OC Literacy Intervention Programme

 Yesterday I witnessed one of the COOLEST things I've seen in the past 10+ years of teaching English. 

There I was in the classroom beside the wharenui, helping to prep my Y9 Tihi tauira for their English exam today. The girls had all organised their own study groups, each group working on a different text (Substitute Teacher, Affectionate Kidnappers or Kupe and the Giant Wheke). 

The boys sat in the class for the first few moments, got started on the mahi quickly, reading out loud. 

This is a new strategy for all five boys and they were cacophonous with their reading aloud - so much so that the girls were telling them to be quiet. 

The boys asked if they could head off to the wharenui - I agreed. Proud of them for making good choices. 

When I went back in to check on them, all I could hear and see were these boys in small groups, individually reading aloud to themselves or their mates. 

One of the boys came out and told me everything he understood about the story 'Kupe and the Giant Wheke' that he could think of. It was less a retelling and more a point by point overview of why it's important. This new ability to decode, comprehend the text and GET IT is new for this young man. I asked him a few questions, slowly getting deeper and deeper into the overall kaupapa of the Maori narrative. 

When the questions targeted certain sections he hadn't read (as it was double sided - whereas the first time we'd read it in class it was in the school journals) - he didn't give up. He said, "Oh, whaea I didn't know it was on the back. I only read the front sections. I'll go back and read the rest aye?"

MUSIC TO MY EARS. 

What he said next though was beautiful - "It's coz of Whaea Linda, whaea."

I gave him a double high five. Because, yes. Absolutely. 

Checking in on the rest of the students, hearing one of the girl's finished speeches from our research project, discussing sibilance with another pair of tauira learning about language techniques in Affectionate Kidnappers, laughing with another pair of tauira when they found the language technique videos I'd posted on Google Classroom ages ago. Seeing students dive deep into questioning and answering, studying the text in preparation for response to text. 

I then returned to check in on the boys. Sitting, quietly reading. They came and told me they were finished and were ready for the next text, they wanted a challenge they said. 

I gave them Affectionate Kidnappers. A favourite of mine by Witi Ihimaera. 

We'd studied all three of these texts earlier in the year. They remembered each one from my quick reminders before reading it again. They could remember the two kuia and the little girl they took to the beach. They could remember the relief teacher and how he got all the kids names wrong. They could remember the story of Kupe and the Giant Wheke. They asked me to re-read Mrs Button's sections because they think the old Pakeha lady voice I use for Mrs Button is funny. They even humoured me when I re-read the hoiho section in the voice I always use for the horses. 

Affectionate Kidnappers is being used by my Y12s and one of our Y13s this year. It's a text that can be looked at for surface level questions, right down into inference and applied questions where students link beyond the text. It's one of those classics that really hit home, connect with reality and our past. The type of story that sticks in your very bone marrow and you're reminded of each time you visit the beach, the marae and when you see a white picket fence gate. 

When the boys asked for this text I did not hesitate. I was stoked. 

I could feel the girls watching as I gave them this new text. Because the boys are accelerating. They're reading and they're ready for the next challenge. 

They may not YET be able to fully convey their thoughts on paper without ongoing support - but that's where I come in. I can help with that. 

The reading, the understanding of text, the growth of vocabulary? That's where this literacy intervention programme comes in. Absolutely phenomenal. 

I had the privilege last term to sit in on one of the first sessions with the tauira. I was sitting in my library office, sewing a hole to repair one of the beanbags. I heard giggling, high level questioning skills, curiosity, excitement, engagement and above all, enjoyment. They were playing a game of Heads Up, a guessing game. To win you have to ask questions that help determine what character, object or location you are. To elicit growth in vocab, you must use high interest tools where the students speak and develop their vocab through grasping it, moulding it on their tongues and then having the confidence to speak and question. 

The programme is working. 

These five boys have confidence in their reading. They're using a range of skills to elicit responses, comprehension and understanding. They're engaging with the text in a way they were not able to do earlier this year. 

I didn't tear up until this morning when I gave this feedback and my sincere thanks to Whaea Linda. 

This beautiful confidence in these boys with their reading is truly astronomical. They're able to engage with the curriculum! They're able to discuss key points in the story. They're able to use new vocab and build on their understanding. They've been given time to learn these key skills. TIME to LEARN. What a beautiful concept. 

The fact that they've been able to learn this quickly - quite literally in the last few weeks of term 3 and the last month of term 4 - is phenomenal. Imagine what they could do had they been given this support from the beginning of the year? Or if they were given this support for a full year? It could transcend their understanding, comprehension, growth and depth of vocabulary and ensure our students have the CONFIDENCE to READ. 

Why did I tear up?

Because I was so proud of these boys. Because I realised how much effort and time Whaea Linda and Whaea Nicky have put in with this group of tauira. Because I can't fit in this depth of intervention strategies in my normal programme of learning to move tauira up the curriculum. Because I can now teach these boys at the curriculum level they're meant to be at. How beautiful is that? They can read, comprehend and understand key concepts, issues and ideas in texts. They use the vocab from the text they've read. They think outside the box and are able to fully engage with the text in ways they were not able to do so before. 

It comes down to time. Not just for our bilingual tauira too. For all our tauira at kura. 

Imagine if this programme could be rolled out across Year 9 and 10? If we could catch the students BEFORE they fell through the literacy gaps that then prevent them from accessing the senior curriculum. If we could have all students at their curriculum level or above, reading fluently, feeling successful. If we MAKE TIME for our tauira - not just in our curriculum classes but across the timetable - to accelerate and then extend our tauira -- how much more confidence and success would this then breed into our kids? Our community even?

Better literacy intervention strategies now mean better literate communities in the long term. A community that READS. A community that are critical thinkers. A community that fully understands and communicate their wants, needs and aspirations. A community with excited rangatahi, ready to do incredible things in the world to one day return and share their skills with us. 

Literacy now is not just about the students in front of us succeeding. It's about breaking glass ceilings and encouraging our sttudents to do more than they've ever thought possible. 

Nga mihi maioha ki a Whaea Nicky raua ko Whaea Linda. Kei te tino poho kereru ki a korua. Nga mihi mo to whakamanawa matou tauira, me nga whakaako, me nga rautaki hoki. Nga mihi nunui ki a korua ano. 

Reflection - Term 2 (Post-Covid)

I love our house spaces. The way the kids interact and communicate together has still got a long way to go but they're growing stronger together. There are connections and ongoing support. 

My English team are still so awesome. They literally turned into flipped classroom teachers over Covid and then into blended teachers during Term 2. They set work for SDL (self-directed learning) and used Education Perfect, different resources. I myself somehow got my Y12 students through their film study over Covid and Term 2. We are still catching up. But we're getting there.

I hear often from myself and the students saying... If Covid hadn't happened, we would have been fine, on track, there would have been less stress. 

But in reality - Covid forced us to take a step backwards and re-evaluate. 

Thinking about all that we've achieved, during lockdown and over Term 2 is incredible. Yes, according to our Programmes of Learning, we're behind schedule... But looking at how the students learnt new skills, developed their own understanding and resilience skills... Incredible.

Y13ENW - we are FINALLY up to Write a Report. Students needed to send me their three pieces of work to mark by the end of this week. I may need to follow this up over the weekend on GC. 

Last term we were working towards Write to Communicate - a really cool unit of work put together by Kura Solutions - where students needed to write three pieces of work that enabled them to show purpose and audience, in a short format. The three pieces included: an email to a friend they hadn't seen in a long time; short instructions about a task and a movie/game/tv show review. 

At the end of last term, students were working on their short instructions. Kura Solutions had previously indicated that it would be focussed on a recipe for the best sandwich. I showed my tauira that video of the dad who gets his kids to do the PB&J sandwich instructions and how he literally completed their instructions as they'd written them. Hilarious. 

Once my students saw the video they were determined to make sure their instructions were as accurate as possible. 

We spent the last lesson testing our recipes. It was hilarious. They tested mine and got my favourite sandwich ever. Smoked chicken, cream cheese, mayonnaise, guacamole/avocado, cherry tomatoes, spinach on croissants. 

I tested theirs and it was just as hilarious as the video. Some students took serious notes to improve their writing to make sure it was more accurate. Other students just enjoyed making sandwiches and testing out the recipes for accuracy. Regardless, it was a really cool opportunity for some authentic learning and to see the students grow in their vocab, their skills and their resilience. 

This term we're focusing on the report. The process itself from Kura Solutions is dragging along. Before I'd had the booklets printed - we were buzzing with doing the actual research. I think I've popped their bubble and now they may not have as much steam to finish this piece of work. Here's hoping that once they learn how the report needs to be structured - they'll find accurate information and research resources to help with writing their first ever 1000 word report. 

12THI - We're currently writing practice essays for prep for prelims in Week 9. I'm concerned that students aren't doing the work they're meant to be doing during SDL. The tasks I'm setting them don't get done. How to ensure this does happen?? Use the assignment/date function better on GC?

These students are overloaded with pressure. It's as much as I can do to keep them focussed at the end of the week. 

I'm so very over the half day of learning we have with the timetable this year. I miss the full days of English we had last year. My Y12s do too. I really think that the learning has become disjointed and students focus is disjointed due to the separation of this timetable. I have about four students who are still enrolled in this class that I will never be able to get up to date. The attendance is shocking. I don't know what else I can do. 

The rest of my students have worked hard. They watched Get Out over the Covid-19 rāhui. They completed work on their close viewing assessments. They worked on their resubs of their speech as a reassessment task with group analysis seminars. These were incredible at the end of the term. 

We're now trying to finish off our analysis, prep some external essays for practice before carrying on with what should have been the proper start of term 2. 

I'm completely rethinking the programme of learning. If Covid hadn't hit - by this stage we would have been starting Connections/Info Lit. At present - I need to teach them the written text for externals. We still have a written text study to complete before I can even begin to work on Connections with them. 

This is hugely problematic because I want my tauira to be able to get as many credits as possible. I'd also like them to do their visual verbal assessment. And get their L2 Literacy in English if possible. It might not be this year. 

So far most students have completed: 

Speech

Close viewing

1 practice essay for film

Reassessment task for speech - analysis seminar

1 creative writing piece

Looking at it like that... It's actually a big piece of work there. But it's still not where we should be up to if Covid hadn't hit. 

I need to be more supportive to myself though. Think about all the extra time and work I've put into making resources for this class over Covid. These guys have so many notes. They'll be fine for 2.2 external. If they can all get that assessment, that's part of our literacy work done. But it's the written text assessment we need to now focus on. So much pressure and it's only just finished up with Week 3, Term 3. 

11ENW - This class has really worked it's butt off. They've completed so many assessments, regardless of Covid. Part of the success here is the accountability with the grade sheets I put on Google Classroom so that they can visibly see where they're up to and what I need from them to finish work before I can take it again for resubmission. 

Because of Covid, some students haven't been able to begin their resub of 7121 and 2970 which we were able to begin before Covid and mostly finish during the rāhui. Some students weren't able to make the Zoom hui for differing reasons. 

Due to this - they still need to complete these before I can mark them off for 22644 and 22622. Steffi and I decided that with the first assessment 7121 - Search and Select Information (Skills) -- they had done significant writing about each task and could explain how the text was relevant to their interests. 2970 had significant reading attached to it that it could be used for the reading portfolio. 

With this in mind - it's just been a quick process to complete their speaking portfolio pieces in order to finish their overall literacy portfolio. Which should be finished marking and moderation by Week 5 of this term. That's an extra 10 credits. Done. Easy. 🙌🏽

Last term we were working on Fill in a Form. Easily the most pedantic task in the history of teaching. Somehow - I've made these kids into epic form fillers. They tell each other off when they don't use blue or black pen or when they see their mate hasn't used capitals. They wait to see my reaction when I mark and most importantly the reaction of their mate. Because they know, as they'd had the same reaction previously. It actually became pretty funny last term as we all worked through the practice forms together. 

I guess it really started with how pedantic I was being with the Ngata kids prior to our English class. They wanted me to be as strict on the rest of the class as I'd been on them. I was less strict but still got the same process as the Ngata kids became the enforcers of the rules for filling out forms. 😂🤦

Probably the most hilarious, useful and significant piece of learning they'll continue to think about as they get older everytime they fill out a form. Here's hoping they don't grumble my name too much each time 😂

Since that assessment has mostly been completed, we worked on the speaking portfolio while we awaited our chromebooks and network to be updated at the beginning of this term. I now need to watch and mark every video the kids have made. Three videos each. Either two individuals and one group interaction. Or one individual and two group interactions. It's a lot of paperwork and form filling, but if that's the only barrier to them getting their credits, I can't stand in their way. 

We've finally begun the next assessment - Write Personal Correspondence. Some students were given this at the end of last term. I should have given the booklets out yesterday before they all left class. I'll have to do a run around on Monday morning to every house space to make sure they have what they need. 

Really proud of the students in this class who keep leading the way and developing more competition to complete their assessments. It's one of the things that has kept this class trucking along. 

I think we're mostly on track, regardless of Covid. Our POL isn't quite the same as I'd planned but we need to adjust expectations because Covid really did create this divide between those who had access and those who did not. 

9 Tihi -- I really enjoyed our learning over lockdown. For those that could come to the sessions - we developed our writing skills, punctuation and grammar, grew our vocab and our communication skills too. 

We had shared writing tasks and projects. So freaking cool.

We have just begun our reading logs. Despite my best efforts to send home school journals with tauira before the last holidays for them to read - they're reading in class. Somewhat haphazardly, but it's happening. This is HUGE.

I'm really looking forward to Whaea Linda and Whaea Nicky's PPP programme (Pause, Prompt, Praise). It sounds a lot like how my nan taught me to read. 

Mostly though - I've enjoyed watching their resilience grow. Whether through the recent spelling bee or working on our research programme about a topic they're interested in. Working towards writing speeches and giving them accurate grammar check sheets. 

I need to catch up with Kahi and Wai to see how they're using their SDL blocks. 

This coming week I'm up with Kiwi for Weekday Wānanga for Maurua. 5-11pm. Noho at kura. Lots of learning can happen. Looking forward to it. Just need to plan it out and get the resources ready. What will it look like? Y9s doing research? Writing speeches? Y11-13 working on essay prep and writing pieces?

Maurua English Catch-up -- this has by far been the most interesting timetable ever. Why would te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā EVER be on the same line? 

This has caused so much disruption to our reo rua programme at kura. 

On my list originally was eight Maurua students. Three I teach, one my mate teaches and the rest would have been lost to the system. 

Yesterday I talked with more of the seniors. Lots of them want to go to uni. They'll need literacy i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā hoki. 

It bums me out that the kids had to choose. I will always encourage reo Māori over reo Pākehā if they have to make a choice. Because you can get your literacy in both for uni. But they shouldn't have had to choose. 

Our timetable should work for the kids. It didn't. I've had so many students come to me who need Literacy help for uni. 

I need to identify which standards at kura have R Lit and W Lit. I tried doing this last year. Seemingly above my pay grade. But I'm CA English. So I should know. So I can help make the programmes accurate for our tauira. All it would take would be to look at everyone's POLS and work out which ones have Lit and which courses don't. 

My English Catch-up group for Maurua has risen in the last 24 hours. Students yesterday were identified as wanting to go to uni to become teachers. Possibly the pathway suggested to them from Betty and Taha at the last noho Wānanga. 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 

So now - I need to figure out the best course of action for them. I'm thinking Writing Portfolio, Close Viewing and Speech for most of them. We could also chuck in Visual Verbal but that's an added extra, even for my Y12s. 

Want L2 Literacy i te reo Pākehā hoki? Join our English Catchup GC! -- add code to W/B in Te Ahurutanga this week. 

I'm feeling it's going to be a bigger job than anticipated...

Looking forward to the noho this week to help with this though. 

Day 1 of the Post-Covid19 Term 2 Holidays...

Day 1 of the 'holidays'... Laying in bed, fighting off the cough that started at the start of the week. Thinking about everything we achieved this term. The students who struggled, found success and those students who are still trying to get there. Our incredible staff who just got in and changed education literally in the blink of an eye and just kept going. The PLD and tech support and awhi and all round collegiality... Bloody incredible. 

Our school community who support us and appreciate the mahi we do, the way we awhi their kids and how we all work together to get what we need to do done. 

I'm incredibly blessed to work with such amazing wahine in my department. Patient, understanding and appreciative. They are the most hardworking people I know. 

There are always going to be more things to do and more things on the to do list... But for now, we rest up. 

If you know a teacher, buy them a coffee, give them a hug, tell them you love them. This was a crazy term and we just got it done. 🙌🏽❤️

Goals for 2020

Even though we don't have to continue with appraisal systems based on our recent changes in the Collective Agreement and Accord - info here and here - I still continue to be a reflective and aspirational practitioner.

Goals for 2020:

* Survive Lockdown -- at times it's felt like waiting for the Purge. Other times I'm just damn grateful that I don't have children. Would this be what it's like having children? Stuck at home... ALL THE TIME? Gah. Mindboggling. I miss driving to see my friends. Being on an aeroplane and traveling to far-flung destinations. I miss being able to be completely free to go where I want, when I want. Being stuck inside has been HARD. For everyone. But harder still for those of us battling our insides and past trauma related to home stuff. I have so much aroha for those who are still in those dark, hurt places who are forced to stay in those spaces purely because of lockdown. How hard it must be to constantly be in that space with no hope of getting out. I just hope their neighbours have been actively listening and just being PRESENT for those people - so when the time comes, they will have help where needed.

* Finish my korowai -- last year in my appraisal hui we talked about my hobbies and passions. Something I'd missed doing all year was my korowai. Being so far away from Whaea Lorraine in Mamaku was hard and I struggled to even pick my korowai sampler up. This year I signed up with Te Wananga o Aotearoa... (yes, AGAIN!) and I've really enjoyed learning from Te Raita and her nan Roka. I've enjoyed researching Ngati Maniapoto kairaranga and whatu raranga like Rangimarie Hetet and her daughter Diggeress Te Rangituatahi Te Kanawa. I've recently been taught how to harvest harakeke but because it was my mate o te marama - I had to stand back and watch. Just you wait though... I know where to get the harakeke for muka now! Roka said I need to make 600 whenu. 600! That's going to be a LOT of prepping. Good thing I still have more samplers to do and to actually finish my korowai sampler too. It's looking so beautiful.

* Identify more places to travel to -- When lockdown is over - I am going to TRAVEL everywhere. I cannot wait.

* Sharing my tech geekiness with my colleagues -- I want to start ByteSized PLD with the OC whanau. It worked really well at Heights. Even if I was making more work for myself with little recognition from senior management... I was doing the mahi for them. But OC is different. At OC they seem keen on learning new things and happy for distributed leadership in those areas. I've waited back all of last year, assessing what needs my team has and figuring out how to best help people. I've really enjoyed doing PLD sessions with my team during lockdown. I've developed some PLD videos already for Whaea T, K and A -- and shared HEAPS of resources with S which hopefully helps with 3.8.

* More hui with English Dept -- I have LOVED doing our English dept catchup sessions each Wednesday and look forward to having time built into our timetable to be able to do this more often. Just being able to korero with the team about how things are going and what we need to do next to develop our skills as a team. It's been good seeing everyone and catching up even about mundane things which have become less trivial and actually interesting - the flip of lockdown I guess for me - recognising that this is why my nan always asks these questions about the weather and what I've been doing. Because it's actually interesting when you're stuck, bored out of your brain at home.

* Remote Learning -- I've learnt that there are MULTIPLE ways of doing online learning and that we still have much to learn. Even though I studied in Mindlab back in the ra, and all my studies, analysis, development of perspectives etc it reminds me daily that there are still laggards to bring along with us on this journey. These laggards have now been pushed like blue flamers into the late majority -- still keen to learn but not knowing how. For this, the lockdown has been useful too.

* Learning how to front those difficult conversations rather than continuing to avoid them to avoid confrontation -- the Effective Leadership hui we went on earlier this year is still in the back of my mind. I want to be better at communicating. I think though that the way I've fronted the issues which need most focus - has worked. Offering support, ensuring they know I'm here and waiting -- has actually worked. Proof -- hui this morning. AWESOME learning. It was truly so good. So much learning and more to happen this weekend.

* Developing resources -- Being commissioned by NZATE has been a really good challenge. I know I'm crap at deadlines. I also know I need processing and planning time. I gave myself a deadline I knew I couldn't meet, passed it and then asked for an extension. It's now only been a week since the deadline I should have given haha. I still have more to do. I wish I'd chosen to give a resource I'd already made. A win I guess, is that it allowed the discussion about Creative Commons to occur with my principal and the BOT.

* New leadership opportunities -- I wasn't shoulder tapped this time. But I was talked to about it, in a roundabout way. I was later told that they had brought my name up too but there was specific mandate NOT to shoulder tap me. And thus... I wait further. Hoping that my self-nomination is successful. Though I still would have liked to have more info about the role first haha. We'll see whether the association votes for me.

* External Moderation -- I still need to learn how to do this. I've asked for help from a few different people. Straight up - I just need someone to show me how. I know it's not hard. But it's my first time as a CA to do it on behalf of my team. I want to do it right and listen to what the MNA guy said last year too.

* Cross-curricular learning -- I want to do more of this. Let's work together!

* Localised learning -- I want to do more of this too!

* Lockdown has just been made SO MUCH EASIER -- thankyou cousin! We can now travel around the country to see our whanau. I CANNOT WAIT to go see our nan. YAY Level 2 - LOVE IT. Still stay safe. Stay vigilant and be on guard. Keep your contacts to a minimum.

* Distance Learning -- changes during Level 2 -- there will still be students needing remote learning available. More info to come.

Distance Learning Update:

At the moment we've been doing collaborative work on shared docs for juniors as a prelude to them doing their own individual work. It's taught them some VERY valuable skills 😂🤦‍♀️ I've really enjoyed seeing them work together.

My seniors on the other hand - has been more about wellbeing and checking in with them and then asking where they're stuck. We focus on those issues first before working on the learning I had planned. It's honestly just a day by day thing and we're getting there. Having a Google Slidedeck set up with notes for those missing the Zui has been super helpful.

My big concern at the moment is connecting with those students who haven't been able to come to the Zui sessions. 

Collaborative Storytelling - Y9 Tihi

Straight up proud of my Y9 students today! 

What started off as a korero about how lockdown was going for them, turned into showing them how Google Classroom worked and what I had planned for them.... 

Then it quickly changed when I saw I'd lost them already and that they were missing our face to face agentic lessons. 

I asked them if they'd started their creative writing from the visual prompts I'd provided... And then they asked if we HAD to use those to do a piece of writing... No, I said, it was just a starting point.

And then the topic changed again when I asked them what they'd been watching on Netflix and Tv... I asked them whether they'd ever told other people why they should watch their favourite shows. Nope, they hadn't. So - reviews were out of the question for the moment. 

Back to Creative Writing... I asked them if they could write any story - what would it be about? What characters would be in it? Oh my GOSH! I've never heard so much excitement and enthusiasm in a Zui before. Far. Epic. 

We quickly set up some parameters and what would be included in the writing. 

Then I asked whether we'd do it collaboratively in a shared doc or whether we would work individually.... Some shared issues around people deleting their mahi. Others said they wanted to do it individually. Some said they struggled writing so we decided to do both. 

I set up a shared doc (what is attached below) that they used to plan out their ideas and also an individual doc where students could go off on their own tangent using the shared parameters.

They quickly learnt and decided they needed some rules when working on a collaborative doc. 😂 That's always the first hurdle. But they overcame that quickly. 🙌🏽

The best part was seeing their teamwork when they delegated and chose different characters to describe. They helped define what would be in the setting and also what events would happen. 

Sentence starters are always the hardest part. But wow - check those out! Yes, I wrote some too. But that's all part of the modelling and development. 

Next steps - writing collaboratively together. 🙌🏽❤️

#Covid19Teacher #OCstorytellers #Maurua

Lockdown... let's call it what it is... #4

Lockdown

A rahui for papatuanuku. 

Self-isolation

Quarantine

My body tried filling up the hours. Made friit salad for breakfast. I talked with lots of people via video chat. Had a dance party with the dogs. Ate feijoas. Did some gardening. Fell asleep. Woke up. Picked Crystel up. Sung. A lot. Did dinnner. And now... Back in bed. 

It's monotonous. 

BORING

But we're safe. Here in our bubble.

How the hell did Anne Frank do this? Hide while in fear of her life?

I'm just here, in the safety of my own home. Food. Shelter. Water. Family. Sanity. Supposedly. 

Gratitude

I'm grateful for....

- a warm bed

- health

- safety

- food

- money in the bank still!

- my sister

- my dogs and cats

- my garden

- my diy fix it skills

- my grandmother

- my time spent with Uncle Ken at Xmas

- the plethora of books to read... And all the time ever to read them 😂

- ability to choose what I do with my life

Self-isolation #3

And just like that... The panic rises up into my puku, smothers me and then with a deep inhale breath, subsides. 

Relax. 

Remember everything is okay. 

You are in your own bubble. 

Your students will be okay. 

❤️🙌🏽

Self-isolation #2

I'm tired. 

I'm bored. 

I'm kind of hungry. But I don't want to waste the food. 

It feels weird being at home. 

Going to school this morning helped a bit with the transition from school to home to holidays and working remotely. 

The constant updates are intense. 

I kind of feel like just going to sleep and waking up when it's all over. 

Was good seeing my Tihi students and Y12 students collect their packs today. 

🙌🏽 

Self-isolation #1

Yesterday an announcement was made that we had 48 hours to prepare for nationwide self-isolation - a Level 4 Quarantine self-isolation. Students were sent home. Teachers were told to come back in the morning to prep resources. Luckily we'd done some of this earlier the week before.

Today was more of a planning and prep day at school. We hunkered down. Got the job done. 

And boy, was it a long job. I spent all day literally running to and fro from the photocopier to the DC to my computer in the resource room and then back again. I had some awesome help from my colleagues in the department and colleagues at kura. 

I'm glad that I had so many resources I could throw together and hopefully it is coherent enough. 

This really is unchartered territory. This self-isolation has never happened in my career as a teacher. In my lifetime either. 

I kept thinking today about my last lesson with my Y9Tihi students. I tell them this a lot - but they are honestly the best Y9 class I've ever had. Straight up. I've had some crazy classes over the past ten years but I am so grateful for the students in my Y9 Tihi class this year. 

They were so patient, nervous and scared. They wanted the info but also weren't really ready for it either. I asked them to do four things:

1. Read up about Covid-19

2. Write me emails

3. Write a daily diary of what it is like being in self-isolation

4. Try not to panic. Be safe. Be kind to each other. 

To keep the mood calm yesterday, I introduced them to The Game of Awesome. If it hadn't have been such a serious need to keep them calm, I would have enjoyed seeing them working together so well and creating cool stories so easily. I still enjoyed it. But there was still a definite need to keep calm in that moment. 

Yesterday a lot of them asked for LOTS of school work. Like weeks of it. 

I guess that's why I spent so long making the Junior English Covid-19 Homework booklets. I wanted to make sure the booklets were accessible for all students and also challenging too. 

I'm mindful that some of the resources there are what they have already covered. Some they haven't. Hopefully it all helps. 

It was really important to me that my students and those in English classes at OC would have the opportunity to grow at home, with their whanau. To have them share their learning and READ, WRITE and CREATE together. 

I'm hoping the students will come tomorrow and collect packs for home. I'm also hoping that everyone will be safe. 

Proper self-isolation begins tomorrow night at 11.59pm - Wednesday night. 

This means we won't be allowed out of the house. 

My sister works at Eastpac. She is deemed an essential worker. It makes me happy she still has a job but also scared. I worry that she will bring the virus home or that she will get sick herself. What will that mean for us in our house? 

I worry about whether our animals can get the virus or whether people not in self-isolation walking past our house will touch our dogs and the dogs bring it inside. 

Like I said, this is unchartered territory. 

I'm truly grateful for the awesome leadership and quick response from our Senior Leadership Team at school. Also grateful that we had time to prep work for students as we moved to Alert Level 4. 

As I asked my Tihi kids to keep a diary about their experiences - I'll write here too. Hopefully they get the chance to read these and respond 🙌🏽

2020: Pandemic Planning

Pandemic

Adjective:

 (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

synonyms:

widespread, prevalent, pervasive, rife, rampant, epidemic;

Noun:

an outbreak of a pandemic disease.

"the results may have been skewed by an influenza pandemic"

I really didn't think we'd be getting right into Pandemic Planning at kura so early. I thought maybe we'd hit global Zombie Apocalypse first... but no. This is real.

I was in a state of panic yesterday.

I spent a lot of time in bed - worried, concerned. Sleepy.

Today, I got back into action mode. Lots of things were completed at school but there is still this overarching sense of impending doom to calculate and maneuver around.

My current thoughts are a resounding: We got this! But my internal conflict says... Do we? Like actually, do we?

It makes me think about how lucky we are here in New Zealand. We'd heard about it late last year, on into the beginning of this year.

One of my Y12 students even did her speech on this subject. Only slightly ironic that we'd then have a global pandemic on our hands...

Still, all the planning in the world couldn't prepare us for this. At present we have sixty-six confirmed cases of Coronavirus. This man in the video below is so clearly spoken, so relaxed and calm in this growing sense of panic that the rest of us are feeling. People are panic buying toilet paper. TOILET PAPER. Yes.... And not just here, either. All over. Sure, hand sanitiser and bleach sold out quickly too. They've only recently put a limit on how many loaves of bread you're allowed to buy. My friends are having trouble buying bags of flour. It makes me a tiny bit more appreciative of being gluten free.

Underneath all this bravado and my own sense of supposed calm. There is an overwhelming worry and concern for the people I love and care for. My immune-compromised colleagues are allowed to work from home this week according to Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health guidelines.

We're at Pandemic Alert Level 2 here in NZ. Our schools won't close until we are at Level 4. This is in itself quite a stressful time. We are on the frontline: teachers, nurses, doctors.

What are the symptoms again?

Coronavirus has spread fast. From Wuhan, China and then on throughout the rest of the world. We closed our borders relatively quickly. Thankful to have the cousin Jacinda as Prime Minister. She has truly helped keep the virus at bay. People traveling were meant to self-isolate. I'm guessing the 66 cases are people who did the travelling.

We are yet to move to community transfer. When that happens... I guess we'll be rising to the next Alert Level.

Italy has become the new epicentre of the virus. It is awful to think of the beautiful places I travelled to and visited in 2018 having their beautiful people getting sick and dying from this disease. Apparently the canal waters are clear. The sediment has not been disturbed. Fish and swans can be seen in and on the canal waters. Even dolphins have returned.

Some are saying that this is Mother Nature's way of putting us all into a time-out. Perhaps this is true. We were going to end up this way at some point, why not now?

It's hard to say what might happen next.

All I do know is that I have to keep a calm face and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

We're all in this together. Solidarity. Sick?

Whatever it means - we have to keep moving.

It is scary though to think of my students getting sick and coming to school, sick and then that virus transferring to others.

Usually when I start thinking of next possible situations, the worst possible situations, I feel a sense of dread, panic and fear.

At least with this pandemic of Coronavirus... I know the realities. Everyone I know and love could die. This might be a really morbid thing to say - sure. But I've actually never felt more calm. Because this is literally the worst thing that could happen.

And yet, I think the panic lies in what to sort out first. Which priority is more important?

Which task on my to-do list needs to be actioned first?

To Do...

• Ensure all classes in my department have Google Classroom set up
• Ensure that all students have access to wifi, data or other means to complete their work
• Check in with the immune-compromised teachers in my department. Are they okay? Will they be working at home this week? 
• Talk with immune-compromised students via email. Check that they are ready, and set up for learning at home
• Reassure students and teachers that it will be okay... 
• Find out more information of how dogs can get sick from the virus... 
• Buy more echinacea tablets ---- don't be overwhelmed if you can't find any...
• Try not to panic buy....
• Talk to Nan often and see how she's doing
• Create Zoom lessons and use Screencastify
• Prep resources that can be used online and offline
• Talk with students and check they're prepped at home with food and safe places
• Carry out duty at school -- enforce 2 metre separation where needed
• 
  

Pedagogical Leader of Literacy - Review of 2019

Looking back I can see so many times when I just could have done MORE. I guess I always feel like that though. MORE. As a reflective practitioner I'm always inward navel gazing, thinking of what could have, should have, might have happened if I, if they, if we had done this or that.

The reality is I guess that I didn't have time for half the year for the role and then I suddenly had time - but still no help or understanding of what our next steps needed to be.

We had routine A Team hui where discussions about PLD were planned but then later brushed aside for more pressing matters with PLD. We ran one(?) successful PLD session. All year.

I had so many incredible learning experiences last year with some extremely talented and under utilised experts: Whaea Sue and Whaea Violet. AWESOME. When the year was finally underway and I had time to do the mahi, I booked them both in as often as possible to pick their brains and think about how we might go about this or that. How we might incorporate more ownership of the data of students, for students.

My belief has been and always will be that students must own their own data. They need to know where they are and also what their next learning steps are. For this to occur, they also must learn how to articulate their learning and journey with growth. Herein lies the issue.

Our students want to know their data. We don't always know how to explain their data to the students.

There were so many missed opportunities. I wanted to go observe our kaiako and do shadow coaching with them. This would have helped to develop my understanding of where our kaiako are and what we needed to do next as a school.

Without knowing the staff, their literacy capabilities and next steps needed - I felt like I was running blind a lot of the time.

I have  BUNCH of student data. SO much of it.

But what do we do with it?

We test them... enter their data.... and then?

This is what I'm hoping the Madgewick's can help us with this year. Even Cathie Johnson said that data was an important step, but that we shouldn't stay in that step for too long. It is just a launching spot.

So why do we spend SO MUCH OF OUR TIME dealing with data? We need to be doing the next step.

The strategies, the interventions, the korero with students to develop deeper learning experiences.

I wonder also about the need for a 'magic bullet'. Alana mentioned this a while back. The need to know some strategies to accelerate our staff's understanding of literacy skills but also to accelerate our students.

Every single student has the capacity of developing their literacy skills but they also need people to support them further.

Need to -- activate, engage and grow