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
