Sticker Charts - Visible Success

Last year I spent a RIDICULOUSLY long time colouring in blocks of rectangles to show student's credits.

This year... I was smarter.

I went to Uncle Bill's (seriously the most amazing $2 shop-esque in Rotorua) and found stacks of neon coloured round stickers. Grabbing four different colours, Orange for Not Achieved, Green for Achieved, Magenta for Merit and Yellow for Excellence, I headed back to plan out how this new sticker chart might look.

For future reference next year...

Each sticker is 2cm - diameter.
Name stickers were 7cm long.

With those measurements I created sticker chart sheets for all three of my senior classes.

A few things:

I started these in Term 2 - if I'd started earlier to not only track the student's credits, but to identify students lagging from the get go... it might have had a more positive effect overall.

The Y11 charts look amazing. We do six internal assessments with them. But our Y12 class only do four (five if you count oral text but hardly anyone ever takes me up on it...) and this year what with the two students in 12L not finished their writing portfolio, the massive majority on both the 12L and 12A students who didn't participate in the visual verbal assessment... there are a lot of orange stickers.

I wonder whether making the Y12's writing portfolio have a larger space to add two stickers - one for each piece of writing they did - and then an overall sticker to show their overall mark?

...

Last week I made some sticker charts for my juniors. They had been asking for a while for their own also.

Pics to come. More analysis to come too.

Kia Eke Panuku Obs

Have been thinking about my Kia Eke Panuku obs from this week.

At the crux of it... I'd probably call my teaching style, organised chaos.

Students arranged at random, per choice of students. We don't do seating plans. In fact, student led decision making on where they sit and why has become incredibly important.

The shared power in the room - can be seen too. Learning tends to be more co-constructed and we learn from each other.

At any given moment with certain classes there is self-directed learning occurring. 

What this looks like is different in different classes, with different students.

There is constant monitoring. Awhi, support and encouragement.

Wondering about my shadow coaching sessions and how KM modelled her lesson off of what I'd done in mine. Very cool. Loved her Numbered Heads strategy as well as how she had all the students e tu to refocus them :)

It was good to see that in both obs my relationship strengths came into play and that my giggly, humorous nature came out very obvious in the ob too.

I wonder how different my classroom is to someone who is much more traditional.

Two areas of focus for myself:
- Wananga - need to make the most of teachable moments and use that time to dig deeper, one on one.

- Develop more confidence with my Y9 social studies class. The revision stuff we're doing is mostly new. So we need to find a more concrete way to share this knowledge. Google Docs? Slides even? Not sure. That's my plan for this weekend. Figure it out.

I'd like to do more obs too because I need to improve my way of observation. I'd like to see more and dig deeper.

I really like the shadow coaching too. Different styles there - the side by side and the korero and discussing different points that came up.

I wonder how I might further improve and capitalise on the organised chaos and relationships in class.

Financial Literacy: Y9 Social Studies

Yesterday we started a new topic: Financial Literacy.

We discussed what financial literacy means and why it's important to be financially literate.

I shared my experiences with being financially illiterate as a high school student through to being a university student. When I was growing up I was taught about paying bills off. I never got taught to save my money. I learnt how to spend money... but never to save it. I was taught about how to stretch and juggle my money... but again... never how to save and definitely not how to invest it.

Through my experiences... flatting, terrible boyfriends, taking landlords to tenancy tribunal hearings and the issues around bank deals and 'free' overdrafts during O Week... I was able to paint a pretty clear picture that I had to learn the hard way. That I didn't want my students to learn the hard way.

So... we talked about flatting. What you needed to do when setting up a new place. Signing tenancy agreements, finding flatmates, paying bills, setting up joint bank accounts, finding furniture, organising power companies and internet to be set up... oh and figuring out whether to buy food as a flat or individually.

So... after that awesome lesson - even during it I felt that we had some real, purposeful, relevant learning. I lined them up like we usually do when we start a new topic at the end of the lesson and asked them what new thing they'd learnt that lesson.

Many of them were truly shocked with the experiences I had while at uni... and those were the ones I could tell my grandmothers about haha. But I think it sparked interest for many of them because they understand that it's important to be smarter with our money. Perhaps this generation is more savvy than mine with money - perhaps they've learnt from their parents mistakes and won't make stupid decisions like I did while navigating my way to becoming more financially literate.

Yesterday afternoon I made play money. They're super cool. Photos to come.

Now I just need to print off some examples of tenancy agreements ... because today we begin a mock flatting situation. I just need to make some income cards, expenses cards, dilemma cards and winning cards to really make this game work.

Hopefully... playing this game will give them an idea as to how to make their own financial literacy game.

Next things to do... print off tenancy agreements, rentals in Rotorua, budgets, and... figure out whether to let them figure out power, internet, etc companies or print these out too for them... insurance, kiwisaver too...

Post-Interview...

I kept it relatively hidden... but I applied for a new job last week. I love my students and the staff I work with at Heights - but it was a new opportunity. Something I'd been waiting for. Something I had seriously wanted as part of my overall development as a kaiako.

Like I did with Hobsonville Point Secondary School at the first #edchatnz conference, I fell in love with Rototuna Junior High School at the recent conference. It's not just the space, or the fact that it's new or that it would be an awesome experience to start afresh without restrictions of history or school culture, access etc ... it's a combination of all this and then the fact that you're collaborating with some incredibly amazing kaiako who want to create opportunities for authentic learning and authentic contexts and relevant learning experiences for students.

When I came out of the interview I naively thought it had gone well. I was all smiles. Buzzing the rest of the day. Surely this should have been the first warning sign. I'd later cringed at how I'd answered the 'What do you do outside of teaching..?' - I have a dog called Mia, a cat called Zo and I read a lot. ... Not the best. There was heaps I didn't say.

It had been a long time since I'd done an interview. I'd been circled before by some interested parties a couple years ago but at the time I was exceedingly happy with where I was during my time at Heights that I allowed those trying to entice me into a new position to ask those questions about change and my ideas for future possibilities without too much weighing on the possibility I might actually want or need to move schools. Because I didn't want to move schools before. I would love to stay at Heights for a long time. To be so embedded that I become a Heights institution. But I know at Heights I feel crazy comfortable and I've actually become quite complacent. I got used to the ebb and flow. There wasn't any BIG change in sight and I was happy doing my own thing in my class, with a captive audience for my terribly punny jokes. I've become part of the school. My students adore my teaching and am always having refugee students seek out my help or asking to come into my classes. It's just that we're taking such a long time to get to where I'd like to see Heights be at. I know we can get there... I just don't want to still be waiting well into my 30s... or 40s and then regret the fact that I didn't try to go somewhere else for new possibilities. I'm an impatient person at best when it comes to change, despite how patient I am with my students and their development and I need to keep pushing myself to be the best teacher I can be.

And so... when I got the call on Monday night after a day of absolute bliss and hope and excitement of a possibility... I was a little gutted. Because it was a lost opportunity. All weekend, even prior to handing in my application, I kept reminding myself to stay close to the ground and not allow myself to be carried away by the dreams and clouds drifting away.... I did... kind of. But that hope - it's infecting. That kind of feeling is something I hadn't felt in such a long time. There are so many amazing things happening in the world of education and I so desperately want to be part of it all. Despite all the cool things we do and learn about in our little space in our classroom, despite my students loving the learning, despite all of this.. I still would like to try my hand at something new. Always a learner... and this unfortunately (mostly fortunately now that I've had time to digest everything..) has been a learning curve. One which I will be thankful for in the future.

The morning after - Tuesday... I had made the decision that it would be okay. That I was okay with not getting it. I was still gutted for sure. But like anything, I'd learn from this. I was still trying to figure out what the things were that I needed to work on in order to get a job like that in the future, but I went to school, heavy hearted, knowing full well my students and colleagues would bolster me and reenergise me. Reminding me why I love teaching. Reminding me why I do all this. Why I get so involved and so laden by the stresses and pressure to keep working towards being a better teacher.

I'd given my students (only my Y12 classes..as they had the most to lose with me leaving with their high level and amount of internals etc) the heads up that I was thinking about applying for a new job... I'd told them I had an interview... and now was happy in a way I could assuage them and stop them giving me dirty, upset and accusingly traitorous looks by telling them that I actually didn't get the job. They were beyond happy by the way. Gutted for me. Happy for themselves. I knew all this. And... now we're back to normal. I think now though there is this feeling of slight untrust that I need to nut out because I've made it my mission as a teacher not to be the one that will ever abandon them. Which is why during the interview I brought up the issue around the start date because I was uncomfortable about leaving them before their end of year exams if I'd gotten the job...

Yesterday afternoon I finally got the guts up to ask for some feedback after the interview and particularly around gaining a bit more clarification around what I might need to do in order to develop more experience in what was called 'extended pedagogy'. The term was new to me and I wasn't too sure what they'd meant by it. I get it now though. And I'm still kicking myself. Because I can SO EASILY explain myself when it is in this mode of explanation through writing. Ask me face to face though and I sound ridiculous. If we're talking about something I'm crazy passionate about - there are no stops or starts in what I'm saying. I can talk for hours. I'll talk your head off. No umming - no stuttering. I know I used to be able to articulate myself well. I did. Before. So... I need to build these skills up again. I've been using stronger verbal questioning skills with my students as a way to redevelop those connections in the neurons... and even so... gosh. Maybe I just need to suck it up and ask for clarification whenever I'm unsure rather than reverting to that meek, passive person I used to be while growing up...

The very incredible new Principal of RSHS called me tonight to talk me through some of the feedback around the interview. It was mostly things I'd already told myself off about on the drive home after conference... but the clarification around what I needed to know was that extended pedagogy stuff. It's not really a new term. It's the fact that I didn't really explain myself in the interview. I didn't show how everything was interconnected. I didn't answer the questions well. Maybe in that moment I didn't even really know what the questions were trying to dig at. It's the same rookie mistake that my students make when going into their exams. They completely miss the point. And I think that's what happened to me.

She mentioned about my strengths in cultural responsiveness and relational pedagogy - a section I didn't even need to answer in the interview as I'd obviously covered it in enough depth just by talking about myself and my manaaki for my students.

But why didn't I then use this as a base for all of the other questions? In everything I do... MindLab, Kia Eke Panuku, Restorative Practice, inquiry and goal setting, reflections, planning, teaching and learning processes.... this strength of mine is at the core. Because I connect so INCREDIBLY well with my students. Why did I think it was a good idea to nekeneke without any actual connection to the kaupapa? Gah. Ko hoha au. Hoha with myself. Because I know this stuff. I know it so well. I could spout off so much of Russell Bishop and Mere Berryman's research. I can explain the areas around the Mana Potential and Rock and Water programmes and how I use these as a base for my restorative practice pedagogy and empathy modelling with students. I can easily share areas around moments where I've shown high expectations with my students - they too can easily ariticulate this. Because I never ever give up on them. So much so that when I found out one of my students had left today and it was a massive surprise to me... my students said it was because she didn't want to tell me because she knew I'd be disappointed in her. Disappointed in myself that another student was lost to me. Lost and I had no way of helping them achieve their full potential.

The Principal discussed the answers I gave around how I'd dealt with conflict with a student and how I'd extend students, and how I'd use inquiry to form judgements based on evidence collated by student data. I messed these questions up because I didn't really get the question. I was listening for what I thought they wanted to hear... not for what the question really was. I wasn't showcasing myself at all.

I have no idea why I brought up the conflict that hasn't really been resolved yet with one of my students... It's still weighing on my mind. It's still bugging me that there is that space that won't be filled from her side where she is unwilling to cross and go back to normal. Why didn't I talk about how I don't call students out for silly behaviours rather than that one time I did and it blew up in my face. Why didn't I talk about how I encourage my students to push themselves when they give up. How I contacted the parents of one student when I was just getting nowhere with him at school in my normal humourous joking manner of prodding along... and found out him and his mates were doing stupid stuff to each other and how this helped open a new kettle of fish where I reopened the dialogue I'd created with these parents last year when I'd taught him in a junior class.

Why didn't I talk about the time last year with one of the most loyal students I have now? How she seriously did not like me last year commenting on her work while she was doing her resubmission. How we got on the same page with our frustrations of the requirements set by her teacher around what was acceptable... and how we tried to nekeneke by using digital modes for her assessment... and were both gutted when it didn't work... and she had to revert her VERY awesome assessment to something more basic, more handdrawn... and which although she achieved... she would have gotten an Excellence with her digital version because of how she'd edited it... How she has been an inquiry student for me for a long time because she has issues with accepting praise when she's done something well, or when she thinks she's not good enough... how she was a phenomenal help in our extra-curricular dance competition and raised herself to a leadership position quickly, being her humble and quiet self, and her angry and frustrated self when other students weren't paying attention to what us teachers were trying to say...How this year she has grown astronomically in her confidence levels and is beginning to believe in herself finally.

I know I didn't answer the question properly around how I extend students - I'd thought the question was more around the expectations of the parents.. I should have clarified the question to ensure I was being clear from the get go. I winged that question and that was the question which I could have easily connected with. I talked about how the students need to push themselves to their full potential. At no point did I mention I help scaffold them to get there where they can fly solo. I could have talked about our awesome sticker charts that we have in class that I've developed as an inquiry over the past two years and how these show the progression of student achievement and overall development. How these sticker charts, while back to basics, are a visual reminder of how we're going as a class. How these charts are a constant reminder of the students I need to pull up with the rest of us and the students who need constant pushing forward to reach their crazy awesome potential.

I could have talked more about the fact that despite my strengths being with encouraging my students who are struggling, I am also getting VERY good at more in-depth higher order thinking questioning skills with my students to make them think DEEPER and with a stronger focus around building the audience and overall purpose into EVERYTHING they discuss and share. I could have talked about how we've developed entire programmes together as a class based on student interests and how these overwhelmingly have enhanced my teaching as I've developed stronger and more in depth foci around my own teaching style and the needs of my students. How I've become so much more aware of my reverting back into traditional modes of teaching because of the restrictions placed on us and how asserting my knowledge around building 21st century skills in regards to collaboration, participation and overall thinking skills have helped to develop more enhanced learning opportunities for all students.

I also could have explained my use of assessment data to talk about my inquiries and how these relate back to so many different areas where I have strengths... how I created a Google Form for my Year 12 Alternative English class to evaluate my teaching and their learning processes. How the questions were framed in a way to ensure full student evaluation of their learning within my class and how I've used culturally responsive pedagogies in order to ensure better outcomes for all students. How this use of qualitative data outlined certain areas and issues in my practice that I had known but had ignored - particularly how I believe my Y13 students in that class will be fine, how I try to let them figure things out before helping them too quickly. How this actually doesn't make them feel safe or comfortable in the learning just yet. How I try to scaffold them to make them feel more comfortable and ready to fly solo. Using this data and the achievement of certain internal assessments to graph the results and then analyse the data in our professional learning groups showed that I can discuss the intricacies of relational pedagogy and more importantly the critical lens of AKO and Mana Motuhake. Why oh WHY did I not bring these up? Why didn't I elaborate further around this?

The last question I messed up was around integrated learning programmes and particularly how I've been part of enabling these. I talked about the Year 9 Heights programme of induction around English, Social Studies and Science. While this was cool, I could have talked about how I'm currently collaborating with the health and physical education department and particular colleagues to enable our students to succeed in both English and Health to ensure our students are making the most of their learning opportunities and how my fabulous colleague Sam and I have been discussing the need to share our resources (which we have at differing times - start of this year and a couple weeks ago) to help define the skills in which our students are using in our individual classes to try to connect their learning on a level platform - not so much single cell subjects... I could have talked about how I've been discussing the same kind of thing with my colleagues in the Music department about their performance standard and how we could use it for our Visual Verbal standard. More than just doubling up on the credits... or double dipping as others put it... how we want to change the way we're teaching and learning to ensure that our students get the best deal. That they learn that many of the skills we're all teaching in the different learning areas are actually connected - how they're interdisciplinary skills.

All of this annoys me.. because I know this stuff. I know it so well. I talk to anyone who will listen about this stuff. Because I believe in it so much. I absolutely detest deficit theorizing. I refuse to ever believe that a student doesn't want to learn. They just haven't been given the right opportunity yet. Sometimes sure a student lacks the motivation... but again this comes down to encouragement of their efforts rather than their ability. Growth MINDSET! Why didn't I bring this up - the Class Dojo geek that I am. Gah.

I think overall, like she said, it comes down to interviewing skills. I wasn't ready for the interview - usually I do so so much prep before I even apply to a new school. I embed myself so completely within their website, and any and all research I can find, that I know the mission and school charter better than many of the current staff at the school I'm applying at. True story. It had been a while since my last interview. I was nervous. God was I nervous. But I don't think I was hungry enough for it. I am now. Because that opportunity while lost... isn't the last one. There will be more opportunities. It's an expanding school. Next time I will be ready. I will articulate myself clearly. I will be clearly spoken. I will have a range of experience to gather from and nekeneke properly by connecting everything to my overall whakaaro. I will be absolutely sure it's what I want. I will dive headfirst. Because that's what I'm like... all or nothing.

For now though... my students are happy. My Principal is happy. My colleagues are happy too. It didn't quite feel like the right timing this time. It kind of felt like a false start in a race where I tried to outstrip the bullet in the gun before it was even shot out of the barrel. I wasn't quite ready. Eager, always. But ready? Not quite yet.

Ngā mihi nui to all those who helped me with my application. I'm sorry I let you down. I will do better next time. To those who supported me post-interview and post-interview result too - it's not an easy thing putting yourself out there and I'm glad I did it if only for the interview experience. Massive thanks to the leadership team at RSHS for the opportunity and for the chance to share who I am with you. I look forward to seeing where you all go in your planning for the rest of the year and can't wait to hear about the awesome things that will be happening there. Lastly, massive thanks to the RSHS principal who took time out of her day to talk me through the feedback from the interview. Not all Principals would do this and it meant a lot. Ngā mihi nunui ki a koe e whaea.

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.

Byte Sized PLD - The Beginning

On Tuesday I started something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I mentioned it briefly in the last post but thought I'd elaborate on it now.

Over the past two years I've been experimenting with different styles of PLD: Wide focus with all staff, small groups, workshops and one-on-one sessions.

What I've found is that for those in the early majority and late majority - the wide focus sessions work fine. The late majority tend to ask the most questions and stop the flow of the learning but at least they're getting involved and trying to learn. The laggards sit there doing next to nothing, often refusing to participate or watching others participate and sometimes giving very negative responses.

The early adopters and innovators get frustrated with this style of learning as often they aready know the majority of this kind of PLD - and if not, they pick it up fast and go and do their own research at home or during the session... the early adopters are often relied on to answer the questions of the late majority and are the ones who try and inspire the early majority to activate them into becoming early adopters.

During the small group sessions, most people are engaged as they've come to the session prepared with questions and ideas for what they want to learn more about.

During the workshops and one-on-one sessions, colleagues are supported with facilitation and direct help and support when needed. Colleagues have found these the most effective and often use the learning from the sessions in their own classes much faster than compared with the wide focus sessions.

Because our eLearning PLD has been few and far between and the issues around organising a space and time to organise PLD for staff... although it could easily be done through using GForms (for staff to choose their sessions) and GDocs (for us to create and collaborate on ideas) and GSlides (to create the sessions and share the learning with all of the staff)... I decided it was time to implement 'Byte Sized PLD'.

The main reason for Byte Sized PLD is because there is a lack of time to learn new things. If I deliver a short and sweet weekly email with links, ideas and shared examples of new use of tech in class by colleagues then perhaps our staff will feel more empowered, confident and ready to engage with new learning when they need it or have time for it.

On Tuesday I sent the first one out with links to some of the learning I did in the break at the PPTA Māori Teacher's conference and at Connect Day in Hamilton. I think I'll also share these Byte Sized PLD emails as posts on here too. Could become a really cool way of sharing and acknowledging the awesome work our staff at Heights are doing.

Just hoping I keep up with the weekly emails!!

Collaboration in English - Thematic Y11 Programme

A couple of days ago a colleague from the English department asked if I could give her some ideas for the Y11 film study. We talked about what I do and how it all connects to be able to teach 1.8 properly - by using a thematic study of texts. I teach around the themes of corruption and control and Y11 and it continues to be super effective. (Still need to nail the Y12 programme.... heoi ano..) 

In Y11 we start with creative writing and two short texts: 'Harrison Bergeron' by Kurt Vonnegut and 'Examination Day' by Henry Slesar. This year we looked at the films for these too - very short films - which seemed to capture their understanding in even more depth. By term two, we're doing the novel study - this year they had a few options: 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry, 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' by Patrick Ness and 'Divergent' by Veronica Roth. Last year I had given them 'The Hunger Games' and 'Noughts and Crosses' too - but having so many options was crazy chaotic - although useful in some ways... This year it has been way more manageable and students have been able to identify with different texts more effectively. Having their formal writing assessment (where they wrote an essay about their novel) due right before their first exam was useful as well as it helped them achieve so much more effectively than ever before. Majority of Merits, smaller number of Achieved's and only a handful of Not Achieved's and one Excellence. In preparation for term three, where they do the 1.8 Connections assessment, we will be beginning to study 'V for Vendetta' directed by James McTeigue. In the 1.8 assessment, they have to write a report analysing four texts - three studied in class and one they've chosen on their own. All four texts need to be connected in some way - usually a main theme that is overarching. 

After explaining the 1.8 assessment a little bit with my colleague, we discussed possible options for films going from the themes in the short story 'Ka Kite Bro' by Willie Davis that they had previously studied this year. The themes of racism, culture, acceptance and self-identity run through it. I grabbed a few options from the dvd cupboard in class, and gave her Boy, The Blindside and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas. We then started talking about the themes in other forms of possible media, like poetry and articles she'd done in class. I told her about the unit I used to do with the bi-lingual kids at Massey High and how we incorporated spoken word poetry and traditional poetry as well as short stories to create a thematic unit around overcoming racism and breaking stereotypes. I gave her a few post its with the stories I'd used and emailed a few of the ones I could find on Google Drive while she was still there. We talked a bit more and decided on Whale Rider for her film study, which I had a copy of at home.

Yesterday I created a shared folder with ALL of the texts that could possibly help and also created a Google Slide deck with spoken word poetry, traditional poetry and also the blogpost where I talked more about it a couple years ago. This slide deck will be incredibly useful when I need to use it again - possibly with the Y10 English class in a couple weeks time. 

This morning she told me how effective one of the poems was - a spoken word poem by Joshua Iosefo called 'Brown Brother'. I only heard about it myself because one of the bi-lingual students had brought it up in class one day - and from then on I've been hooked. The poem discusses institutionalised racism and the inherent stereotypes faced by people of colour. Particularly from his perspective as a Samoan teenager looking towards his future prospects. 

This kind of teaching is what I love the most - working with people to solve problems, identify shared issues and try to overcome them through resiliency and problem solving.

And... now on to more marking :D

Mindlab Assessment: LDC1 (Class Dojo and PB4L)

For this assessment I had to critique a change initiative that I had been involved in. I went well over the word limit and still don't think I said everything I needed to. I should have discussed and critiqued the leadership theories in more depth and the leadership of the change initiative itself.

MindLab Assessments: DCL 1

A bit of a catch up needed...

I'm all about visible learning - however have been slack in putting these finished documents and videos up. I think I'm better at essays than videos. I say um too much but I do want to get better at doing the, as it's something I need to work on - speaking clearly and getting my point across. Perhaps all that is needed is a script that I've worked on that I read out. When I read poems or Shakespeare I'm awesome and I don't stumble... so... we'll see how that goes. My next assessment NEEDS to be a video as it will make it extremely easier to implement and show an educational contextual topic as a result...

For the Digital and Collaborative Learning Assessment I had to create a video discussing an area that I wanted to focus on and implement a change initiative.

To create this video I used Screencastify and an embedded video that I created through Wideo.co which you can check out individually here: 

The slides can be found here:

Sharing - Snipping Tool on Windows

Today I shared with a student and a colleague - at different parts of the day how to use the standard snipping tool on Microsoft Windows OS.

For the student it was to snip a QR code he'd generated to avoid having to create an account throught the qr generator website for his static image.

For my colleague it was to snip a photo and title from the e-asttle exam to be used as a creative writing prompt in the Junior English exams.

To me this is a simple task. I need to remember that there are many tasks that I take for granted now that are completely new for others.

While walking my student (J) through this, another of my student's (A) sitting beside J was singing my praises to his friend. A was saying that I get them to do their work on Google Docs and can check their work from wherever I am and help them when they're stuck and give instant feedback. Wasn't too impressed collegially by the comparison to another teacher they were moaning about that doesn't do this (yet!) - but it was nice that A recognised the effort I put into not only doing the marking (which I would have to do regardless) but the fact that I put time and energy into teaching them new skills like this.

I walked away from overhearing their conversation, once I'd helped J, feeling stoked and pleased with myself. I noted to another colleague how cool it was that J was going with the QR code idea and that I'd taught him something new and got barely a response. I was proud of them and proud of myself. It's not always appreciated though - maybe fear of the unknown, fear of my and my students success? Maybe I talk too fast or maybe they just weren't interested or were just busy.

When I helped my colleague with her snipping job - I felt that I took over because I'd tried to do the same steps as I had with J where I guided him where to go on the computer but my colleague was more hands off at first and needed to visualise it first before she had a go herself. She was a bit scared of what I was trying to get her to do - I think because she was working so hard on the new exam and didn't want to mess up what she'd already done and maybe I hadn't explained it clearly enough - and once she saw how it worked she was impressed and overly thankful. We talked through the process so that she could remember how to do it again and then I asked her to try it herself this time and again she did and was pretty impressed with herself too and how the tool worked - stoked!

I must remember that everyone has different ways of processing and that they need to be catered for individually. Also - just because I have been doing something for ages or using a tool some way with my students doesn't mean that others are and they need help or not as well - depending on their level of interest and engagement. I should be more considerate with my time and make sure that when I do those kinds of one-on-one sessions with my students and colleagues and try not to assume that the other knows what I'm on about because everyone is on their own journey. 

The Process of Delivering SchoolWide PLD on eLearning

Have been thinking all weekend about the best way to approach schoolwide PLD on eLearning. I think now though that I'm overthinking it all. Maybe I just need to wait til tomorrow's eLearning Committee meeting and debrief properly. One of the big issues is that we didn't have enough time to go through everything. It won't be as linear as I want it to be either - it needs to have those ups and downs and the time to play and learn and question. We probably won't ever have enough time... until we set up the process of delivering schoolwide PLD that will work best for our school.

I keep coming back to the idea that it needs to be self-directed. By being self-directed there is a greater sense of self-autonomy. More so there is built up interest and relevance in what they're learning about. Staff know where they feel comfortable or not so - their confidence levels will rise when they see success.

Although I am very much against levels and labels - and think it's condescending if I group people myself or even as a committee - I think it would be beneficial for staff to have differing groups and areas that they personally can choose - all on one particular platform where staff can search out information when and where they want development.

One of the main areas of focus we'd set up for Friday was to do a staff continuum on where people felt confident in using tech in class. After that we'd planned to then share in small groups about what they're already doing and what they'd like to do given the access and more ability to do so.

What I need is some feedback from that session and more importantly - some feedforward on these particular areas:
- staff confidence with tech
- areas they would like to improve on
- what they learnt from the session
- what they're currently doing and what they'd like to develop (could be anything - not just tech related)
- who they tend to ask help from
- whether they have a fixed or growth mindset towards all of this (though it may be obvious depending on their answers...)
- how we as a committee can help them develop more confidence
- what they'd like to see in the next eLearning session
- where they see us as a school in the next 3-5 years
- what PLD they've done in the past year that has changed or developed their teaching style
- what PLD they would like so that we can help them find the right learning for them individually
- what they see as a possible future for our 21st century students
- what skills they think our students may need for that future
- what skills do we need to develop in order to upskill our students etc...

I'm hoping that after tomorrow's session I will feel a bit more relaxed and not so stressed out. I think I'm stressing myself out but there really is no need to be...

Probably the biggest concern at the moment is once we've got that feedback - how to move forward?

Do we want to have whole school PLD? Do we need to have a more unconference breakout style PLD where staff can choose different sessions purely on their own interests?

How do we plan for this? Do we have a shared space like the eLearning Hub that Donella and I created?

Do we have smaller breakout sessions where they define what they want to learn and learn from each other like we do at Educamps?

Do we ensure that everyone has learnt the "basics" before moving on?

Do we encourage badge systems for achieving differing levels? Should I gamify their learning?

Getting our staff to understand the WHY is also very important. I see this as part of the "basics" and then where they move onto is up to them.

At the very least -  our eLearning committee will be a sounding board and help others and lead them to where we want to head towards. A PLN colleague once called such teachers as Lighthouse teachers - leading the way forward.

At the moment - I'm still trying to figure it all out - and I must remember I'm not a "lone nut" anymore. We have an amazing group of educators who are forward thinking and incredibly interested in helping our staff move forward.

I just want to do it as a team - to work together and collaborate. Focus on key areas and move forward in one direction. It's hard when everyone has their own perspectives and ideas where we are heading.

So I'm looking forward to tomorrow's eLearning Committee and developing that shared vision together. I want their feedback first and foremost and a possible yay or nay as to moving forward with the one collaborated space platform for eLearning or other options and opinions.

With it all I need to remember to maintain a growth mindset and be happy that others are getting on the waka. We just need to remember to work together and move steadily forward as a team.

Heights eLearning Workshop Session

Am still buzzing after the workshop yesterday. By the middle of our session we had 68 teachers signed up to using Google+ and joined up to our staff development community.

We have even more now. 76 at the last check.

We didn't get through all of the slides. We did get through a couple of our aims that session though -creating a google+ account, using Padlet, accessing the community on G+ and using Class Dojo.

At least with this session - we could see who was visibly struggling. We could see the ones that were bored and knew what to do and were fine and there were those ones who just needed an extra nudge.

What we didn't get to was the continuum so that we can make up ability groups. The idea of the continuum was merely to show who felt confident and less confident and pair them up so that they would have someone to bounce ideas off of.

I really would have liked to go over the Docs stuff though.

I think that we'd planned so much we didn't really think of the 'students' in front of us - in regards to their ability levels.

At different points I was going too fast - and that was to me a simple logging on to the G+ account.

From yesterday you could see who had read their emails and who hadn't too. Because I'd given relatively easy instructions for setup and for the day.

I think that our next step is to find out when our next session is. Then we can plan appropriately. It will need to become more of a 20/20/20 time though.

20 mins full staff workshop. 20 mins self choice on a topic they want to learn more about. 20 mins playing and learning and reflecting time.

What I'd like to see happen next is a timetabled session for eLearning. Even though we've got the G+ community up and running now - it's going to be hugely important to have those face to face (f2f/ktk) meetings so that they can ask and learn faster. 

Also - I would be really keen to develop that eLearning Hub more in depth with the collaboration of the eLearning committee too. I think we need to figure out our staff's ability levels though. 

It was quite clear yesterday that we're going to have to do QUITE ALOT of upskilling throughout the staff. 

Main areas of focus at the moment:

Basics:

Logging in and getting around the GAFE platform

Using Gmail, G+ and Drive effectively

Privacy and sharing settings

Helping each other

Sharing failures and successes

Intermediate:

How to use Drive and G+ to build collaboration between staff for PLD, staff and students in class, student collaboration in and out of class

How to set up Classroom and send out announcements, assignments, change pages etc

How to set up a Google Class Site and create skeleton of site with different pages and sitemap

GAFE apps and add-ons, extensions

Helping each other

Sharing failures and successes

Extended:

Building Class Site - adding and embedding

Connecting G+, Classroom, Sites and Drive together to allow free flow of information and develop a classroom setting

Helping each other

Sharing failures and successes

Pro:

Teaching others

Sharing on G+

Modelling but allowing staff to learn on their own

Modelling that making mistakes is OKAY and actually really useful because we learn from them

Developing "best practice" 

Sharing progress and encouraging failure for the sake of learning

Learning

Using G+ to gain more information

Helping each other

Of course there are plenty of other things and areas that can go into these categories. For now - they'll do. I really just want some feedback on the session and find out where the staff want to go next in terms of their own learning. What specifically do they need/want to know and how best can we organise ourselves to efficiently help and upskill our staff. 

I was going pretty fast a bit of the time but felt like I was going slow most of the time. 

After talking to Rachel and Noelene at the Dojo Dinner last night - I realise that full staff PLD is just not going to be as effective. We know that full staff PLD doesn't work that well. What we do need to ensure though is that our staff feel safe and comfortable - but that they're also allowing themselves to come out of their comfort zones. 

I really wish that I had taken a picture of the staff yesterday. They all had their laptops and it was truly awesome seeing them all participating. If they weren't able to connect yesterday during the session - they did so afterwards. It was pretty impressive to see actually. The fact that they all were there - going with it. Definitely a better outcome than I'd originally thought. 

A few crucial moments:

- Digital Citizenship Teaching Moment. While on Google Slides - staff found the Group chat and I made use of the moment to tell them that they weren't showing DC skills. That they were:

1) not doing what I'd asked them to do.

2) did something that was completely irrelevant to what we were going to do

3) were off task

4) being inappropriate and bullying online

Great opportunity to see that though. The main point I was trying to get at was that you could see who was on the Slides - but they did that. Showing how quickly we need to be teaching these skills because our students don't know... and apparently neither do our teachers! haha

- Realising that there were people in the room that could help the rest and that I didn't have to do it all by myself - we'll need the eLearning team to build those skills too. 

- Being aware of the WIDE range of abilities in the staff. We need to ensure that no-one is being left behind and it's VERY hard to make sure that doesn't happen when we don't know who feels comfortable or not confident yet with tech. 

I'm looking forward to our eLearning Committee meeting this coming Tuesday to get some feedback and really hope that we can develop on these four areas to ensure that we have continued to build up our staff in an on-going development. 

The main thing though is building growth mindsets. If they can do that - then they're more likely to keep trying and not giving up. 

At first I was slightly overwhelmed - then I got back into it - like I usually do when doing PLD teaching. I love it. I'm glad that I've been allowed to share with the staff and build them up too. So so awesome. 

Looking forward to hearing the feedback from staff this coming week. 

Hopefully they'll have a play with our eLearning community on Google Plus over the long weekend. :)

Heights Reflection 2

Second week of allocated time to reflect.

Think I've sorted out 2 of my Y11 inquiry students because our amazing TA Marie works with them one on one and now I have more time to work with the rest of the class.

Yesterday we went over essay structure and breaking down essay questions. I told them that it's going to be easy at this point to see who has been developing their own analysis at this point about their novels and who haven't initiated contact with the characters or themes. Why? Because the students that have been doing the required analysis will breeze through essay question after essay question.

I have a weird idea that I might try this week - start each day with a new essay question and they need to develop main points, find keywords and phrases as well as use the TAKO structure to develop a new intro each day.

I truly believe that by having a strong intro you actually can't go wrong in the essay paragraphs. Because if you have clearly laid out what you will be talking about -your three main points - then it's quite easy to keep coming back to your intro to see what you're talking about next.

The problem I see a lot of the time is students who just start writing and don't like generating ideas or brainstorming. I might also try out +SteveMouldey's (@GeoMouldey) suggestion about idea generating and then choosing the best 3 or 4 ideas to build on.

When I was at school (old kuia in me haha) we were taught brainstorming and mind gym and deBono's hats. There was a lot of effort put into teaching us HOW to think and that thinking was BETTER usually than the end result. Because thinking develops into good practice eventually anyway... if you've thought through the issue enough anyway...

I've continued to do this with my Y11s. I worry that I haven't done enough SOLO scaffolding with them and that I've let them and encouraged them to work at their own pace. I think today I'll get their books in and do a quick check over.

Some students have a really strong fixed mindset that we need to build up into growth mindsets. It's frustrating because the inquiry students need more awhi one on one and with my individualised programme - there is more time - but I still feel it isn't an effective use of my time monitoring and circling and seeing if they need help. Maybe I need to make some sort of system on the whiteboard or just trust that they'll ask for help when they need it.

What I'd like to do is completely flip my class. Yes I keep saying it and yes eventually it will happen.

Have been reading two... maybe three flip your classroom type books and they've really begun to change my own mindset and also enable me to redefine what a flipped classroom actually looks and feels like.

Tweeting Troy Cockrum the other day was probably one of the best moments because he offered me advice and ideas about our Evolving at Heights space and they're really great ideas. I just need to implement them.

Now that we have an online space - I need to create some sort of latest activity link because it's becoming difficult to keep track of what's been done and who's working on what. The WB grids have been helping but I need to make a more clearer way to see what they've been doing and where - maybe use ExitTicket?? Or Google Forms?

What I probably need to do is set up that lesson by lesson table that Troy suggested because then at least on the new Google Doc for each lesson - there would be links to the ExitTicket and also links for learning etc on there. Would also make the transition to flipped learning faster too. It's always systems and processes for me.

For Y12 - today we should all be onto the analysis of their books. Because they're fast learners I'll be working at their pace and we'll be analysing the texts fast so that we have plenty of time to develop their overall analysis in their essays prior to the coming mid term exams.

My inquiry students are working individually, developing knowledge of using GDocs with me and completing work. Some will be coming to lunch this arvo. I like that I chose Thursday as tutorial time because it's the lunch right after the Y12 class.

My other Y12A class have just finished watching the Blindside and have been given three tasks to complete by the end of the week - overall summary of the film, what links they can make between the characters and also what themes are overriding in Mike's life.

We'll continue working on that today.

My Y10 Sost class blows my mind every lesson. Yesterday one of my students P burst into tears after looking at pictures of starving children in Africa as part of her research on her chosen UDHR article. She looked at me and said, "We need to do something!" And so her passion project has begun. Love it. Social change in action is powerful and it doesn't happen until you've made a personal and empathetic connection with it.

My Y10 English class have continued work on their Static Images - we're building on their prior knowledge of techniques as well as their work from last year.

They were given three options as well:
1) Social issue
2) Music CD cover or Artist Tour Poster
3) Company Campaign

And yes - it's noisy and yes it's a little all over the place - but there is real learning happening. Students are showing their understanding of the techniques and showing it in their drafts. Hopefully they'll be finished their good copies by the end of the week (am most likely dreaming haha.) More likely finished by Wed next week.

Am so grateful for our TA Ria because she works with the group of boys that are often off task and by helping them stay o  task, building on their knowledge, pushing them to develop stronger drafts has enabled me to help the rest of the class.

So that's this week so far! More to write soon. Off to school I go :)