Where to next?

31st May 2016 - Mindlab Graduation Celebration

Winter will be here tomorrow so this is a good checkpoint to stop and reflect. I'm celebrating the fact that I'm not studying at the moment and that I've thus had more time with my class and to concentrate on the kids' learning.  I'm really enjoying the work I'm doing with my focus group kids at the moment, particularly in maths, as the kids are responding so well.

It was exciting to finish MindLab, having developed a different perspective, and be moving into yet another phase of our great profession.  Learning and teaching is a challenging business to be in and I'm always growing as a result.  Learning alongside some great teachers over the past year has given me different experiences and I feel grateful for all my learning.

Looking back on times like these I wonder where I'd like to head next.

I particularly enjoyed studying and stretching myself into new learning territory.  I'm still interested in taking on a TeachNZ study award to try to go further with my learning.  I'm really interested in Leadership and in Change Initiatives in particular.  I had some interesting conversations with my ex-Principal, Nik House last week, when I visited him, and would love to continue to learn from him and his experiences.  He had a lot of important information to share and I would be interested in how I could best utilise this knowledge over the course of our change toward modern learning environments at GisInt in the future.  Collaborative teaching could be a great move for many of us.... AND will need significant scaffolding, support and inquiry learning processes to be in place in order for us to be successful.

He mentioned Michael Fullan, who writes on change leadership, so that will be an interesting next step.

Math and Learner Agency

Daily at the moment I am having these amazing math sessions with our learners.

Why is it amazing?
The kids are engaged, stretching themselves, seeking help and expressing their enthusiasm through their voices and faces.  As they are enthusiastic and stretching themselves, we're able to see how they're learning, how they're challenging themselves and to have important learning conversations around how that's happening and the impact it's having on the whole class.



Why are they doing this?
I can only offer an opinion on this one but I feel like they're doing it because many of them have already come with a great foundation.  On top of this though - we're providing explicit opportunities to learn, we've built on this learning from their assessments (IKAN) and are showing the application to real life and thus, demonstrating its relevance.

In fact, two of our boys stated that when they could see the question (context), they could see WHY they were learning about (for example, how to convert between fractions, decimals and percentages; or how to divide by ten by moving the decimal place).  One of them threw up his hands in horror at the idea of working with fractions or percentages, but when applied to a context he knew (buying and selling Speedway Stock cars) he intuitively knew an answer.

Following explicit opportunities to learn, and links to relevant real life contexts, we are also talking a lot about the process.  We have discussed what's important in math.  We've talked about how sometimes we feel nervous, decide we can't do it before we start, read a problem and read it wrong and so misinterpret it or make an error and decide that that x instead of tick means we can stop the learning there, instead of returning to the problem and reworking it.  So we are developing a culture of accountability, expectation, challenge (I know to learn I need to be in the PIT and it will feel horrible but that is where I learn  - so I'm going to choose a hard problem to challenge myself and if that's too easy then when I'm finished I'm going to choose another one!

Why is this working?
Again, I can only offer an opinion, but I'd like to put this back to the kids to answer sometime in the future.  Perhaps it is because our feeling successful is not just dependent on our right or wrong answer, but is in fact partly determined by our willingness to build our learning habits and as such, our agentic practices.  Also, we are building our knowledge slowly through games, activities, problem solving etc, so we are having many opportunities to practice our learning habits and our new knowledge.

It's exciting seeing our nervous learners making progress and being willing to share their challenges and their progress.  Smiles and lightbulbs all round!

Inquiry Reflection Update

As part of my learning around Learner Agency I've been looking at ways to help the kids to develop their ability to know where they're at, self-assess and how to move forward from here. On reflection, one thing I was confronted with quite strongly was that I was not providing enough formative assessment opportunities for our learners, so they were quite negative about assessment processes.  They often walked away from a test feeling anxious and that they had not been prepared well, even when I felt I had prepared them.

I've been working on finding short, sharp modes of assessment that enable the kids to have checkpoints in their learning.  One example of this is that following a couple of days of learning around a topic, I've begun the lesson with a little formative assessment where the learners pick the level they feel they can stretch to and complete the task, assessing as they go.

In working through the answers, I used our student name cards (a set that is laminated and put in a container by my front computer for ease of use) to select students for answers so most people had a turn even if it wasn't at their stage.

After a while I just went around the room asking kids in turn and the positive mood improved.  When Jasmyn nutted out a problem beyond the stage she was working and I congratulated her on "the stretch" she was visibly excited by her ability to move forward.

Following this, I worked with those kids who have set Fractions as their goal based on their IKAN assessment results

and we made links between fractions, decimals and percentages, celebrated how using intuition helped the boys to solve problems, discussed how our attitude to a challenging subject helps / hinders our learning and demonstrated how applying a context (fractions) to a real-life subject (% off the price of a Stock Car) helped Seth to grasp the relevance of fractions and be willing to have a go...... and was successful instantly.

A $50,000 stock car is 75% off - how much will you pay?

This was an awesome math session with Malakai, Seth, Daniel, Josiah and Tapa - lightbulb moments were going off everywhere! Loads of the boys were saying "I get it now!"
My heart is happy.

Getting to know my learners....

It's day 6 of the school term. Our learners haven't read a piece of text yet (unless you count instructions on the board, Scavenger Hunts or Digital Device and Camp Agreements).  They haven't done any math (unless you count using their ruler to measure out spaces for letters in their Paul Klee name artwork) or writing (unless you count formulating their 2016 aspirations to share with their whānau or coming up with Two Truths and a Lie for our ice-breaker).....

This aside, the past week has been one of my most fun, heartwarming and successful starts to any school year.  Why?  I'm sure it's down to a number of factors (not least that I have a simply
A-MAAZING class this year) but one of these reasons is that we have slowed down.

Hitting the pause button has allowed me to reflect on this process and what I think slowing down has sped up......


Taking time to play games has meant I've seen more smiles and watched our learners grow in confidence.  Developing confidence in the fact that they are safe... with me, with our learning whānau, in our routines and in our   space....  as well as in the games we're playing.

Taking time to undertake some integrated activities slowly, such as our name art (math, art, spelling, celebrating diversity, managing ourselves, developing patience, practicing persistence, aiming for excellence) have enabled us to discuss how each of these activities helps us to Grow Great People.... espousing our new school vision.

It has helped me to see where our strengths lie; who can ask for support, who is a perfectionist that never finishes and which of us are the procrastinators who never start.  Who can use a ruler.  Who can follow instructions.  Who has their own high standards and who is still moving along that continuum.

Taking time has given me time to sit with our learners, to get to know them as people and to share of myself in order to encourage them to view me as a person too.

Taking time has meant we've all enjoyed our time together more without feeling stressed or pressured to complete endless activities at speed.

We've had time to talk about checkpoint assessments... about taking the time to reflect on what we're doing well, where our next step on the continuum might be next and how we might get there.  It's allowed me to have time to ask our learners what they've tried, rather than giving them the answers. This time has allowed me to connect with learners I might usually struggle to get to know and to build strong trust relationships early.  It's allowed the kids to see that I know they're a person first and a learner next and that I value them for who they are, not what they can achieve on any one particular test or activity.

Taking time has meant I have had time and energy and enthusiasm for emailing and calling and texting parents.  Calling parents at the beginning of the year is one of the most rewarding things... because the short amount of time it takes leaves a big boost for whānau and learners.  The value in this is phenomenal.  Some parents don't answer the first time.  Taking the time to let them know your call is positive and calling again has meant that I've experienced some lovely moments where parents are truly surprised and bubbling with happiness at the fact that I've made time to call and tell them what a great kid they have.  They are great kids.

The best thing is that because I've made time to get to know each of these great kids, when I call, I have real information to share.  About the student who made a huge community contribution when they agreed to visit other schools and share their violin learning in order to encourage other learners to come to our school for lessons.  The fact that they demonstrating bravery on the sports field when I watched their lunchtime game, where a few days before they had hung back, shy.  About the student who helped to welcome a new student to the class and show them where to put their resources.  About the student who was so helpful to me and offered to tidy up an area or set up our class game.  Or the student who picked up rubbish in the school grounds without being asked to.  This stuff matters more than what stanine they achieve in a standardized test.

Calling families doesn't come naturally to me.  I can be quite shy and when a phone call doesn't get answered or no answer phone picks up, it can leave me even more hesitant about dialing numbers.  I know however, that the more I practice this, the better it will get... and that these positive phone calls are so important to those waiting at home.  Sometimes it's been a long time since a parent has had a positive call.

Taking time to hold a Meet the Teacher night meant I got a chance to find out important information about our learners and are parents.  The school's commitment to trialing a new format for this night meant I spent less time talking at the front of the room and more time chatting with parents.  About what is important to them.  About their child's concerns and about their aspirations for their children.  How many of their parents' goals for their child centred around confidence?  They know their child worries.  They know there are plenty of things that can (and does) drag their child down.  They are excited when they hear someone who's ready to build their child up.  Taking time has helped me to see how much of a difference that positive rapport-building time has made.  To their children... and in turn to them.... which again benefits their children when they pass that on.

Taking time has meant that I noticed when one of my lovely quiet young men came to me and told me he didn't think his Dad would make the Meet the Teacher night.  Stopping what I was doing I noticed how worried he looked as he asked me if his family HAD to come.  I told him gently how important it was that they come.  He replied, "Dad will probably say... Awww nah!"
I replied with an encouraging smile "Well then it's your job to help Dad understand how important it is.  So you can share your goals with him.  And so Dad can share with you what he would like for you to achieve in your Year 8 year".

A few minutes later he returned again, looking a little tearful.
"I don't think he'll come, " he told me.
"Just do your best," I said.... "tell Dad it's nothing formal, just a chance for him to meet me so that he feels comfortable coming in to see us - so he knows who I am. And if he doesn't make it, we'll catch up some other time, I'm sure"

This young man and his Dad came along a little later in the evening.  I managed to bump right into them on my way back to our classroom from the pool.  Dad looked a little nervous.  His son glowed with pride.  We chatted, they set goals, Dad told me about his son's challenges. They went on their way, into the night.

The next day, I caught up with this young man, who had grown in confidence overnight and patted him on the back.  We shared a treat to celebrate his part in encouraging Dad to come to school.  He smiled, a little more bravely than yesterday.

The best time has been in taking time to reflect on this.  To run through the past week in my head... noting down all the celebrations and positives that have come out of slowing down and making my main focus on the kids.  How in doing so I've had time to talk about their goals and aspirations, and to ensure that these are SMART goals.  How in doing so we've built in a lot of self-reflection, a bit of peer reflection and some class reflections.  How we have discussed assessment for learning and my goals around that this year for them, and alongside this, our new school vision and values.  Reflecting, I realise, has given me time to really relive all of these great moments and to consolidate in my memory what has gone well, in order to help me to remember to continue with it throughout this year and into the years to come.

It's time.  To take time.

Kimberly Hall - Improve Reading and Writing with Google

Kimberly Hall

Presentation is here:
https://docs.google.com/a/gisint.school.nz/presentation/d/1liyFpDw2kaGPqxVoQ8EGKY1fGDe91o6az3lJ2llVN44/edit#slide=id.g4782119f0_20


Using a table to get planning happening quickly without the issues


Change names to Heading1

Then
Insert
Table of Contents

Could use this for dates and headings etc in a personal doc,
Then you can click on these in order to hyperlink quickly to this area.  Great for feeding back to students quickly.

Google channel - watch cool Google clips here


Every time the kids add a new piece of writing they can add it to the same doc and every time they write they give it a heading "Descriptive Writing task 08/04/15"
Click Heading 1
then it will take you straight to that piece of writing.


Using
'mention comments'

+your.name@helpeachother.com

"This idea is similar to yours - maybe you should collaborate"

Lots of tools I've used before:
Sharing
Commenting
Suggesting edits
Revision history
Draftback

Awesome to play back for students to see history though - encouraging recrafting :)


Could we use a doc and for example - use adjectives to describe (colour code) then that will help kids to see what an adjective is and how to use more of them in their writing etc.
Collecting highlights using Google Read and Write - takes highlights in a similar colour and puts them in a new document - this would be a cool way to attempt to get as many new adjectives as possible without doubling up etc.

Using Kaizena for feedback - does this help reach more students by allowing them to access feedback regardless of reading ability?
Also, providing personalised touch to feedback in order to prevent that relationship level from being lost?

Accessing the Kaizena blog here may give extra ideas
Rubric criteria on Kaizena - click here

Use Clearly or Readability to clear up webpages so they're not so cluttered.  Allows saving or printing without the clutter.

Loads of cool ideas - extensions etc.  Looking forward to seeing now how I can implement these in order to best present ways for people to maximise their use of these and find shifts in pedagogy through my presentation at Tairawhite TeachXpo - hopefully!

How to make the whole process convincing and attainable and interactive?
Lots of fun to be had!

Digital Learning Communities

I really wanted to call this post 'brain explosions' as I really feel as though what's in my head is overflowing tonight. I'm really learning this year. 

I'm sure I learn every year, but in my role as co-leader of e-learning as well as facilitator of learning in our classroom (with an e-learning emphasis) I've been thrown: 
* into the Pit
* onto the silly bridge
 * out of my comfort zone

However you want to put it - I'm a learner again in the true sense of the word and it's exciting to be undertaking this journey alongside my students.  We are redesigning learning; together, and as a team. Co-constructing, it seems.

 Today, Saunil Hagler (iseeteaching.com) from Cyclone came to Gisborne to work with us on the next step in our e-learning journey.  (The whole idea of e-learning journey is an interesting one really - as many of us feel that the technologies we're using are simply tools for learning - there is no e-learning anymore, just learning).  We defined, we critically analysed, we discussed, we theorized, we idealised, threw aspirations around and developed and refined plans.  It's an exciting journey.

By the end of the day I'd learned everything from how to fix my GMail problem to how to shut all tabs to the right on my busy browser, to how to create links to learning to autonomise learning for our students in a digital learning community.  Never, have I been part of such a huge paradigm shift in education that has taken place over such a short space of time.  True, my "e-learning journey" began last year, but the bulk of my shifts in practice and pedagogy have taken place in the few short weeks since the beginning of term one.  Seven weeks.  The critical thinking I'm engaging in, the designing I'm doing and the collaboration and reflection in effect throughout this process is phenomenal.  I've never been more excited about my role in our classroom, in education in general.
Daily, life is chaotic, blurry and overflowing with learning.  Daily, I have to mentally 'shut tabs' in my head that force my brain to work overtime.  Daily, I am invigorated by the learning that I am doing.  I'm so encouraged by that, because I know that in order to be enthusiastic about learning, my students need to see I'm enthusiastic in my role as facilitator of that learning.

Saunil was knowledgeable, a patient teacher and an engaging facilitator.  We began the skeleton of our learning community.  As a staff and for our students, this platform could open up learning to all of us.  How effective would that be in terms of shifts in our practices as both teachers and learners.  Giving the steering wheel back to our students means they will regain autonomy in their learning.  It's scary to let go of that wheel for some of us.... but I'm excited about the journey - where will our students' learning journeys take us? I can't wait!

Priority Learners

So my main focus this year is on engagement in the classroom.
To be perfectly honest I don't feel that engaging at the moment.  Our classroom feels more like a warzone some days with the behaviours we're coping with and I'm not sure how we're going to remedy it.

However, my main focus is on engagement, so my learning philosophy screams at me that if kids are engaged, they will be focused and the learning will be happening.

Priority learners are always at the forefront of this engagement debate, because engagement doesn't happen for all students in the same way.  Learners are diverse and as such, the strategies we employ to attempt to engage our students will need to be diverse too.

Technological tools have been suggested to improve engagement, but I think they probably only improve engagement if used in targeted ways.

This article suggests some of the ways these tools can be used for engagement.
One of the most difficult groups to engage are often our boys.

I've just finished watching this video about the impact on learning of culture - there is so much learning here!

I want to keep looking at Manaia Kalani and the practical methods of bringing te ao Maori, tikanga and reo into our classroom to improve the achievement of all our learners.

This video is about boys and writing and I think it's probably pretty relevant to my boys - it's hard to engage them all, but a lot of it is about getting to know them.
I'm hoping our blog can help us do that too.

Teachers as Learners

Teaching through learning and learning through teaching.

Getting involved in education for me.  My learning matters.  Choosing to get involved ourselves in education.

EdCamp
Google Summit
Facebook Cluster Meetings
TeachExpo Gisborne

What can we do so everyone can get involved and people learn from people.

Edcamp looks so cool!

This video is pretty awesome:


and there's a Wiki to help organise an EdCamp.
Lots of interesting things to think about for TeachExpo!

Speaking of learning, Mind Lab starts next week!  So exciting! We got at email the other day with our Unitech log in details etc.  I'm so looking forward to the pedagogy behind this - looking forward to getting involved in some learning myself.

The past couple of days I've:
mentored teachers in creating their blogs, 1 on 1
run workshops for teachers on Blogger and Google+ and
met with parents around how to use technology from our classroom at home to make sure learning is happening.
Its' exciting, it's invigorating and I'm enjoying the journey that teaching is taking me on - speaking in front of others, presenting ideas, sharing and talking and learning from each other.
It's exciting!

Persistence

At this time of the term, I'm having to model for my students what persistence really looks like.  It's hard to keep up with everything.  It's hard to be patient.  It's hard to feel like we're moving forward when there's so much to do.  But we are moving forward.

I have to persist in trying to find time for everything though.

I had two blocks of release today.  And although I got lots done, there are always more needs that keep popping up - more to keep up with - more to feed back to people about, more to teach and infinitely more to learn.

It's cool though, that in my job I am actually learning loads - and it's compulsory.

My priorities are challenging:
Meeting the needs of a highly challenging class.  I think they're wonderful.  I still find them challenging  - daily.
Meeting the needs in my role as a practicing facilitator of e-learning for my kids.
Finding ways to get e-learning to be practical and useful for them.
Meeting the needs of whanau around my core group of learners.
Meeting the needs of the school in terms of e-learning, when we are still relatively new to the opportunities around us.  Digital learning has been taking place for years.  I wonder if it's ever been so accountable and had such high expectations placed on in - to be the be-all and end-all of everything.

So I persist.

I persist in filling in endless forms and records around my kids.  Having endless meetings with specialists and parents, conducting endless Reflection Room visits and having many conversations with students about their choices.

I persist in trying to find time for e-learning myself.  To be able to back up what I'm saying with pedagogical evidence of what I'm doing!  It's all urgent and busy and requires patience and persistence.  I'll get there.

In the process, I'm learning what if feels like to be the real learner again - out of depth and frustrated with high expectations and too little time to make sense of it all, but persisting in embracing that feeling.  Because it's what my kids feel.  I'll have to throw up my hands occasionally, like them and say, "Miss! I'm in the pit! And I'm learning!"

Failure

I could have given up today

Put my lesson down to one learning curve

of something not achieveable with a classroom

of thirty students.

I could have put my enthusiasm aside

cast down my determination to give my students

a voice

and a purpose in what we're doing this year.

Exclaimed that it was just too hard.

That it couldn't be done.

That I was doing my students an 

injustice 

by forcing them to 

struggle through

this difficult space

we have nicknamed 'The Pit'

that I was 'wasting their time' 

or

'letting them down'

But I persevered.

And I will persevere still.

Because when we spoke of the outcome

I saw light in their eyes

and I will chase that light

even though it's hard.

Because if they should fail

along this road of learning

they will simply learn that 

failure

is a necessary part of learning

nay, of life.

And failure is just one step in the long journey we call

learning

and life.

Amie, 2015

On reflection, speaking with a teacher later, who had visited last week and then took some of this learning back into her classroom, she shared with me her experience of starting out with Chromebooks.  About how she said she won't apologise; for noise, for frustration, for it being a bit chaotic to start with.  That they would muddle through because they were learning.  We talked about resiliency.  About how easy it is to ensure there is so much scaffolding for our students that they can't 'fail'.  About how now, they have become so helpless that when they approach a computer and it won't work, they throw up their hands and exclaim, "It won't go!" before walking away.  About how she then asked - "What have you tried?"

What a great opportunity we're now giving our students. 

To struggle...

To try...

To fail...

To try again....

To persevere....

To succeed....

To see the relevance this has to life.

And I saw the light in her eyes too.

We are learning.  Together.  I can't think of a better space to be.

Professional Leadership

Leadership.  

It's interesting what this entails sometimes.  It leaves me wondering if we shared it with our students - our journey - that they may have some insight into where we want them to head?

Today I sat through a photoshoot for my new profile shot for TeachEXPO which I'm presenting at in July.  I find it hard to fathom how I've come a full 360 degrees from where I was at last year.  From struggling to see how my sense of self fit within my teaching persona, to now, feeling that I'm more comfortable and excited about my role than I've ever been.

It's not just the technology.  The e-learning is fun, and important.... but I think it's the fact that through this I feel learning environments are now becoming more relevant to the real world and how it's altered over the past 50 years.  I no longer feel like I'm in the classroom asking students to do something irrelevant.  Now I'm looking for more and more ways to link what we're doing to relevant tasks because it's easier to do so.  I no longer feel I'm asking them to do the impossible... I'm now working through relevant and challenging tasks alongside them and we are all winning.  I'm doing what my Leadership Challenge book suggests - I'm handing over to others in order for them to develop their leadership.  And it's opening up ideas and passion for learning that I thought I'd lost.

I'm thinking about how I'm formulating my profile and thinking about how we could offer students leadership to do the same.  Could we get our students involved in this planning process?  How much more would we get buy-in if we could have students create the learning.  Get them to find the tools, build in their passions, create the plan, develop their profiles and present.  How cool would that be for developing leadership.  Giving our students a real voice.  They could then take this to a class and teach their lesson.  The teacher could be present and they could then learn too.  Maybe we could start with small groups.  My student could be released to work with that class's specialists and the teacher and they could take the lesson back to class too.  Wow.  Potential.  How to make it happen?