bring was missing before, and is such a simple powerful thing to have done. Our aim over time is to have the children be able to use the English, Māori and whakatauki interchangeably when discussing themselves as a person.<br />
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I think for this area of the school we are operating at Mauri Oho as we are making a start, making deliberate choices to bring the culture to the fore within the school. The shift to Mauri Ora will be harder, and I see this as being when the DPS kid has been normalised, along with all the concepts and language attached to it.<br />
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<u>Decisions, Decisions</u><br />
Do we as a school make culturally responsive decisions? Again, a question that has an 'easy to write' answer, but a challenge to bring to reality.<br />
Over the last 5 years our school has become much more strategic, and focussed in our planning...through the charter and annual plan. While not totally rigid, they have meant that once on a path we have tended to stick with it. As we are making these big decisions for the following 12 months we aren't asking ourselves questions about culture, about values, and about how we could be doing things 'differently' (as ERO put it). We ask each other questions about learning, and learners, without considering their stories, without looking further than what the data is telling us. We are making a beginning with this though, with this years annual plan target around Māori achievement, and annual goals around developing a more culturally responsive way of working. As a Leaders team we are looking and learning, two members now a part of a culturally responsive cluster, and we have reframed our 'target' children into 'focus learners', part of the change being to know them before we teach them.<br />
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I think we are Mauri Moe, but perhaps the second level. On the way, starting on a good track...but far from proactive yet.<br />
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References<br />
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A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. (2017, July 01). Retrieved July 01, 2017, from https://vimeo.com/49992994bishop vid<br />
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Raising Achievement in Primary Schools (2014), Education Review Office<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-3279125885681020862017-07-02T14:36:00.000+12:002017-07-02T14:36:27.040+12:00An Inconvenient Post: Week 27 - PRACTICE- The Broader Professional Context<br />
Globalisation, Climate Change, and the Impact on our Environment<br />
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When I was at college my friends and I would often disappear to the local rivers to go swimming. We had our pick, could go anywhere. Fast-forward 20 years and the current students of Wairarapa College have less choice, and more to worry about if they choose to go for a swim. Wairarapa translated into English means 'glistening waters', yet just last week a scientist claimed that Lake Wairarapa will take 100 years to repair the environmental degradation that has already occurred (Wairarapa Times Age, 2017)<br />
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An OECD report (OECD, 2016) claims that temperature increases of just a few degrees would lead to water shortages for billions of people...and lead to the extinction of a large part of animal species. The report claims that even with increased environmental awareness, greenhouses gases continue to rise. The Paris Climate Agreement that the report mentions aimed to limit the worlds temperature increases, and was seen as a massive gain for the environment. Unfortunately, with Trump pulling the US out of the agreement are we headed towards those 'few degrees'? The big concern however must be the clash between public knowledge, and public action. While people choose to debate the validity of climate change, there are certainly many that believe it to be true, but this doesn't seem to correlate with large numbers of people choosing to act for the environment, or for elected representative bodies to act either?<br />
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All of the above has meaning for practice here at school. Building a habit is easier than un-doing one, so education plays a massive part in achieving better environmental outcomes. The actions we model to our students, our attitudes, beliefs and assumptions, the value we give or don't give to our environment all contribute to growing the next generation of people to deal with this trend/issue.<br />
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What Will You Do?<br />
Western education certainly has a big part to play. Where does power come from, how did this food get to my plate, what fuelled my transport getting to school, what is being done locally to restore and enhance the environment we have affected...some question stubs that curriculum could be geared to answer. If nothing else, an awareness that the decisions we make daily have a big impact globally...how much of a consumer do you want to become? What did your decision affect?<br />
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We are currently a green-gold enviroschool, and take a number of actions to improve our school and local environments. We have a 2kwh solar array generating us a modest amount of electricity, worm farms, compost and recycling systems, but we could do more. The possibilities here are endless, but returning to the enviroschool beliefs that students should learn <b>about</b>, <b>within</b> and <b>for</b> the environment would be a positive start. Looking a sensible ways to build a green(er) culture within our students, and begin to build those green habits.<br />
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But will that be enough?<br />
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We also need to equip our learners with 21st C skills such as creativity and collaboration. Sadly it will be there generation having to deal with the mess we leave, and using current thinking won't generate the new possibilities that they will need.<br />
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References<br />
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Trends Shaping Education 2016 | OECD READ edition. (n.d.). Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/trends-shaping-education-2016_trends_edu-2016-en#page32<br />
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<span class="selectable" id="js-reference-string-1">Wairarapa Times Age (2017). 100 Years to Clean Up Our Lake. [online] Available at: http://times-age.co.nz/100-years-clean-lake/ [Accessed 2 Jul. 2017].</span><br />
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<span class="selectable" id="js-reference-string-0">YouTube. (2017). <i>An Inconvenient Truth 2 - An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power | official trailer (2017) Al Gore</i>. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u9meHJFGNA [Accessed 2 Jul. 2017].</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-64912061892303818622017-06-05T14:36:00.001+12:002017-06-05T14:37:57.660+12:00Week 26: Current issues in my professional context<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Current issues in my professional context</div>
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We are a provincial, urban, Decile 5 school of 360 students. Our school community is quite diverse, with ex-State Housing running along one boundary of school, and coveted 'Westside' properties lining the other. The recent property boom has seen many rentals sold, and has put some of our families under a lot of pressure to keep a roof over their heads...some of whom have been forced to leave our school as they could no longer afford/find accomodation. This has seen an increase in behaviour issues, and as a result we are having to be more pro-active, even starting a before-school pastoral duty to engage with the students prior to the learning day.<br />
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Our school has 5 core values, based on the word PRIDE...Peaceful, Respect, Independence, Dare to Dream and Excellence. These 5 values originally started as part of our behaviour management, but have since become much greater. Last year after work with the community the values not only encompass how children act (behaviour), they look at how children learn, their culture, and how they act for the environment. they manifest themselves in our new DPS Kid, a description of a learner at our school. Interestingly the description values learning as a part of creating awesome citizens, and academic success is juts one part of being a successful DPS Kid. This is a new initiative, and we need to keep the focus on it for awhile so that we don't shift back to 'normal' ways of working.<br />
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As a staff over the last 3 years we have been shifting toward a more modern way of working, with increasing collaboration between teachers. As a whole our staff give a lot to the children, creating many ways for them to be successful. Like many schools, the struggle to find 'time' can lead to friction. This can often mean that as a school we are slow to change and adapt. Professional learning is a good example, often seen as something being 'done to' rather than as a learning opportunity. We have started to provide a range of options for PLD...giving extra release for personal PLD time, running workshops within PLD to offer different things to different people, and this year I have started optional PLD...taking the great practice in our classrooms, and having teachers run optional afterschool sessions.<br />
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Stoll and Fink use these 10 descriptors when looking at improving schools:<br />
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Norms of Improving Schools<br />
1. Shared goals—“we know where we’re going”<br />
2. Responsibility for success—“we must succeed”<br />
3. Collegiality—“we’re working on this together”<br />
4. Continuous improvement—“we can get better”<br />
5. Lifelong learning—“learning is for everyone”<br />
6. Risk taking—“we learn by trying something new”<br />
7. Support—“there’s always someone there to help”<br />
8. Mutual respect—“everyone has something to offer”<br />
9. Openness—“we can discuss our differences”<br />
10. Celebration and humour—“we feel good about ourselves”<br />
Stoll and Fink (1996)<br />
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I found these interesting to read...so much common-sense and yet so much challenge wrapped up in a few words. Taking a step back I think that often in our learning environment we get some, if not most of the 10 running well...but not all. Is it an awareness thing? Should we be more mindful of the decisions we make, using these 10 descriptors as a filter...will our decision move towards more/all of these criteria being fulfilled?<br />
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Collectively we have a supportive, but not always engaged parent community. Our kids are great, our PRIDE values shine through them and our staff work hard to improve outcomes for their learners.<br />
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References<br />
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Stoll, L., & Fink, D. (1996). Changing our schools: Linking school effectiveness and school improvement. Buckingham: Open University Press.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-37654641590061241632017-05-21T16:47:00.000+12:002017-05-24T08:51:47.623+12:00Reflecting on Reflection<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reflection. This term is bandied about fairly freely in our schools, classes and staffrooms. Reflective practice, tick. On reflection I changed...tick. Let's end our lesson with a reflection, tick. This weeks MindLab webinar opened my eyes a bit when exposed to Zeichner and Liston’s (cited in Finlay, 2008, p.4) five levels of reflection. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Repair - post-lesson/unit thinking about what worked/what didn't</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Review - verbalising, or noting down thoughts about practice</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Research - engaging with research, over time, perhaps gathering and using data</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Re-Theorizing - a critical examination of practice, using data and research to re-define what had been thought to be true</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I had engaged in several of these levels of reflection, it was never a conscious decision. I had often approached reflection at those lower levels, and it has only been in the last few years that I have grown into using more research, engaging with academia in order to find out what works and what does not in learning.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something I thought to be so simple, now viewed as a practice with such depth.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-75178157514173176802017-05-21T16:06:00.001+12:002017-05-21T16:08:02.524+12:00My Communities of Practice<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Communities of Practice...s</span>omething I thought to be so simple, now viewed as something with such depth.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wenger-Trayner define communities of practice as: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At first glance this concept can appear easy to grasp, but after further reading this wasn’t the case. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These communities can be viewed through these 3 lenses:</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Domain</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - also called a joint enterprise - members of this joint or shared enterprise are joined together by a “collectively developed understanding of what their community is about” (Wenger, 2000) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Community</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - also called mutual engagement - essentially the community engaging with each other, interactions between members, and the development of relational, mutual trust. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Practice</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - also called shared repertoire - the pool of knowledge and resources that can both be accessed, are are created by the community of practice. </span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I assumed that my CoP would primarily be the teachers in the teaching team I work with, and leadership team, but in reality it is both wider, and narrower than that. My wider groups would include out of education groups I’m a part of, my family (in particular my wife) and my musical mates. I won’t analyse these.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Within education I have identified several strong CoP’s...my MindLab cohort (both the Masterton intake, and the wider G+ community), teachers interested in technology and elearning at school...wider than just my teaching team, and my online PLN.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The G+ Mind Lab community contains all 3 elements of domain, community and practice. The community and practice parts are more evident, and as the course has gone on, the stronger they have become. My part to play in this community has been small, but I do feel as if I have contributed to helping a few people with their course work. </span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At school a core group of us look to develop our practice,and the practice of others, using technology within learning. My involvement in this CoP is much greater than G+. The 3 elements are clear, and we meet the criteria. Involvement of external to sschool members would make this CoP even better. </span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another CoP that I play a small part is is my PLN on Twitter. As my followers, and the people I follow, are self-selected we are buying into a community of practice agenda...we tend to follow those who we have common alignment with, shared beliefs, or who have interesting ideas. Our ‘domain’ is around what works in learning for children, and the collective understanding grows with each new person you follow, get followed by. A Twitter PLN engages with each other, adding to the knowledge of the whole. A Twitter CoP has a great strength in its size and variety of settings, the collective knowledge is overwhelming at time. However, its flaw can be its isolation, the fact that your PLN is digital, and they are not (in the main) able to view your practice, have corridor conversations or those ‘just in time’ discussions. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I leave my AP role and step into Principalship, I am also heading towards a new community of practice to embrace. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">References</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner, 2015, Introduction to communities of Practice. Retrieved from </span><a href="http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-81260661180224053472016-12-11T22:17:00.003+13:002016-12-11T22:21:33.310+13:00'You can Code your own way'<i>'You can Code your own way' - what Fleetwood Mac may have written if they started out today (try unhearing the word 'code' now when you hear that track...). How we let staff have a go at coding/robotics, do it their own way, and the success of that.</i><br />
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Our final e-learning PLD session this year we used as a taster, to setup thinking for next year. Some of us have been exploring the use of coding in our Options program, and I have recently started using Edison Bots within maths. While we have talked about these things at staff meetings, we have had little uptake...so this session was designed to let people explore.<br />
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As a lead-in we set some 'pre-readings' to get people thinking. We included some Maker Movement stuff from Core Ed, to set the scene in terms of children 'creating', 'building', and 'playing' as a part of their learning. Also, dropped in an Hour of Code promo clip...<br />
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Those videos were good, but what this <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11348036" target="_blank">Herald article</a> was a definite winner...1) because it showed NZ kids and teachers using coding and robotics as a part of learning, and 2) because it was 'old' if that was 2 years ago, then we needed to get cracking.<br />
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The session started with a massive win...we asked the staff to discuss what learning could come from these technologies, and we heard back from then about developing:<br />
- creativity<br />
- problem solving<br />
- communication<br />
- agency<br />
- collaboration<br />
All things that we have been unpacking and working on as a school, coding etc was seen as a vehicle to teach and develop those attributes.<br />
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For the 'playing' part of the session we took the learning approach of...describe the instructions for use with minimal detail, and give them the seed of an activity/idea to follow. We hoped that this would promote discussions between the people working together (trying to figure out how to use the tech), and would lead to creative application...as we didn't prescribe the end result.<br />
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In the leadup we were nervous about how staff were going to approach the session, but it was fantastic. people really got into it, and the discussions were great. The outcomes of some of the stations were far more creative than what we had suggested...reinforcing to me that having a prescribed outcome is ot always best.<br />
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The slides are embedded below, and include links to useful websites with further ideas.<br />
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We ended up showing this clip about iLuminate, the dance crew. I wanted to end by showing that coding really has nothing to do with computers, it is just another tool to develop creativity. The video is amazing, and the amount of probem-solving and collaboration that must go into her works, wow. The video served its purpose, and broke down the barrier for some people...they could see then that coding had application in the arts, in farming, in whatever field of choice...it is just another tool to arm children with.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-13629334505457708312016-12-05T21:57:00.002+13:002016-12-05T21:57:22.034+13:00It's not about the Coding, it's about the ThinkingAt Mind Lab last week a Steve Jobs quote was shared "Everyone should learn to program a computer, because it it teaches you to think". A few people disagreed with the quote, pointing out that thinking and learning were much broader than 'coding'.<br />
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At this point Rochelle introduced the term 'computational thinking'. At first glance I took it to mean coding, and related it back to Jobs' quote...but after a short discussion it turns out that computational thinking IS what we want from our students, and the skills it brings with it are at the core of 21st C learning.<br />
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<i>Computational thinking is a way of solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior that draws on concepts fundamental to computer science. To flourish in today's world, computational thinking has to be a fundamental part of the way people think and understand the world.</i><br />
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Being able to problem solve, communicate, translate ideas into action, innovate and create...these skillsets are important to develop, and are a core part of computational thinking. It is much, much more than just being able to code a machine.<br />
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Google has an online course for Computational Thinking, and it describes 4 elements:<br />
- <b>Decomposition:</b> Breaking down data, processes, or problems into smaller, manageable parts<br />
- <b>Pattern Recognition:</b> Observing patterns, trends, and regularities in data<br />
- <b>Abstraction:</b> Identifying the general principles that generate these patterns<br />
- <b>Algorithm Design:</b> Developing the step by step instructions for solving this and similar problems<br />
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Again at first glance they seem to be computer related, but I love the ideas they also post to break this misunderstanding...they are mainly secondary-based, but illustrate well the CT concept inside a traditional application of learning<br />
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I think having this in mind when planning some work...how can I take these 4 elements of computational thinking, and allow students to apply to their learning...would be a great start. It's not about the coding, it's about the thinking.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-35313995599159983862016-11-28T21:24:00.002+13:002016-11-28T21:24:48.175+13:00How leading a research team might be similar to / different from leading a teaching teamDuring last week's Mind Lab session we had a look at research into how to lead a research team effectively.<div>
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The key points were around:</div>
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- Setting aside time for leadership</div>
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- Promoting inclusiveness, do all members feel valued?</div>
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- Motivating staff by:</div>
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<li>knowing members strengths</li>
<li>respecting their backgrounds</li>
<li>delegation</li>
<li>coaching of individuals</li>
<li>providing feedback and recognition</li>
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Obviously the parallels can be drawn with leading a team at school, or leading a group to effect change. </div>
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This reminds me of some reading I had done a couple of years ago into effective workplace's. The Gallup Organisation identified 12 traits of productive workplaces, and most of them (like the ones above) revolve around treating your colleagues as people, and being very humanistic in your approach. The one that always struck me was everyone should 'have a friend' at work. </div>
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These points are things that I need to continually remind myself of, and it has prompted me to re-surface the Gallup work for our Leaders team next year</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-77086582166209040422016-11-22T22:07:00.001+13:002016-11-22T22:07:41.256+13:00Augmented or Virtual reality in the ClassroomOur Week 3 Mind Lab session had a section looking at disruptive technologies. These technologies force or accelerate change, and lead to new innovations. Think Netflix, and what it has done to renting DVD's...<br />
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Some of these emerging technologies involve virtual, or augmented realities. Virtual worlds we can inhabit/create, or ways in which the physical and digital worlds can interact (Pokemon Go).<br />
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I've used Minecraft quite a bit now in learning...starting as a context to drive my writing program, through to children creating inside Minecraft (settings of stories, or just 'things' they want to make). The tool is a powerful one because it is open ended, it isn't a linear story to follow. The blocks, tools and the way these things can interact (via crafting table etc) means that the children are forced to build and create, rather than consume. The ability to communicate within the world, and interact with others adds more layers of awesomeness.<br />
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I haven't really tried VR aside from a little go at using it as a writing prompt. Using Google Expeditions this afternoon has re-shown me the potential for this as a tool...especially to help give children experiences that they might not have otherwise (even simple things like visiting a zoo).<br />
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Augmented reality, I've not had a go at. At first it seemed a bit gimmicky during the session, but super engaging. Towards the end when we made a trigger image and overlay in Aurasma, I could start to see some uses. I'm especially interested in how it could be used to bring concepts/content teaching to the children. Have some trigger images to do with surface features in writing (picture of speech marks), create the overlay, then then children can seek out learning using the app... up comes a video tutorial you can use to develop these skills before a writing session.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-30500936120647549692016-11-14T22:10:00.000+13:002016-11-14T22:10:03.613+13:0021st Century Learning DesignA quick video reflection as part of my Mind Lab studies...how well does a learning activity I have taught meet the criteria of the ITL 21st Century Learning Design rubric?<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-81596480240059206052016-11-10T22:24:00.000+13:002016-11-10T22:24:35.563+13:00WALT? WILF? WTF - The Difficulty with Learning IntentionsI've been internalising a very complicated situation in my head...how I use Learning Intentions with my students.<br />
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<b>Learning Intention</b>...I intend for you to learn something? Teacher in control<br />
<b>Success Criteria</b>...to be successful you have to complete the learning in this set way? Teacher in control<br />
<b>We are Learning To</b>...are we? Or am I telling you...<br />
<b>What I'm Looking For</b>...Am I the only one who can judge success?<br />
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Don't get me wrong...students being clear about what it is they are doing, and clear about what it is meant to be like is super important. It's the way that these things are framed to the learners that I've been struggling with. Is using those acronyms, and breaking down the learning into tiny, tiny parcels of learning, really making things clearer for them?<br />
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A maths advisor we worked with once said the content of the purple Numeracy books is gold, but the way it was written was garbage. The Learning Intentions inside those texts...they are so narrow, so precise...how do you write success criteria for them? Are they really what we wanted children to learn, or were they a part of a bigger whole?<br />
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Absolum's Clarity in the Classroom (awesome text) promotes having Global Learning Intentions, big picture stuff that smaller learning intentions/criteria can come from. Our Assessment for Learning PLD taught us that having these clear in the minds of the students first, before bombarding them with the miniature ones, is key. Co-construction of criteria is another important part of helping learners get 'inside' their learning, letting them have agency enough to describe what good learning looks like. All fantastic stuff, but still I persisted with the WALT/WILF labels, and I feel these limited my thinking, and that of the kids.<br />
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We, like may schools, also have progressions...for reading, writing and maths. These form the basis of consistently assessing learners across the school, and help identify gaps and next steps in learning. Nothing wrong with that, except it has meant that learning in literacy has become as detailed/splintered and fragmented as that in Numeracy. Do we really want to work on the fine detail in isolation...is the learning really to "<i>Use most grammatical conventions correctly eg. Correct form of simple, compound and complex sentences and use of pro-nouns and prepositions" </i>Is that what quality writing really is? Do that by itself, learn that in isolation, and you are a better writer?<br />
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We identified an issue with our Boys and their writing this year (like many other no doubt). Across Terms 2 and 3 I worked with a boys-only group, mixed ability, but mainly those at-risk-of-not-meeting-the-damn-standard boys. It has been primo, and we managed (together) to create a culture within the group that writing is awesome, and that we are all authors. Writing chapter books for fun, and taking pleasure from using great language...but, all the while I was persisting with the 'normal' LI/SC/WALT/WILF way of framing learning.<br />
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Towards the end of Term 3 I'd gathered my thoughts enough to make a change...I wanted the lads to opt into workshops based on what they wanted to learn as a writer. To do this I couldn't have the LI's come from our writing progressions, I had to group bundles of them together and try it a different way. I now use titles for workshops (currently my co-teacher and I are running a Star Wars themed literacy class)...so titles like 'I've got a bad feeling about this', or 'Metaphors (may the force) be with you'. These serve to capture their attention. Going with that is 'We will'...what will we actually do...not what I intend for them to do. 'We will': "<i>make sure that our readers knows what Han is feeling, trying not to just say ‘he is scared’</i>". Then the 'How'...how will you actually do that: <i>Decide on the feeling or emotion. Describe how you would feel, without using the word (what would you be doing, what would your body be doing, what would you say?). </i>Lastly, we have an example: "<i>Han looked ahead, the walls of the canyon were getting tighter and tighter. His hands on the throttle were white knuckled as he flipped his ship on its side. He closed his eyes tightly, and wished for the best. A second later he opened them... he couldn’t believe his luck! "Wahoo" he screamed into the headset"</i><br />
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It's not radically different, but now the children are clearer about what they are going to do, how they will do it, and what it will look like in the end. The little examples are great...they can look at them and decide if they need that skill, if they are able to write in that way or not. The learning isn't one little piece anymore, often several skills bundled together. I want the How (the SC) to be very actions based...what are they actually going to do and see...this makes self/peer feedback so much easier.<br />
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My co-teacher and I run a series of these workshops each day, in parallel, based on the same piece of writing. The next step I can see is for us to make it clear how each of these workshops (each of these examples of writing) adds up to being a quality writer.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-69524188755978095732016-11-06T15:49:00.003+13:002016-11-06T15:49:46.877+13:00Cultural ConnectionsEngaging with Parents...a task we have always found difficult, especially with our Māori community.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DPS Whanau Hui October 2016</td></tr>
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We have tried a few things in the past from meetings in the staffroom, shoulder-tapping at the school picnic, surveys being sent home, and cornering parents as they are leaving their childs learning conference. None of these have been particularly successful...at either meeting the needs of the tickboxes, or gaining more parent helpers/allies for the school.<br />
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I have often felt that the school wants what some other local schools have, but we have tried to force it to happen...rather than allowing a relationship to develop and grow by itself. Perhaps our 'why' is muddled...why are we doing this? If we aren't clear, the mixed messages will be a pretty strong deterrent.<br />
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This year is the last of the schools 3 year Strategic Plan, so we were seeking voice from the community about what they wanted next for their learners. A part of that was having a hui to hear from the parents of our Māori community. After much talk, the team decided to make use of the marae across the road, and to follow Māori meeting protocol, and just allow everyone to speak their minds. Brett, our BoT chair, ended up running the hui...and did an amazing job. The voices were slow at first, many parents had come to just 'see' what this was going to be about, but soon a common message started to come through.<br />
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Respect and celebrate the culture, but give it some prominence. Many were unaware of what the school does to promote Tikanga and Te Reo (outside of kapahaka) but they felt that their children were the same, unsure as to what the school is doing. We can work on that, a great next step.<br />
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The group was also keen to carry on the dialogue...but not to make heavy, 'lets look at the data' type meetings...but to have fun, and upskill as a group. One parent has written some local stories in Te Reo that he is keen to share, and another is able to teach us some waiata and games. Amazing, we would never have gotten to this point by forcing the issue. It was very affirming as well, coming hard on the heels of another consultation evening that only 2 non-BoT/Staff parents attended.<br />
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Overall I think we have reached that point where interest can now start to gather momentum. BoT chair can push on, and use these keen whanau as experts, and the basis of starting a larger group. At some stage I'm sure the discussion will turn to the academic side of school life, but it will be coming from the parents, not from a tickbox the school needs ticked.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-45425112276730779272016-10-09T16:00:00.000+13:002016-10-09T16:00:21.500+13:00Creativity Thrives with Time and Space<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This article was on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/84805751/childrens-author-andy-griffiths-on-his-treehouse-success" target="_blank">stuff.co.nz</a> this morning, and Andy Griffiths words fit perfectly with my earlier posts around creativity.<br />
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He has several messages about parenting, that can easily be related to education.<br />
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- <b><u>Taking risks can pay off.</u></b> "Sometimes falling from the monkey bars teaches you something". We need to create conditions in our classes where 'learning' risks are always taken. and the learning that comes from that is celebrated. For some, taking the safe/easy path is their default, taking risks can mean failing...and that can be scary.<br />
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- <b><u>We don't need to always 'entertain' the children.</u></b> "The value of free-form play is very important, both mentally and physically". Not filling the children's day up, giving them time to make choices, allowing them the space to be creative...important. AT our school we have had discussions around lunchtime activities...some of our students were becoming so busy that they didn't have the chance to be kids and play at lunch. They need time to 'play'.<br />
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- <b><u>Let them be bored</u></b>. "Creativity thrives when we have lots of time and space to do it. If things get tight, and we get busy, and deadlines are too close thats when we get uncreative". In our programmes, do the children have the time to be creative...or are they so bogged down in Must Do's/Can Do's/Independent tasks/assignments that we have taken this time/space away?<br />
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- <b><u>Triggering a love for writing</u></b>. " I made a get well soon card for my Dad which said "Get well soon or you are doomed". Our literacy programmes need to allow for boys humour, and allowing them some freedom to be creative. Descriptive writing about Autumn leaves may well be very nice, but stories about the Zombie Apocalypse are awesome! How are we developing this love for writing in our students.<br />
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All in all I thought his messages were fantastic, very timely heading into the new term.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-27112558085863795052016-09-13T21:49:00.000+12:002016-09-13T21:49:10.980+12:00AP/DP Cluster Trip to Hawkes BayAs part of our cluster work with Carol from edLead we combined our two Term 3 sessions into one trip away. The focus from Carol for the trip was to have a look at Leading Change at one school, and the development of Professional Learning Communities at the other.
I was looking forward to the first school as the principal had been a 'critical friend' for Douglas Park, and my own appraiser for several years. He was always very challenging to work with...in a good way. He often made me question my beliefs about teaching and learning, the choices I had made, or pathways I was heading down. He often asked...is this good for the teacher, or good for the learners?<br />
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He shared his recent leadership journey with us, he has been at the school for 18 months now. He was typically challenging and hard-nosed, had made some tough calls to get things moving in the school. He talked about:<br />
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- Really reflecting his school community. His parents can see their kids in the school, but can they see the culture. He mentioned hiring Indian TA's as he has a large Indian community, promoting the Pacific Island Language weeks, Diwali, and making the cultures visible...little things like Cook Island posters in his office window, or using Indian, Pasifica and Maori designs in his new uniform logo.<br />
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- Satisfactory Teachers aren't good enough anymore...a classic statement. Good is the enemy of great is something else mentioned. He wants big things for his learners, and they are challenging...so 'good' won't cut it. He has moved all his 'resistor' teachers into one Learning Community...he would 'rather they piss each other off, than piss off the others'. You are paid 70K a year, 'get over yourselves'.<br />
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- He believes student leadership shouldn't be exclusive. All his Year 6's and some Year 5's have roles...librarians, patrollers, councillors, peer mediators...all of them. Everyone is a leader. Any change to the school goes to the student council at the same time it goes to staff for input...powerful.<br />
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- The school has developed trading cards to reward behaviour...collect all 6 and get a gold card! Gold card means you go to the principal, and he can discuss the ways you have been meeting the school values<br />
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- No normal CRT for teachers...they get 6 chunks a term, and their class goes to Robotics and Coding. Massive engagement, and teachers now plan use of CRT better. Will carry on next year, but expectation that teachers learn from afterschool workshops about coding so that the following year it can be seen in normal learning programmes.<br />
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- Self-Directed teachers...some staff PLD is compulsory, but the weekly sessions are mainly optional. 3 sessions are run on a Tuesday. You earn points by attending, more for running a session. He gave out a minimum expectation of points...but doesn't track it. Him and his DP get out to classes, and if they see something awesome they shoulder-tap that teacher to run a workshop.<br />
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The second school was a small rural school, with a first time principal (4 years in). She spoke to us briefly around the development of Professional Learning Communities at her school. They have two teaching teams, and they get release from 11-3pm fortnightly to meet as a PLC. The have a process to follow, based on the work of <a href="https://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/docs/Harris_and_Spillane_-_Distributed_leadership_through_the_looking_glass.pdf" target="_blank">Alma Harris</a>. The leadership team meet weekly from 9-11am. The aim of all this is to develop leadership within the school, and to give time and resource to those meaty discussions that we need to have as teachers. That had 'monitoring' meetings in the past to discuss target children, but these were 'once over lightly', with no real depth. She has given us some further information to go and look at.<br />
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She also talked about Writing PLD...and how they actually focussed on Reading. Got their reading programmes improved, which exposes the kids to better language and model, which then transfers to their writing. An interesting approach.<br />
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She also spoke about PLD...its no good having one-off sessions. The best PLD is when the team pulls apart the data to find the needs, they research what best practice is, experts can be brought in, and they must have followup...observation, evaluation and reflection. She didn't go deeper...but that has given me plenty to think about.<br />
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Overall the day was great, some interesting things to consider and be challenged by. I'm intrigued by the Year 6 leadership challenge, the trading cards and the optional PLD...but the PLD idea clashes with the good process advocated by the rural school. Lots to consider.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-44971194957454250302016-09-04T21:29:00.002+12:002016-09-06T12:40:01.292+12:00eLearning PLD. Addressing the Specific Needs of LearnersOur third session looking at learner need vs technology. We wanted to carry on with the theme that we are trying to change teacher mindsets away from 'I have this technology I want to use' to 'I have these learning needs, I wonder what technology can help enhance this learning'. It's easier said than done.<br />
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After discussing the reading (see blog post), we thought it was important to re-introduce the idea of the SAMR model. Its not new, but the message that we can be using the technology for more than just digital worksheets is an important one. We quickly took the staff through a learning activity (publishing writing) at each step of the SAMR model. Again, nothing earth-shattering, but it showed people that with a little thought a common learning activity can become much more collaborative, creative, and be more readily shared outside of the classroom. We used Explain Everything as the technology as it is something our staff are familiar with.<br />
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We had asked them to bring along some use of e-learning from their everyday practice. Not the fancy, awesome one-off thing that had been amazing...just something that they do often. In pairs we discussed these...the person had to share the learning need, and explain how the technology helped address that need. We then discussed against the SAMR model, where was the learning sitting. This was good, it made people think about what the actually did...and make some judgements around that.<br />
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We then shifted the conversation to be more future-focussed...how could we take the same learning, same use of the technology, and more it further up the SAMR Model. The example I had brought along was using Padlet for generating and brainstorming words, and ideas, in writing. We thought that as it was able to be accessed from anywhere, and that the kids had made sentence examples for each of the words that it was probably A on the model, augmentation. Better than paper, but not heaps.<br />
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The next steps for me are to try and use video/audio in the padlet to show how the words sounded, or to illustrate the words better. And to think about embedding the padlet in the boys blogs so a) they can access it readily, and b) their audience can see the types of words/ideas they should have been attempting to use.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="569" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iu_GpcffuIbEmhT0R_SxI7v8FssFrOEMRsjvsC48e4U/embed?start=true&loop=false&delayms=15000" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="800"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-66092381819328201102016-09-01T14:38:00.000+12:002016-09-04T21:03:13.947+12:00Shared PLD with Hadlow School: Creativity in Core LearningTerm 3, Week 6. 3rd session for the year with Hadlow. This time Jane and I chose to focus on creativity. She has been reading some of Sir Ken Robinson's work, and we chose Creativity as one of our school's 4 Core Beliefs last year. We wanted to focus on the 'core learning areas', as we felt that it would otherwise be too easy to say the children have Art opportunities, music, singing, Options etc...but to me this is 'timetabled' creativity...you're only allowed to be creative at 1.30pm on Fridays.<br />
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Robinson's TED talks, and an article (see <a href="http://hashtaglearning.blogspot.co.nz/2016/08/to-encourage-creativity-you-must.html" target="_blank">professional reading log</a>) were the pre-reading,and gave staff something to discuss as we had afternoon tea. The videos worked well, enough content while being fairly entertaining. After the starter we ran a quick exercise...everyone was given a sheet of paper with a triangle on it. Half the staff had the instruction to 'complete the painting, you will earn points the closer you get to the correct answer', and half just had 'complete the painting'. The idea was meant to be that having a correct answer would limit thinking/creativity, whereas the more open/free task would encourage it. As an exercise it didn't quite work that way, but the message got across.<br />
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As with the last two sessions we split into discussion groups, and had a recording sheet to try and structure the discussion. Some good ideas discussed and debated, in particular...what do we mean by creativity. As always, not long enough for these discussions. Ended the session with a quick look at Creative Flow (see other <a href="http://hashtaglearning.blogspot.co.nz/2016/08/creative-flow-or-let-your-kids-be-bored.html" target="_blank">blog post</a>).<br />
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My takeaway from the session came as people were sharing what they do to promote/allow creativity...and all were describing either open/rich tasks, or setting conditions for the learning and then getting out of the way. Either way, it was releasing the responsibility back onto the learner and allowing them some freedom. After the sessions I've decided to have a 'blank' task that my literacy class have, they can choose what the task will be and how it will look.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="569" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17SlQ7kt1Jkuqzw6YrFym4EOkEaFWEv1uUyefV9VJufk/embed?start=true&loop=true&delayms=15000" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="800"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-11021946271671917902016-09-01T12:28:00.001+12:002016-09-01T12:28:47.253+12:00Why Instructional Design Must Focus on Learning OutcomesOur e-Learning focus for 2016 continues to be around Addressing the Specific Needs of Learners using technology. We have promoted this as a mindset change from "I have this technology, what is something cool I can do with it" to one of "I have this learning need, how the the technology help address this".<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-07-21-why-instructional-design-must-focus-on-learning-outcomes-not-learning-activities" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7sQVNcD-t9adrQHMY9BfbxFzA1OPwCGmd8trpKUQdk2b5_ylUzMUAcmYGZm8EmHv_kRI7Llf1Q8mPjcC0r18Be2O5zlo46IZyouMUe3yEmnn2czbChPKM4UZyOvTZB6UcWN2YgSBrRmv/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-09-01+at+12.04.59+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click the image to go to the reading</td></tr>
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Essentially, if we are to become effective at using technology, it has to be a purposeful change in the way we teach.<br />
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A reading we have used was a blog post on Ed Surge. The article is clear in its message...if technology is just used as a tool to engage our students, then the learning will not be successful. The learning activities need to be designed learning need first...technology second. The author has a great example of 2 possible txt conversations between home and student<br />
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It may be hard to see, but the left column...the conversation is all about the technology and how cool it was, the right column is all about the learning, and what the student gained from using the technology. By focussing on designing lessons to meet students needs, then think about possible uses of technology to enhance the learning...the 2nd teacher has created a wonderful learning focussed environment.</div>
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I've been guilty in the past of wanting to use particular tools just for the sake of it...Minecraft is often the example I use. I wanted to use it, so shoehorned it into lessons...focussing on using the game, rather than the learning needs of my students. It is much harder to reverse that process. </div>
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The article ends with two great points..."Date the tech, but marry the ability" and "Student growth is the result of the practice, not the product". In other words...don't get hung up on the technology, concentrate more on what it can allow you do to with students, and don't think that the tech can be the saviour. We are the educators, we have to modify practice and focus on the learning needs of our learners if we want to see change.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-63891166787928422262016-08-31T14:05:00.004+12:002016-08-31T14:19:17.617+12:00To Encourage Creativity, You Must Understand What It Is - Sir Ken RobinsonAs part of our Shared PLD with Hadlow School around creativity I asked teachers to read an article Sir Ken Robinson had written for the Guardian several years ago<br />
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The article is his response to the Minister for Education in Britain, who had made some claims around creativity that Robinson disputes.</div>
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Robinson defines creativity as "a process of having original ideas that have value". The ideas don't have to be new to mankind, nor earth0shattering, but they have to be new to you/peer group, and have some kind of value. He argues that as it is a process it is both teachable, and assessable. It is about fresh thinking, and about being a critical thinker as well...is what I'm working on any good, have I created the message I wanted in my writing etc.</div>
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We need to allow curriculum space for the kids to be creative, not to focus entirely on skills, and to ensure our teachers have the freedom to try new things, that they aren't bound by the pressure of shifting students to 'At'. </div>
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While his ideas about what creativity is are clear, he isn't giving out a programme for teachers to follow. There isn't a right path, a set way of teaching, certain units to follow...so as a profession we need to be questioning of each other, asking those critical friend questions...why did this happen, what was the impact? </div>
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In my practice I am going to try giving the kids some independent learning space to focus on a creative project. I have a child that is keen to write a chapter book and has made a start. I need to provide his both the opportunity, and encouragement, to pursue this creative task.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-79579588462339052082016-08-30T20:14:00.000+12:002016-09-01T14:41:07.665+12:00Creative Flow - Or, why we must let our kids get boredI've been curious about this for awhile now...several years ago I saw some photos appear, twitter perhaps, of Amesbury School students working with signs next to them saying "Please do not disturb, I'm in Flow".<br />
<span id="goog_2143692166"></span><span id="goog_2143692167"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJveeXXkCSJTAzV9Sd9HbouwVYfrf8AKG3wQL4xuROG_ZY1iYpWN7m0j2SZqLOgR8RJaz5nflW115N49y-v5c8-CiaR2nQiVlxHUUPj5MRk6jlKjSR4MCsL9QsVlhTb4Znz8BPm4EzmmGq/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-08-29+at+9.16.31+PM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJveeXXkCSJTAzV9Sd9HbouwVYfrf8AKG3wQL4xuROG_ZY1iYpWN7m0j2SZqLOgR8RJaz5nflW115N49y-v5c8-CiaR2nQiVlxHUUPj5MRk6jlKjSR4MCsL9QsVlhTb4Znz8BPm4EzmmGq/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-08-29+at+9.16.31+PM.png" width="320" /></a><br />
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a day with Mark Treadwell, a post will be coming about that, and he spoke of this 'flow'. He was discussing creativity, and how our brains cannot do 2 conscious things at once...so to be creative, people need the cognitive space to be so...to get into that zone, the creative flow state. He challenged us to allow children to become 'bored', as it is only then that creativity and imagination are possible. Encourage day dreaming, and if children are 'in flow'...leave them to it, hence the Amesbury signs.<br />
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This challenges some of the ways I operate in the class, having a set of tasks for the children to work through when not with me...Must Do's, Can Do's. While great for allowing choice, and giving them the opportunity to timetable their learning day, it doesn't leave much space for boredom or day dreaming. Also, the calling of groups...come down for your reading group, now its time for your writing workshop...am I getting in the way of this flow state? Should I leave them to it?<br />
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Shots of Awe, Jason Silva, illustrates this concept will with this short video...he calls his videos 'philosophical expresso', an intense burst of cognitively challenging prompts, messages and visuals.<br />
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Something I might try is removing some of my tasks, and replace them with blank spaces...what learning do they want/need? And, if they are working on this things they can opt out of some of the learning workshops I may call them to. Give them the opportunity to get bored, to enter that state of flow, and to enjoy the rush of creativity when constraints of time/space have been removed from them (even if only briefly!).<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896542459476307006.post-62938905849542153412016-08-14T21:55:00.001+12:002016-08-14T22:01:44.711+12:00Minecraft, Writing and Boys (or How the Ender Dragon can save us all)Our school (like many other no doubt) has a issue with Boys and Writing. The new entrants who walk into our gates have less than a 50% chance of meeting standard by the time they leave us for Intermediate. This isn't good enough, we know it, and currently we are working at addressing this area of need.<br />
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One of my inquiries last year was looking at the effect of Minecraft as a context for writing. I knew nothing of the game, other than the boys would babble in a strange language at the mere mention of it...words like nether portal, obsidian, pickaxe, zombie, and endermen...it made no sense. Many educators, much more talented than I, have been down this path with great success...so it is no surprise that the boys a) enjoyed writing about minecraft, and b) they used language that they never would or could in the kinds of writing they were doing previously.<br />
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12 months later, and a brief but awesome foray into writing about the zombie apocalype (also very engaging and full of greta vocab), I am back working with a group of lads writing about Minecraft. It is different now. no longer do we play the game, or build things in a world...we are using the world as a place for something to happen, for a narrative to play out. Mr Cubey has made an excellent series of videos called 'Life of a...' farmer/hunter/spartan/wizard/pirate...they have one central character, and a struggle they are dealing with. The worlds the narrative is played within are absolutely amazing, even showing 10 seconds is enough to generate massive discussion within the group.<br />
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The 29 boys and I will watch a section of the video repeatedly...using Padlet to record ideas, vocab, phrases, and ways they could structure their work. They then go about crafting a paragraph or two based on what we have watched, using the rich discussions recorded on the Padlet. I call down groups to work with me, using their current writing as the vehicle to develop and show their current learning intention (eg, using the speech from the video,cam we write and punctuate it correctly to add some impact?).<br />
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We have just completed a piece based on Life of a Builder...here is an <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cR5DZ_hdWEmwiR34gBRZ2RNYM0_uvz1yJAfqijkZS8I/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">example</a> (largely unsupported). It's not perfect, but has some great elements to be worked on.<br />
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The current piece we are working on is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90kNtjTYhC0" target="_blank">Minecraft The Beginning</a>...the video is a narrative showing a player play the game, developing from a shipwrecked man with nothing, to creating an amazing world and battling many foes. It has a twist ending also...not the best, but a good talking point. The boys use this <a href="https://padlet.com/garethsinton/qhov1pi9ghuy" target="_blank">group padlet</a> to record their ideas, and use this to plan their writing each day. The boys are producing some magic stuff, and the language is amazing. At one stage in another video a character became 'dizzy' when put under a spell. The film described it as dizzy, but one of my lads said 'he is feeling nauseous'...wow!<br />
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I've now got disengaged writers who are writing their own narrative-type 'chapter-books' in their spare time...<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ef0b65H9eMzWyh1BV2eGE0OzSbQRcFsNRpLCG2mrZ_8/edit" target="_blank">Wasteland of the Dead</a> is a favourite...spelling? Punctuation? Grammar? Not so much, but enthusiasm and engagement? Yep, in spades!<br />
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Letting Boys write in a context they love helps, letting them work collaboratively helps, rich discussion about language helps, mixed-ability helps, and the fact the Minecraft has a rich language to it means yes, the Ender Dragon really can help save our boys writing.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04351247207977350404noreply@blogger.com0