Whitewashing...

This reading absolutely broke me this morning. Check it out.

Nicole Brown: 'I'm sorry I white-washed your world: A letter to my daughter'.

Living with Dyscalculia

OMG. Dyscalculia. This. Awesome video.

If you've ever driven with me you'll know a few things: I can't figure out lefts and rights, I have trouble with depth perception so I either drive really far away from the person in front of me (therefore holding everyone else up behind me) or stay on the tail of the person in front and I have trouble understanding maps - where North is on the map or where I am in relation to a map.

Dyscalculia has seriously made me think I'm dumb for a massive portion of my life. My 4th form maths teacher told me I'd never achieve anything in life because I couldn't do maths. I have always had trouble remembering timestables and 'basic' math stuff. I can't tell the time properly on an analogue clock and forced myself to learn what I do know now. In fact - I only really figured it out when I began learning te reo Māori because it was in a different language and it made sense somehow. As a result I am nearly always late because I never know how long it will take for me to do something. Because... maths. I just can't... no matter how hard I try.

Dyscalculia is a learning disability. It is seriously misunderstood. It is similar to Dyslexia in the sense that Dyscalculia means you can't figure out numbers.

Anyway -- here's the link:

Living with Dyscalculia

Social Studies: Relevant, Purposeful Learning

Today we had a truly relevant, realistic, just-in-time learning experience with a student who had been on FB during our lesson and told us that there had been an attack on concert goers at Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester.

We stopped what we were doing, searched it class, discussed the issue and possible impact this might have on the experience of refugees if they are blamed.

This student then said, "I can't believe that happened 30 minutes ago Miss. Right when we were learning about sustainability."

Moe mai ra to those who were killed today, and every day. Thank you for opening the eyes of my students and encouraging them to fight harder as activists.

A reflection on refurbishment and liberation

Late last term our new classroom was ready to be moved into.

After the efforts we had last year in E9 painting it and making it look better... only to find out it was going to be refurbished in the holidays... it was incredibly amazing to move into this new classroom - E7.

Now my initial thoughts were that this class would still have lots of sad and potentially negative vibes in it - due to the previous inhabitant who had over time lost her passion for teaching, was unwell and has recently left the profession after decades of dedication and undying love and care for her students.

With the refurbishment, this vibe just wasn't there anymore. The class itself had been made noa after the refurb and it was ready and welcomed us in. We have had incredible lessons so far, even yesterday with the couple of incidents in Y11, and the students appreciate our new space so so much.

This particular post is based on how liberated I feel with not having or needing a teacher's desk.

It's 5am. I should be asleep but I'm still thinking about how lovely and transformative the simple act of not asking for a teachers desk has been.

The caretakers asked a couple times if I needed one - but nope. I'm quite happy without it. Here's why:

* Our new class has heaps of storage in the backroom and in the shelves behind the whiteboards and the cupboards below the whiteboards. There is no need for everything to be piled up on my desk anymore as everything has a place. Students know where to collect things from and freely do so now. They have become a lot more independant in this way.

* Every single moment of the day, I'm interacting with my students. I'm asking them questions and digging deeper into their understanding and perspectives. I sit with each student or group, based on how the class is arranged.

* I'm not tied to a desk and so I'm able to move about the class and am forced to because there is no place that I can sit idly. When I did have a desk, it would become my source of power and control. I would sit there and bark orders or students would come to me. Albeit, if it's been a strenuous day or I'm lacking energy, I do still choose a table to sit at in class, still with a group of students and do some marking or have students come to me and ask questions. Now that I'm not tied to one place, it makes the source of good teaching - me again. I am not the desk. I am me.

- For now, that's what I can think of. I'm sure there's more but now it's 5.30 am and I'm getting tired again finally. Thoughts spilled back onto the blog. Hopefully everyone is doing well.

Will upload pics of the refurb :)