Whanau.

The best part about my move to Ōpōtiki? Hanging out with my whanau ❤

OC Library Vortex - 31st March

Me - "I'll only be a couple hours, K? See you when I get home!"
Also me, "Wow... It's already been six hours organising and tidying in the library. Probably should go home..."

😂 #OCbookclub #OpotikiCollegeLibrary #explore2019

I am beyond excited about my find at CREW today! A mobile book display for our OC Library!! ❤❤❤ Just needs a little bit of paint and it will look awesome with all of the new books coming into our library. Still so stoked with the amount of new books we found hidden in the boxes under the computer bench yesterday. Massive thanks to Juls from the District Library for all her mahi and help. And another awesome thanks to Vickee for introducing me to CREW today. Found heaps of new frames too to finally put my travel photos in ❤❤❤

Alternate Future Career Pathway: Librarian

One of my alternate future career Pathways was becoming a librarian. Being a kid obsessed with reading thanks to my nan and my genetic disposition to reading thanks to my Molloy side, it's of no wonder why this was always going to be a possibility.

And so, with this in mind, I'd just like to point out how excited I was on my first day at Ōpōtiki College (literally - at my interview) when I was showed the library and the DP said they were looking for someone to take over the library to bring new life to it. I put my hand up as high as I could (while standing behind her in the corridor).

Of course, I'd be keen if I got the job. And I did. And now... I am working towards my alternate career pathway. Because there are SO many things I didn't know. That I would obviously have to know as I move forward building the library in our space and making it a fun, functional and interesting place to be.

No before photo... But there will be plenty of after photos as we start to bring it all together.

What I need:
- positive and negative experiences of using libraries
- what aspects you like about being in a library eg asthetics, seating choices, cool things your library does etc
- what aspects you don't like
- ideas for bringing students into the library eg competitions, food, book club etc
- ways to encourage staff members to use the library
- ideas for easy (and cheap) giveaways eg bookmarks etc
- any library geekiness I need to know

I've already got some awesome support people at kura and some great support at our Ōpōtiki Library in town too. The youth librarian there Juls is freaking awesome. And am hoping to get in touch with the Trident librarian soon as well.

Many thanks in advance ❤

#opotikicollegelibrary #OCLibrary #librarygeek #OCbookclub

Powhiri at Ōpōtiki College

Officially part of the Ōpōtiki College whanau. A colleague asked me if it felt weird to be welcomed on after a week of being at school. Two weeks really because we were in planning and organising the resource room (read: chucking HEAPS of old resources from the 70s-recently). And yeah, it was a bit weird and also because it was only new staff and a couple international kids. The Y9s had been welcomed on last year during their orientation day.

The young man that did our wero was incredibly talented. I thought he was a Y12. Nope. He's a Y10 and in my Tihi class. I was thinking once we were sitting on the pae mo manuhiri that it would have been cool to video the powhiri and haka - but I guess it's also tapu due to the nature of the karanga and tikanga. It was so special though. I really want to learn the Whakatohea me Ōpōtiki waiata-a-ringa.

He waiata matou? Ma wai ra ❤

I also want my conversational Reo Māori skills stronger. Like right now. Bahahaha

After the powhiri, we had more LA time where we planned out some adulting classes for the Y12s and Y13s for the year. Then an awesome kai in the DC (Discovery Centre).

Had my first run through of all my classes. Started some good learning and my 11 English class had way less students in it so it was a lot more manageable. We talked about oriori and babies cranial softness and how histories were past on back in the ra. The end point being that our heads are tapu, and so are our hats and that's why we don't wear them inside, nor have our hats on the ground or the table. I said to them it was a moral thing whether they followed tikanga - but I'd prefer they didn't wear them inside... And don't get me started on the durags... (Facepalm emoji...)

My 13s and I planned out our first assessment - a public history/oral history assessment where they have to interview someone to create a Book of Wisdom. We are starting with a practice target - a member of staff. Then they will proceed to interview someone they think would be interesting in the community. I had a brainwave that we could also go to the old folks home (Thornton here) and ask if we could interview them.

The 11THI kids were hilarious again yesterday. Far. Crack up as. I'm so grateful for the relationships we built during the Tu Rangatahi programme. Those kids crack me up something chronic. They're just really cool too.

The 10 Tihi kids are honestly so cool. Super respectful of my crappy Reo Māori and willing to help me too. We also felt weird being over in mainstream - so that's something I need to talk about with Te Hira. Whether we're in my class or in KKU.
The kids Reo Pakeha ranges. Some able to write long sentences, some not so much. Having only the tens yesterday meant we could create those bonds before the nines turned up. Though I'd already met the nines the day previously with the testing for PAT. Now that I've met the tens - I have a way better idea of what we're dealing with in terms of our baseline. So we'll do bits and pieces of the junior POL but I also need to scaffold everything for the TIHI kids. Will need to make an entirely TIHI focused POL this weekend and finish off the junior POL too.

I still need to do some Connected Learners for all the Freyberg and other house kids with the testing. So resilient.

I colour-coded the Chromebooks. Yay! Will set up a booking system soon too.

Much more to do this weekend.

❤

PAT Testing

Mission.

Resilience from both myself and the students. Frustration towards NZCER - kicking kids off after two questions.

Best part - writing samples. First time to see all the kids focussed and getting their mahi done. Our space was all sorted. Still some students having issues. But getting the rest of it sorted today.

Stressful. Kids were cool.

Brain a jumble. Need to eat a proper meal and find some time to cook myself something. Maybe tomorrow morning for breakfast... Gotta shower and get ready for the Powhiri too. Early early Riise then?

First Day with the Seniors

I'll say this first and get it out of the way. I miss the KAL kids and the Heights kids. Course I do - six years there, many relationships built over the years and I missed the vibe I'd had with the KAL kids.

...

Today first up - staff briefing and karakia and waiata ❤ then assembly with all the new kaiako on stage. Me - awkward, standing up, waving, then a quick, quiet Kia ora koutou and sat down, perched on my seat.

Next - moving off to Ngata house meeting - am really looking forward to working with Matua Lance! He was so inspiring in his korero today - talking about his own education and work he's done before he became a teacher. It was good to be able to introduce myself then and there and welcome the new Y12s and 13s and also myself and Lance into Team Ngata.

Then - off to my classroom for LA (Learning Advisory) with LELN. I have the Y12 and Y13 Ngata students. They're pretty cool! I asked them to say their name, one thing they hated about last year and one thing they are looking forward to this year. Pretty cool responses too. Was good to get some questions early on from this group. I asked them what we could do to improve our class and there's absolutely plenty to be done. We sorted out the timetable for the day - Lines 1-5. I wrote it all out on the whiteboard only to realise it was super easy and pre-organised on the piece of paper they'd been given. They didn't need to know the lines and all that info I wrote bahahaha

My first class after interval was my Y13 English class -- Level 3 THI class (Thinking and Delving into Texts). I tried to start off with the POL and the texts we were going to do - but we (and I actually mean they) got straight into whakawhanaungatanga. It was awesome. I was a little drained afterwards haha just because it was rapid-fire 'get to know Whaea Alex'. Loved every minute. They asked me heaps of questions and I passed around my Europe bracelet and puzzle ring to see if they could recognise any of the countries and if they could put it back together. They all want to travel and think bigger. We talked about not feeling trapped and making sure that they had exit plans once school finished so that they were driven, passionate and ultimately wouldn't just be sitting at home next year with no goals. They are SO keen. Love this. The connection was fast paced. I haven't taught Y13 kids in ages and it was a surprising and positive first impression of the class. Can't wait for our year.

I caught up with Robyn and discussed the upcoming PAT test and we arranged a meeting for later on in the day to further organise it with Vickee :)

Level 1 English.... 38 plus kids. Surely. Absolutely bonkers. I got through half of them asking for their name and how English went last year for them. We broke down what NCEA stood for and I attempted to go over the course outline with them... But they were all over the place. Talkative, talking over each other etc. It took ages to settle them down - they will need loads of attention, scaffolding and strict but fair guidelines. Because far... Discussions were super hard. The girls were onto it and way focussed, quiet as too.... The massive amount of boys... Not so much. Once the kaiarahi organise the class a bit better - we'll have a much better start to the year I reckon. Lots of knew learning for me as it's a US course.

Level 1 THI - such a cool class! A few of my new Tu Rangatahi mates there too. Was awesome. The vibe was high as! They were excited to work with me and me with them!! So can't wait. I asked the kids what their names were, something I absolutely must know about them (hint: majority of them like pies 😂) and something they're looking forward to this year. We looked over the plan a bit and talked about what we'd be doing. I floated the idea of doing 'Part Time Indian' but they'd already studied it. So... I need to figure out another text. One of the Tu Rangatahi kids, Tana, was already bouncing ideas for his speech - not due till term 2. Love this class. So cool!!

Lunch - spent quickly eating food, and then having a visit from two of my Y13 students who talked about the year and what they were hoping to get out of it. One of them said they'd never sat in a class at lunch with a teacher and talked before... I said it was normal to me because at Heights we'd always hang out in class. One of them also said how gutted she was for the students at Heights, how they'd lost a good teacher, but how happy she was that they'd gained a good one :) happy chills!!

Sorted out the plan and details for the PAT testing tomorrow. Looking forward to this online testing version as the test changes as the kids progress based on their needs and abilities. Accurate testing!

Last up was LA. I forgot to check my emails before then as we were told the kids could leave once they had their timetables sussed to remove any blanks. They all rushed off once we found out. I was trying to stall for time and then once we were told - they were gone. Not much of a good bye or see ya later. I missed KAL so much at that moment. Our vibe isn't there yet in LELN. But we'll get there, I hope.

Much more to be thought about and processed. But am happy we had such a good day and that other than the 38 Y11 kids ... There were no issues and I made heaps of new connections or at least beginnings of connections today. Stoked.