Reaching Out - 22nd Nov

Mōrena koutou!! Am reaching out in hopes that you have some cool resources, readings, advice, PLD support etc for me. 

In my year as curriculum advisor - I've sought help from around the country, within my school and online from around the world. Thank you to everyone who has answered my questions thus far. 🙌

I have massively high expectations of myself and I still don't think I'm doing the job justice. With that in mind, we've actually had an incredible year - built cohesion and collaboration in our dept, made some serious changes to how we do things and are continuing to develop a more coherent and consistent focus for the coming year. 

Our internal moderation processes are strong and we collaboratively plan units, programmes of learning etc. My dept quite willingly welcome me into their classrooms and engage with me when I've done walkthroughs or ask for feedback for help with students while I'm in class, have built more confidence in themselves and their marking. 

I just know I need to keep growing so I can be of most benefit to others but also to myself and my aspirations. As a Curriculum Advisor, Head of Department, TIC - what support have you been given, or found, that have supported you in your role? What further support or PLD would you encourage someone to go on who wants to be further developed as a leader, who has aspirations of one day... very much in the future, of gaining a principalship.

English Dept Appreciation - Planning Day - 26th Nov

Before we started our planning day... This happened.

This was cool today ❤️ Showing appreciation to my dept. Specific gifts for our awesome team and some cool literacy games for 2020. Love my colleagues.

Y13 English Exam - 23rd Nov

Yesterday my Y13 students came early to their English exam, sat their exam and came to tell me which questions they chose. Most stayed for the full three hours. 

So freaking proud of them all and the other students not pictured here too who were super early but had the wrong uniform on and had to go home and change. 😂🤦 

Building up the confidence in these kids has been the biggest highlight of my year. To see them believe in themselves, their learning and the power of understanding (plus the intense analysis and portrayal of their knowledge in their close viewing helped!!), their abilities and overwhelming sense of 'I've got this'... it's honestly just so incredible. 

Such a pleasure to have taught you all this year. Karawhiua koutou! ❤️🙌

SHHKA - Sudima Hires Heights Kids Always ❤️🙌🏼 - 22nd Nov

Caught up with three of my favourite students at Sudima tonight! Loved hearing how they're doing and the buzz from them, happy in their work and their lives. Love it. So proud of you guys!! 

Of note tonight was seeing Miss Vana James Murray - who was so excited to see me, she dropped an oyster 😂😍 It's okay kiddo. I was so excited and surprised to see you there tonight too that I dropped a bread roll while I was still buzzing out. 

So proud of all of you ❤️ Thanks for making my night 🙌 

#HeightsKids

School Journals - 22nd Nov

Mōrena koutou! Just wondering what everyone does with the school journals that come to the dept? What do you do with the very old ones? What's the exit plan for the ones that need to be removed? #SkipBin #GiveToANeedyOrganisation

Get Out, Do Cool Stuff, Return & Give Back - 20th Nov

https://leoaugusta.blogspot.com/2019/11/home-is-where-heart-lack-of.html?spref=fb

Tautoko. Best thing I ever did was move out of Morrinsville. For some people it was a great town. For me, not so much. If I didn't leave when I did, force myself to keep striving to achieve my goals - I don't know where I would be today. 

It's kind of ironic really, now that I'm living here in Ōpōtiki. Same kind of small town. Same kind of issues. But when you hear your 19 year old sister exclaim, "You have a cool life!" and see her frustrations that she doesn't yet have what she deems 'a cool life' - it made me think that actually, it is pretty cool. 

Awesome job, cool kids, cool people I work with. Cool furbabies, even if somewhat annoying and restrictive to do other fun stuff. Being fun busy - choosing to do cool stuff in my spare time and using my free time as I can. Travelling when I want to. Being able to get in the car and go. Not worrying about factoring in another person, just myself. Some might say it's lonely - I see it as freeing. Being able to see my whanau when I want to, not when I need to. Having the choice to go visit people rather than being forced to. 

I still have a long way to go til my life is as 'cool' in my eyes as it is in my sisters. But it definitely started with getting out. Thinking big. And trying my hardest not to let anything stop me, even if that something was sometimes my own damn self 😂

Te Reo Māori Adaptive PAT - 14th Nov

Yesterday I did the te reo Māori adaptive test on NZCER. It very quickly adapted to my level and kept asking me questions that got harder and then sometimes easier based on what I needed/when I got questions wrong. Good to see that I'm close(ish) to the Y10 national guidelines!! 😂🙌 Scarier doing the test in front of my talented reo Māori speaking colleague who tried not to give anything away with his facials 😂 

This te reo Māori adaptive PAT test should be done by all staff, all students ❤️ love it! Thanks NZCER!

Y11 English Exam - 13th Nov

Beyond proud of all these kids today ❤️ They all came to school early as, circled up and had last minute chats about their texts for their Level 1 English exam. Such a hilarious group of kids. Going to miss our Thursdays! 🙌

Senior Prizegiving - 7th Nov

What an incredible night ❤️🙌 Ōpōtiki College Senior Prizegiving was absolutely beautiful. So very proud of our students, the speeches, the awards, the hard mahi to get the treats. Beyond proud. 

Acknowledging those students who continue striving for the very highest pinnacles of success and believing in themselves. The resiliency and focus of our rangatahi is phenomenal. 

#NgataHard #Ngatafari 

Looking forward to 2020 with these future leaders. Going to miss the hilarious Y13s from this year and hope they continue pushing forward and achieve all their goals. 

🙌

Tried taking some selfies with my new mates and students this year. New kura, new traditions.

Missed having my traditional selfie with my mate Bronny this year. Miss my Heights mates! Congrats to the students at Heights who recieved prizes today too. ❤️

Spirit Day - 6th Nov

Awesome day today with our rangatahi today! 🙌 I still need WAY more practice with learning the a-ringa for the second verse of the school haka 🤦 Proud of how our kids step up and do some cool mahi, work together and try new things. ❤️

Mindf*ck

This year has been a mindf*ck. In both incredibly positive and also gut wrenchingly terrible ways. 

Going into this year - I knew it was going to be tough. Living here in Ōpōtiki of course would be hard. The constant introduction of myself to people he omitted me from knowing about. That constant introduction weighed me down. But it could have been fine, had he not been working at kura too. There are days that I just see him. All the time. He's just there. Doing his own thing. It's weird. We barely talk. If at all. Sure it's partly me, but it's also him too. 

So far we have: 

* New school

* New processes / aligning with my own

* New students

* New colleagues

* New Community

* New environment

&

* Seeing my dad at school

* Sometimes talking with dad at school

* Getting counselling to deal with seeing and talking with dad at school

* Ongoing triggers and daddy issue stuff being woken up in me at weird times

* Introducing myself to people I meet that are cool who he happens to know well apparently but they don't know about me

* Trying to reconnect with my own whanau here (sisters, nieces, nephews etc) and stopping myself before I get started

* Isolating myself because it's all just too much

And then.... 

There is the other, everyday normal stuff. 

* Dealing with behavioural stuff from students

* Ringing home, making connections

* Planning cool programmes of learning

* Collaborating with other staff members / wanting to find time to do so

* Checking uniform

* Checking attendance

* Checking in on my dept and colleagues

* Doing PLD

* Having meetings about important stuff

* Developing a deeper understanding of how things work at Ōpōtiki College

* Moderation

* Marking

* Collecting assessments in, printing them, attaching coversheets

* Making connections with students

* Duty

* Building house spirit

* Sharing in delicious food on Friday interval when I have duty 🤦

* Etc

And then... Of course...

* Teaching