Edchatnz Conference: Part 1

Wow! What an awesome first day ;) We started off yesterday with a bit of a trek from the car towards Rototuna Junior High School, sun beaming behind it. Made a new friend as we both got out of our respective cars and were talking about our schools and the possibilities at RJHS. Now that I think of it, both of us were skirting the issue around how cool it would be to work there.. haha. More to come on that later...

The amazing thing about edchatnz conference is that the connections you make and the ones you originally made on Twitter to fully form face to face... are absolute gold. I can't wait to see who turns up today at conference!

Danielle and Phillippa talked to us about the possibilities and sharing of ideas. The need to continue being the lone nut and embracing the lone nuts in schools who help on the journey. Absolutely adored Danielle's korero. Awesome effort with her pepeha too!!!

We were welcomed from Fraser Hill, the principal of Rototuna Junior High School (RJHS), at the beginning of the conference. It was good to hear him explain in more depth about the area, how Ngāti Wairere gifted the names of the school learning areas, the importance of how deep the consulation went with hapu means so much to me - even down to the colour of the orange in the uniforms as pigment that was used for dyes, the carpet on the ground floor representing the peat from the area, the use of the kahu... ataahua.

Our day started off with finding our tribe. Sounds weird... I know.. but as tribe mentors, we were able to create discussions with our groups around what they might do to help their own situations in schools and how they might go about creating change. Our tribe is hoping to stay connected, for a long time, if not a short time... preferably through a Facebook Group.

We are the very ataahua Kotuku. Graceful, elegant and sleek.

At the beginning of today, I was trying to find a way in to ask about goal setting, it didn't work as fast as I liked. I started off with a quick circle up sharing who we are, where we've come from, how long we've been teaching. It was great to see them all sharing in this at least. To help explain that we don't want to be waiting for the next person to share once we began the big discussions I used Bogun's term 'Circle of Death'. I kept figuring out how to pose the question around creating a goal.... but backed off when there was radio silence... realised that we hadn't done enough whakawhanaungatanga and so carried on... We shared what struggles we had in creating change at our schools, how we might develop more risk taking in schools, how we might find ways to circumnavigate issues we wee currently having, how we might share without restrictions and collaborate with our colleagues.

The conversation that was generated from that was absolutely beautiful. So stoked. We finished our korero and went to our first session with the promise of meeting up at lunch again.

I spent a fair bit of time today talking to different kids at RJHS. I was a little surprised at how they circled me and wanted to talk to me after only a short few minutes. Sure I initiated the conversation and began building on the relationship by asking about their learning and their experiences, but I always find it interesting how quickly those bonds are formed between me and potential students. I loved that the kids were so articulate with their learning. Sharing what they were learning... not what they were doing.

The korero from Mel and the tour after by students of RJHS was awesome. Seeing the school through their eyes was great. Beautiful spaces. Awesome learning. Great teaching. Twos and threes. Integrated learning. Modules and flight time. Makes sense now that I've seen it in action.

We met up again - the tribe mentors - to discuss our progress and what we'd learnt so far. Some of the groups weren't quite gelling yet - I was pleased to share that our group was doing really well! We discussed the issue around the pitch and figured out essentially, what strengths did our tribe members have and what could we do to amplify this?

Last session of the day was to talk with our tribes again and drill down on a possible idea for a pitch. Using that question around how we might amplify something in our schools, we discussed how we might begin making small changes that lead to incremental changes that eventually lead to bigger changes.

The idea around risk taking was shared a lot. As most of my tribe members are primary sector it was awesome hearing about their experiences and issues with reading groups and writing... a lot of discussion around methods and alternatives to what was already happening. Discussion around needs-based groups and self-evaluation. Having the whiteboard tables helped immensely.

Our idea is awesome too. Our pitch is this morning. I look forward to seeing how they go.

Feeling a bit excited, way less nervous now that I've refocussed myself. Interview this morning. :) Night koutou.

Reflecting on Reflecting...

I'd say I am a pretty reflective teacher. I think about my lessons and what happens during them and analyse what I'm doing during class to ensure I get the best out of my students by being the most effective I can be.

Sometimes my lessons are transmissive, others are fully facilitated and supported with students learning and teaching each other, other times my lessons are a mixture and even still further some lessons just don't seem to work as well as I'd hoped.

I'm still thinking about last week's opportunity with having a real-life activist speaking with us about her journey towards saving one of most special mammals in the world from extinction. I asked the students for comments afterwards and they made the point that if we were to do something like that again then we'd have to have solid questions organised. I'd actually planned for this but we never got the chance to write some for her in class prior to yhe Skype session as we were working on a new assessment. I'd set it as homework instead. Which wasn't done by all students.

Part of the issue was the timing of the session but I'd booked it months in advance and it just so happened to fall on Freedom Challenge week which seemed hectic and not as well organised by me as I would have liked.

I feel like I can prepare solid lessons in advance for relievers or for classes that are in desperate need of saving like I did today.

The problem is that I actually think my students are doing okay. Some need indepth help and others need motivation. The real issue though I think is that I don't offer enough opportunities for students to reflect on their learning or what they'd like more of from me as their teacher.

I also like to think that on average - I do an okay job. I've attempted the less paper is better mindset this year and while it's been better for the environment - I've been slack at updating 'Evolving at Heights' which basically makes it redundant. Also not all students have access. I want to make more interactive worksheets and developed ideas but need the time to think and process and create these.

I want to ensure my students are getting a fair and equitable learning opportunity and develop a better classroom organisation because at present while I can get around the class quickly - I'm circling and I'd like to be able to be more direct and sit with my students rather than stand by/over/beside them as their isn't much room nor table space especially in my bigger classes.

I've discussed the desire I have before about a more effective learning environment - to me that means less desks and more comfortable focussed ares. My students work collaboratively but the furniture we currently have sometimes impedes the ability to do this.

I saw an awesome video on the Edutopia site with these desks and chairs that were on swivel wheels and it would be awesome to have more moveability. Even if the blue desks (that I'm slowly changing into whiteboard desks with the whiteboard laminate sticking sheets) stayed then having swivel wheels would help to ensure moveability and quick group changes.

I get frustrated when my students get used to sitting in the same space all the time. They're habitual. Though I think this has been trained into them. They refuse to move outside their comfort zone and don't want to work with others. This I think is a main concern. If we aren't teaching them life skills like relating to others from our KCs... then what are we teaching?

Lastly... before I fall asleep. I bought another tablet from TradeMe. It was smaller than I'd thought. But will do well in class as another option for students to do their work.

Oh really lastly - the three whiteboard tables that are in use have quickly been commandeered by my students and they love using them. I just hope that the two other classes who use my room don't wreck them or put permament marker on them...

Literature Circles with Y11 and Y12 classes

For a wee while now I've been toying with the idea of literature circles. I did them in my first year of teaching without even knowing it was called literature circles. Back then I just figured I was doing something a good teacher would do - offer options and create strong analysis skills in her Y10 students.

Ever since, I suppose the idea of lit circles has been one that I have tried on and off with different classes. I've often tried to use lit circles in order to build a reading culture like with my extension class when I first started at Heights.

This year though - with such a big Y12 class and knowing we had so many new dystopian genre books at Y11 this year - I wanted to try it again. Full throttle.

I'd done quite a bit of research over the summer holidays, read up on different strategies and how to further enable my students to build strong individualised learning skills as well as collaborative and cooperative learning skills.

Links here:

I'd decided that after the two assessments my Y12 (Pink) class would study the three novels we had in the dept by John Green: Looking for Alaska, Papertowns and The Fault in our Stars. Having read all three at the beginning of Term One while still on my holiday reading buzz - I quickly and assuredly decided that my Y12s would definitely be reading these as literature circles.

I gave out the books to students about three weeks til the end of Term One with the expectation that they would be read by the beginning of Term Two. Most students have done so which has been great. While they continue working on the last assessment from last term - those who have finished have begun the analysis.

The clearer focus we have in Y12 has reminded me how I wanted to conduct the literature Circles in my Y11 class.

We initially started the literature circles mid way into last term. About two weeks was given for reading in class because unfortunately, a lot of kids just don't read at home. They're too busy, they are physically unable due to situations at home and sometimes kids just don't like reading.

After that we began the analysis of at least one main character and we learnt basic essay structure with SEXIST paragraph structure and for the last part of term we wrote that essay as part of their ongoing writer's portfolio for the year.

This term we started out okay where I explained that they needed to get back into groups and analyse the main characters again. Some students moaned because they had done this last term. Yes - I assured them - but now after the holidays they would have more to analyse about particular characters as they should all be nearing finishing the book.

On Tuesday, with an excited rush,  rather than do the analysis first and then edit on the site the following week, we brought in a few of the COWs and set up students on the site:

That was a huge issue because of technical issues where I couldn't add students onto the site. They could see it and they could understand what they were looking at but couldn't access it to edit. I asked students to give me their emails and for those who didn't have one to set one up. Part of the issue is that we do not have our students gmail accounts enabled within our GAFE platform - something I've been trying to change since middle of last year. 

On Wednesday, after the happy arrival of the new projector the night before, I was able to show them how to edit the pages on the site. For those that continued to have issues logging in or accessing the site - I logged them in with my password. Some students were able to enter their work - others still not.

We discussed some of the digital citizenship skills that they needed to be aware of when using the site also and when using the COWs.

Still though - some were having basic issues with understanding what it was I was trying to get them to do. A lot of my time was taken up by students who simply refused to even try and others who had continued technical and comprehension issues.

Finally, by Thursday of this week - our last session for Y11 for the week - I had finally accepted the fact that the way I was trying to get them to do it wasn't working. We hadn't set up collaborative skills and while I was trying to be patient with them - it just wasn't working. Knowing that it does work and it wasn't really the student's faults I had to really critically examine what was working and what wasn't.

Some students had figured out what I wanted them to do because I had worked with them one on one. Other students just didn't know what it meant to analyse a text.

So I went back to basics. I had apologised throughout the week with the issues around the technical aspects (because by Wednesday afternoon I'd realised that the reason they couldn't access it they way I'd set up the settings with was because they didn't have school emails for GAFE to work right) and also because I hadn't set up the collaborative skills side too.

This time I wrote up the different books we were all studying and went through four different areas of possible exam questions. We brainstormed the different themes, main characters, symbols and settings. We talked about the fact that each one has significance and needs to be further developed.

I set up the four aspects into a grid with the texts - with the idea that students would put their name by a different area they were going to work on today. I added quotes up as well.

Pic -

Finally - I think they were starting to get it. With our amazing teacher aide Marie, I was able to move around the groups a hell of a lot easier because she was working with the one student who was obstinate and needed full on one on one to motivate and continue working.

At first I was going to get students to do their analysis just in their books as originally planned - but agreed to have some students working on the COWs again. Somehow - the settings I'd changed again and again made it so there were no technical issues other than server logon issues which were fixed by the lifesaving blue ethernet cable.

Moving around the different groups, each student had a particular focus. It's easier to recognise the students who haven't done enough reading because they sit there idly not being able to contribute or work individually. I was able to work with one particular group more easily where we wrote on my DIY whiteboard table (clear duraseal on the table) and were able to identify a more focused understanding of the two main characters in Divergent.

I still have two, maybe four groups who I need to further push but we're finally getting somewhere.

I just wish I'd thought that through a bit more clearly but am glad that it was only a week of technical issues rather than the entire unit of struggling.

Because Thursday was a definite hum.

Explaining to Marie the reasons why I'm doing literature circles with this class reminded me too it's not just about offering options. It's about 21st century pedagogy. The need to practise my knowledge around building collaboration and individual learning skills. The need to enable our students to be ready for a new and exciting life ahead of them. For them to be ready -we practise til we're right and then continue to hone our skills.

Am incredibly thankful to the MLE Collaborative group on Facebook, to the collaboration korero we had on both #EngChatNZ this week on Wednesday night and the #DojoChatNZ as well. To my amazing Y12 students who worked with me collaboratively straight away and to my problem solving brain who hunted for different links and idea generating tools for my classes.

Looking forward to next week now! :)

Modern Learning Mindset /Practices

I've just read this amazing post by Steph on Modern Learning Environments or Mindsets and I seriously think that it was just the little oomph I needed to not only restart my blogging engine... but also to start the next term.

A lot of the time I stress out over what I don't have access to... at present the most important is the curtain rail and special metal hooks for the curtains I sourced from the very generous people at the Curtain Bank, functioning projector with a bracket for the roof, access to the COWs on a more frequent basis - or better yet a BYOD policy so my students can learn better....

And of course my classroom. It still frustrates me that this year I'm in the wops but I've made do. I've attempted to make the class have more positive vibes, more light and a relaxed and focussed learning atmosphere. My new red curtains that I put up last term look brilliant against the purple painted walls and the yellow ribbons to tie them up - really set the colours off. I've covered the holes in the back wall with one of the big bookshelves my HOD bought for our class which I'm using to store the student's paper resources and work. The other bookshelf looks fantastic with the class library books that I've collected over the years as well as student's poetry collections.

There is a filing cabinet by my desk filled with resources for students to use throughout the day and for projects.

An entire mini bookshelf for dictionaries too.

Probably the best features of the class are the back wall's new blackboard we painted on with permission from our caretaker which now has a range of different information (apps, class site link, leaderboard etc) in different coloured chalk - this was used mostly last term by students who got the novelty use of it out of the way with their names and drawings; the whiteboard which covers my entire front wall of the classroom which still needs to be set up how I want...; the mural on one side of the wall depicting Maui's struggle with the sun; the trapezoidal tables that can be moved around to create different collaborative groups and also the back section behind our class which was great last term for reading, individualised programmes and for students to utilise to practice their poetry.

I've bought a few beanbags over the last couple years and have a few more covers at home that just need filling with beans.

At the end of the day though - like Steph said in her post - it would be great to have access to the Modern Learning Environments that some of my favourite kaiako mates have been blessed with. Some teachers find MLE difficult as well. I'm always interested in hearing other people's experiences and sometimes I think if they're having a difficult time, then perhaps they're just not doing it 'right'.

But what is the 'right' way?

Collaborative? For sure. Individualised learning programmes? Definitely. Small groups and big group learning? Of course.

But really - is the furniture the be all and end all of this? I don't think so. It's taken me a while to get to this perspective. If you've been reading my blog for a while now you'll know I ruminate for ages before I come to a decision or acceptance of a fact about something.

So - I agree with Steph. It is a mindset. The furniture certainly helps to enable this mindset - but ultimately if you are still using traditional pedagogy and haven't made the shift needed - then the beautiful MLE furniture is redundant.

Yes - I will continue to be in awe from afar of the kaiako and students who have MLE - but am becoming more aware of how my own pedagogy mirrors a MLM - Steph's new acronym - Modern Learning Mindset.

So I shall continue my haerenga... and think about how I'm teaching and whether that aligns with my own goals and how I want to teach and how my students would benefit with their learning.

The hardest part of the journey thus far  has probably been the resistance by some students as they aren't used to change. They've been taught a certain way and it's most obvious when the classroom environment changes, desks are moved around and they don't have 'their place' to sit.

Slowly some have gotten used to changing the setup every so often. At first I was changing it nearly every lesson to find a more suitable setup for the class and the projects done and the differing students. Teaching five classes, three senior, two junior (four English, 1 Social Studies) - the makeup has been difficult to find an easily manipulative setup as well as one that is easy to transform back to default setting.

What's been interesting is my personal attempt at collaboration. What I think I need to do is find a group of people I want to collaborate with and go from there. Instead of getting frustrated at things I just cannot change - I need to find ways in which to work and still stay positive.

Also - need to remember that because of how students have been previously taught - it takes a while to break through and I must be patient.

Even without the projector - I can still teach my way.... it just takes a bit more preparation with having to get class sets printed.

The Google site will help with this eventually... but I need to be patient - something I just am not good with... except with my students!

Structures and processes need to be in place for me to be in a positive mindset - mostly things that I have no control over changing in my school despite my efforts at trying.

So - I just need to continue as one of my mentors said - in my own bubble and focus on my students. Because I just can't change what I actually cannot change.

Regardless - this MLM - is definitely something I can get on board with and something which I will be adopting a growth mindset towards as well. Need to focus on the positives and what I can change in my own classroom. :)