Blogged Down by Your Reflection?

Knowing how deep to reflect, the questions to ask and what purposeful reflection is is always a challenge.  Thinking about the levels of professional learning and guidance in the meeting that I attending with the other professional learning leaders was so exciting.  Exploring the tiers of professional learning was interesting and I enjoyed what was said about 'asking why five times'.

I want to explore that today.

One of my huge challenges is making phonecalls home.

It's not that I don't see the benefit of them - I really do.
It's not that I don't have time, though admittedly, sometimes the calls are a little further down the list of urgent priorities - especially at this time of the year.

The conflict lies in the fact that making phone calls scares me.  Even as a little girl, I hated making calls.  I always felt I was interrupting people, I'd make a mistake when talking to them or that they wouldn't hear who I was.  These are all still concerns today.

Despite this, I know that this is an important goal of mine and my colleagues and I who call find this task rather arduous are working together in a supervisory role to make sure our calls still happen.  Today I had a great time, celebrating a chase on the sports field, the fact that a child was not more badly hurt when they were knocked off their bike on the way to school, and the effort and determination a child puts in at school, including her courage in attending camp when she had been hesitant to do so.  I made some great connections with parents and it was awesome to hear their tone change from nervous and defensive to buoyant and celebratory.  I'll keep it up.

Asking why of this process is challenging.

1.  Why do I still feel nervous about making calls?
I feel as a parent that I don't want to be disturbed at home and as such, don't like to disturb others.

2.  do I feel disturbed at home?
Because I feel my time with my family is precious?

3.  Why do I feel my time with my family is precious?
Because I have so little of it.

4.  Why do I have so little of it?
Because I'm spending time working all the time.

5.  Why am I spending time working all the time?
Because I have an amazing class and want to do well by them this year.

So the phone calls are important.  They are building relationships and connections with parents and celebrating kids successes.

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.

TOD Day 2

Beginning with our School-Wide Goal as set by our Board of Trustees

Theo Akroyd Board Chair introducing the Strategic Direction.
Feeling they need to be instrumental in driving the direction now.
They were looking for something for us all to buy into and be enthusiastic about.

A major part of this is self-review which the board know we do a lot of already and this is something we'll continue to do with this current focus.

"Grow Great People"


Introduction of the Board, who are a wonderful and diverse bunch of parents who are passionate about children's education.

Glen then shared the history behind the vision and mission statement and values in our school.  Recently, the Board have met and discussed the new vision, mission and values and have also added some Guiding Principles and some priority areas to target.


Coaching across the school:
* Many more visitors / observers to the classroom
* Glenda and Carrie supporting in their capacities
* Brendon guiding our professional learning across the school

Innovative Learning Pedagogies and Environments
* Movement towards this across the school
* Some concern around how this will look and leaders staying informed in order to field questions and concerns from the community

Finances
Discussion around how finances will be managed and the impact that may have on teachers.  Glen acknowledged that the finances are his domain and should be his concern and not ours.

Homework / Home Learning
Huge discussion was had with the board around the concept of homework.
Making contact with families and knowing them so that we can personalise and tailor home learning for the child too.  The most important influencing factor is absolutely making connections with whanau so they have a port of call with the school which develops their understanding of 'education'.

Extension
Link here for extension

2016 Honours, Colours and Badge System
Check link here

PE and Aquatics Programme
Brendon shared resources and ideas with the culture of child and teacher

Gisborne Intermediate Teacher Only Day 1: 2016

Assessment for Learning - The Big Picture
- with Ande Ford

Queries around National Standards and how we are managing them.
Discussion around overview of our School-Wide Focus - Assessment for Learning
The huge discrepancies between outcomes at schools mean that the Gisborne Communities of Learning intend to focus on Moderation in order to attain consistency.

Importance placed on Celebration of Learning and touched on the perception that some teachers celebrate more than often.

Ande:
2016 Goal:
To raise student achievement in Literacy and Numeracy by improving teacher knowledge and application of ....

Know thy learner - Hattie
(An activity to do at the start of the year).
Two truths and a lie

Great opportunity to learn about learners by seeing who can follow instructions, who can cope with this kind of activity (off the bat)




Expert Jigsaw


Looked at a reading each through the Clarity in the Classroom book.


Is the feedback from the teacher all the time?
Is sometimes the feedback from the student to you - about the feedback?
Or from the student to another student?
Or internally - reflecting on it themselves and making comments on what they need to do next?  Self-assessment.

Student reflecting on the fact that this is quite a good piece of evidence to show they have achieved a level.
Assessment means to sit beside......
meaning we "do assessment with them"  not "do assessment TO them"

Glen:
Teacher's reputations are built on the level of feedback they give.

Ande:
Why are we doing assessment?
What?
How?

IKAN, Writing Sample, Reading Comprehension, PAT Math and Reading, Gloss.... all on the schedule again for this year.


https://www.pinterest.com/teachheartsoul/assessment-what-do-you-know/


Assessment for Learning...
Reliability
Validity
Learner Agency

Then watched Austin's Butterfly

Use this for Growth Mindset and assessing ability to persevere etc with Screencast or StopMotion to show progress and have learners explain their process and show their development and explanation of their

Enhancing Learning through a strategic design process

Again, a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes with this blog serving to demonstrate some of that learning.  In the process of building my knowledge and resources around learning, I have developed a number of documents to support the processes at the time and I felt it was important to ensure this one was present in order to see movement and formalise my planning process from here.

Learner Agency development plan found here

Reflection and Inquiry Process

There are a number of important aspects of learning I've been immersed in throughout 2015 and at this point I'd like to reflect on some of the things that have grown in importance for me throughout the year.

As I'm aware of all the numerous factors that make education so complex and our tendency as teachers to overload ourselves and feel overwhelmed, I would like to take some time to unpack the things I have developed an interest in and those things I feel are vitally important based on the learning I've undertaken.

Three aspects that have been highlighted as important by ERO in recent years, that continue to be important issues include:

• placing the student at the centre of the learning
• rich and relevant meaningful learning for learners
• assessment for learning - involving students in the learning process to empower them in their role as central to the learning process

CORE education's TEn trends this year include:

Learner Agency - student autonomy and voice

Learner Analytics - using large datasets to benefit all learners

Digital Convergence - the merging of digital technology into our everyday lives

Learner Orientation - placing the learner at the centre

Networked Organizations - networks, collaboration, connectivism and the cloud

Inclusive Design - considering the diverse strengths of learners

New Approaches to Assessment - exploring new ways of assessing learning

Global Connectedness - enabling learners to connect globally

Innovation and Entrepreneurship - innovation, startups and the knowledge economy

Maker Culture - making, coding, programming and creating

The 2014 Trends were all identical to these except 

Gamification which was in place of Inclusive Design, and 

The Singularity - which was the idea of the convergence of separately used technologies

The fact that these trends have persisted, suggests that while movement is being made, that we are still currently very much in the midst of the concept of 'an education' changing.  There is much research into the movement of our education system from an industrial model, which worked very well to serve learners in the past, who could be guaranteed a good, secure job by developing sufficient levels of knowledge to attend and complete university..... however, the current global economy and development of advanced technology means that learners are heading toward a very different future to the one the industrial model was designed to fit.  As such, major shifts are needing to occur in order to best meet the needs of all learners in our classrooms, including teachers.

Through critical reflection and analysis of my learning and leadership throughout 2015, particularly in conjunction with The Mind Lab, I have begun to ask some concise and important questions of myself in my learning:

• What am I doing to develop a manageable programme of learner-centred, rich, meaningful and real-life learning in our learning spaces?

• How can I go about developing a better understanding of assessment for learning practices, so that assessment is empowering my learners and preparing them for future learning processes?

• I know I have not undertaken my Inquiry and reflection around my target learners well this year.  Starting now, how am I best to go about developing a structured process for myself to undertake in order to best support my target learners (and thus benefit all learners) in ways that I am routinely accountable and aware of the impact I'm having on these learners?

• How am I best to go about this process in a way that leaves me feeling empowered and effective while still ensuring quality of life balance for myself and my family?

Although I feel as though the year has not benefitted my learners and feel a huge amount of guilt around what I haven't done to enhance their learning, I am aware that this state of disequilibrium is necessary for my practice to change and am now highly focused on how to best ensure movement in my practice for the future.

I have worked hard to ensure all I undertook was manageable this year and although it hasn't been manageable at times, it has certainly been easier than it could have been. Immersed in learning, is one way to describe the year and although I have drowned in it at times, the challenges to my thinking have been hugely important and have aided my thinking considerably.  

For example, aspects of importance for me for next year include:

Beginning with a concrete programme of teaching of learning habits and collaborative tasks in the first six weeks of school in order to develop my knowledge of my learners and teach the process of learning.  Designing activities with the goals being around completion, collaboration and reflection on learning.

Beginning the year with a bank of meaningful, real life contexts of learning for our learners and structuring checkpoints with assessment for learning tasks throughout the process so all learners know where they are in terms of their:

learning habits, core learning areas, credits for learning, ability to monitor their learning

Focusing more on the process of learning and celebrating learning habits and progress at every turn - daily MFCs (Most Focused Contributors) and MFLs (Most Focused Learners) who would then be eligible for a weekly celebration prize.

I once spoke to a family friend who is a respected teacher and she told me that as a teacher, one day I would wake up and wish I was able to meet the needs of all my learners.  Never in my career have I felt this need more strongly.  I feel this in terms of my own practice as well as the policies and practices our current system binds us by, that need to change.  Change is upon us.  

Reflection on Reflection

Wow it seems such a long time since I've updated this blog - which doesn't bode well for my upcoming appraisal and attestation.  However, I think it will be obvious why when viewing my Team 17 blog and Agency to Learn blog - there has just been so much learning going on!

At the beginning of this year, my goals were wide and varied.  I had no real idea what the year was going to bring with:

• Mind Lab Postgraduate study
• e-Learning Co-Lead role (facilitating professional learning)
• a busy class of Year 8 learners
• commitments to Teach Xpo and Google Summit

My goals included:

Goal No. 1

Make learning visible to parents to encourage home school partnerships and increase impact and effective learning programmes.

Goal No. 2

Get students more involved in creation of learning in order to ensure greater depth of content knowledge and greater collaboration (who is working the hardest in our classrooms?)

Goal No. 3

Create positive classroom tone for all members to feel safe and secure.

Goal No. 4

Create a classroom where students are involved in facilitating their learning and have ownership over their learning.

Goal No. 5

Ensure adequate time is available and time management is well-planned in order to manage and balance:

Class learning

Team commitments

Any necessary professional development workshops for ICT/Chromebooks

MindLab commitments

Google Summit commitments

TeachXpo commitments

I remember when meeting with my lead teacher, Rae Black, at the beginning of the year, that Rae was concerned that there were too many goals on my list.  At the time though, I felt they were all viable and important and so persisted with them.

Reflections on these goals can be found on my Professional Goals document

One major reflection I have is that it's been challenging to be updating these regularly with all I've had on as my learning has raised new and interesting sidelines for me and I am not secure in my Inquiry Process. So that is one need to address next.