Moving Forward with NPeW and Heights eLearning

Last night we had an amazing PLD session. We had the fabulous Sue Winters and Hancine Semyvelyan (need to check spelling) from Nga Pumanawa e Waru share the results of the interviews we conducted last year.

We had already gone over this data at our last elearning meeting with them where we had made our goals moving forward.

It was great to be able to take notes and share these with the staff. It's such an awesome initiative - I just really hope we can maintain momentum and keep pushing onwards.

After our NPeW presentation we broke off into our PLG's - Professional Learning Groups. I adore our group. So supportive, friendly, interested and collaborative. We all listen to each other and all share the learning.

Some awesome discussion around having to imagine what Heights will be like in 2029. And then 2020. And then what steps we need to take to get us to 2020.

This shared vision will be so cool when it's finalised and we can see the shared ideas within the staff.

There are certain groups which haven't been working as collaboratively or developing shared learning and I hope those in these groups are switched up so that they can reshake their thoughts around learning and teaching in the 21st century.

I think many teachers are scared about the next steps. Myself - I'm ecstatic. Everything I do is to get myself and my students ready for their new learning. Who knows what will happen in the next few years? Personally as long as I have a positive outlook and continue to enjoy working with students then I'll stay teaching.

The other day I began getting really cynical with my peers. I never ever want to be a cynical person. The million steps forward and billion steps back is breaking me down a bit though. We'll get there.

Already this year we've made some massive improvements! Our network is on the pathway to being injected with awesomeness, access points and routers, shared networks with depts, equity funds and many many other things too. We've been working on professional development and building staff capability. Those who were seen as laggards are pushing themselves across the line. It's awesome!

We still need to boost the confidence of so many more staff members but we'll get there. :) I just need to have faith and break down my six month elearning PLD plan more...

First Monday of 2016

I still have a really good feeling about this year.

My students continue to work hard (yes I know it's still very early on!!) and students I taught last year have come up to me and updated me with how they're going. It makes me pretty proud that my students care what I think because beyond my frowns and disapproving stares  that they know they'll get after they tell me - at the end of the day they know I'll continue to try and support and guide them in the right direction.

Looking at this weeks full Year 9 induction programme - it's no surprise that at Heights we value whanau and that community feeling shows through. Year 9 students from Kowhai (the best house... just saying) went up Mt Ngongotaha for their Science trip today. I'm taking half of the Kowhai Y9s tomorrow to the Rotorua Museum for the Social Studies trip. Lastly, on Wednesday, Kowhai Y9s will be going out on the Waka trip at Lake Okareka.

Over the past three years at Heights - now in my fourth - I've seen these trips and their influence on our students. Only one more year and all of our students will have gone through the induction programme. The current Y13s didn't go on the Waka trip when they were Y9 and the Y12s never went on the cross-curricular trips but they still have been strong leaders in the sense that they were our juniors when we began the new house systems. They've made the transition possible.

We have yet to hear the results of the All in Day sports day last Friday (pretty sure Kowhai will have won it...) and the house chant. Kowhai definitely needs to up their game with ours but I like the direction our seniors were taking us... just needs more volume and focus. Waiporoporo's was pretty amazing if only for our new Head Boy and his stunning rendition of a very famous waiata.

As always - I hope for a good year. Focussed and motivated (scratch that... clearer growth mindsets) students who push themselves to achieve every goal that they set for themselves. Good results. More focus and organisation from me. Clearer deadlines and communication.

I really really look forward to the very obvious start with elearning this year - changed passwords, emails and passwords given out to students, emails to staff about setting up Google Classrooms. All things we've worked towards for so so so long. Many of you will know the true happiness that this brings me. Light at the end of the tunnel.

Last year was 2 steps forward, 5 or 6 back. But maybe all of that hard work we all put in actually made some clearer tracks and headway for this year. I truly truly hope so.

Can't wait for #EducampRotovegas on the 27th Feb!! Will be good to see all of the Connected Rotorua people again and the out of towners. Hopefully the Richmond team and the Ormiston team will come down. Will be getting some new swag from Class Dojo any time soon too!! Just need to find someone who will be at #EducampWelly to give half of the totes and stickers to. Any takers?

Lastly, my next MindLab assignment is on how we've implemented a change in our school. I'm going to focus on sharing Trello and Blendspace with a few early adopters and possibly some of the laggards to see if I can truly make a change in how we collaborate, share and dispense information with staff and students.

Plus - finally tackled the lawns and began the new vegie garden today :) Yay!!

Importance of Tautoko and Awhi in eLearning

Over the last couple of years while my focus has been on upskilling myself and others in the area of eLearning, I've noticed just how important it is to stay true to the kaupapa of tautoko and awhi.

While mentoring and helping those begin or renew their journeys in eLearning, it is important to focus not only on the skills that need developing but the relationships you build while doing this.

One important relationship I've been cultivating is one of trust and support. I try my hardest to listen, to focus on the issue at hand and also to support the  colleagues and students who have sat down with me to talk about their own learning and the issues they've had.

By doing this, slowly slowly, I've been building trust. More and more people have asked me different things and are beginning to come and ask me for help or just an ear to discuss the process they went through to get some advice.

I've been overwhelmingly impressed and completely stoked by the way that one of these colleagues has emerged as a change agent herself. She's become quite supportive of others in our Google Plus MindLab community and has helped others on their own eLearning journeys. She has reembarked on her blogging and reflective journey as well. I've seen her confidence grow in this eLearning area throughout the year and am just incredibly proud of the shift she's made in so short a time period.

The importance of awhi is as important as tautoko. Because if you haven't fully surrounded and supported that person by giving wrap around support then sometimes they may feel uncomfortable in their new learning - though some may feel claustrophobic. So it's important to know the person through your relationship and develop a stronger sense of understanding as to what kind of support they may need, what help they may ask for.

Because at some point, that caterpillar hunger you've been feeding will eventually embrace them all on their own and they'll emerge as a beautiful confident butterfly, capable of extending their own wings to fly to the highest point possible. They'll visit other butterflies, other flowers on their search for knowledge and eventually come across their own wee caterpillars to feed and support too.

Who knows, maybe you've been feeding caterpillars without even knowing it? :)

Awhi and tautoko your colleagues because becoming a change agent is powerful. Because it helps to show just where you were and where you hope to go. Making that change is as important as breathing. Because without a beginning there is no future. And I think... that's enough metaphors for today. :)

MindLab - Week 2 - 21st Century Skills (DCL) and Reflective Practice and the Key Competencies (LDC)

Some really deep level thinking straight after the discussion that somehow prompted the previous post.

Thoughts here:

NPeW: ELearning Meeting 2.0

Today was really cool. I always enjoy seeing our staff collaborate and share and do so in an openly supportive environment.

The point of this meeting today was to gather some ideas as to how the school was coping/doing/succeeding in certain areas: technology, engagement, learning and measurement.

I really wanted to be in on all of the sessions... maybe not so much the measurement one....  but alas I still haven't figured out how to clone myself to be in many different places at once. So I put down that I'd go to the Learning session when we had our last meeting.

I was actually quite surprised mainly because there is such a range of where people feel we're at but also lots of honesty and positive feedback. I wish though that we would have been able to be a bit more constructive to improve the situation rather than side step major mines as we continued the discussion with Sue. I was super happy with how Sue facilitated the session. Always admire how she portrays herself in her role, her quiet but also methodical way of encouraging and supporting us to probe deeper and further than our previous surface answers. I loved that she notices the body language too and can identify areas where people are feeling left out and develops key focal points on them as she goes around the group to involve them in the discussion and think more clearly about the issue at hand.

Key facilitator tips right there!!

Both Sue and Donella give me the encouragement needed to move forward, to keep pushing and more importantly to believe in myself. Am glad that I've found these two mana wahine that inspire me ao often.

Anyway!

Throughout each session there were key points I noted down:

- need more engagement with whanau and the community in moving towards BYOD and to keep our community involved, engaged and interested just as much if not more than our staff at the moment.
- need to identify where key areas in school are that are desperately needing access points. Maybe doing a heatmap might help? Particularly with our big Nelson blocks...
- need to ensure our staff have adaptive confidence. Love this phrase!!
- need to build digital competencies in both staff and students
- need to upskill staff and offer upskilling sessions to students too
- need to identify our baselines and get our student interviews begun to see how we move forward and our own process
- need to remind ourselves that we're all at different stages and we all need to collaborate and awhi each other.

Many more ideas to come but that are mine for now until we continue the discussion tomorrow :)

Huge thankyou to the Auckland researchers that came down  -including Helen Timperley!!  :) So cool!!

Always a huge thankyou to NPeW for supporting us in moving forward.

ELearning at Heights - Update

Since I last did a proper update there hasn't been much visible progress however there has been a lot of work done in the background, working strategically to put systems and the right people in place, to ensure things move smoothly.

I'm still aware that I'm still doing a lot of work without any real recognition. This is part of the reason I do it though so that I'll hopefully gain the recognition and a possible role where I'm more able to help support and encourage LWDT in class.

I've mentioned before that my DP Donella supports me and has been happy and impressed with my work so far. I honestly would not have been able to do anything thus far without her ongoing support and I truly appreciate that she's in my corner, as much as I back her as well. I've learnt so much from her already particularly in her leadership style, the way that she is strategic, her organisation skills and how she prioritises every thing and spends adequate time on each when needed - all aspects that I admire and hope to grow in myself.

Am patiently waiting on the next email if there is one from MindLab and I truly can't wait to start the next step in my learning journey. I was congratulated by another DP yesterday who also mentioned again the quantity of work it will be. While he's completely correct, I've always learnt better when I'm interested and when I can directly apply my learning. So that's a work in progress at the moment.

Anyway - since I last wrote about elearning a few important things have happened. We've had a massive eLearning meeting with as many stakeholders as possible - whanau, students, teachers, IT staff, BOT reps, NPeW reps and of course our Senior Management Team members. It was an amazing opportunity to be in that room and hear so much passion. To know that there are others who understand and are keen was eye opening and I really look forward to seeing what they think may be the next steps.

From then til our next meeting we need to gather data to create a plan moving forward with NPeW and Excel Rotorua.

The day after the meeting I'd thought some things through and I'd gone to an exam supervision with ideas buzzing in my head. I managed to jot down a few ideas and then typed them up. Ideas for a strategic plan for elearning - at least the first six months really.

At present my mind and heart is only allowing me to think up til six months purely because we haven't yet been able to get past - what I have thought were the basics - but are essential if we are going to see any real learning or change in mindset taking place.

I shared it with Donella and with Anne Robertson from the Connected Learning Advisory (CLA) to get a few more ideas on the next steps.

I still need to add more sections in around the learning and particularly the change in mindset and practice.

I'd really like to see our school making that 10% shift on the dial and it's definitely possible - if we work together and if we allow our students to have their say on what works, doesn't work and needs altering or changing.

Today in preparation for some Google Drive lessons I am going to help take I created a Google Drive Cheat Sheet - probably too wordy but definitely easy enough to follow. Both purposeful and informative.

It's a bit frustrating that sometimes I can be incredibly focussed and get a task that I'm working on completed in an hour when sometimes I can't barely think clearly or process my ideas into words orally.

Next steps:
- Get feedback of ideas list for strategic plan
- Develop a collection of resources fof staff and students to use
- Research into the job descriptions of LWDT facilitators and think about what skills I need to develop to be better at the role.
- Get some sleep...