Y13 English Exam - 23rd Nov

Yesterday my Y13 students came early to their English exam, sat their exam and came to tell me which questions they chose. Most stayed for the full three hours. 

So freaking proud of them all and the other students not pictured here too who were super early but had the wrong uniform on and had to go home and change. 😂🤦 

Building up the confidence in these kids has been the biggest highlight of my year. To see them believe in themselves, their learning and the power of understanding (plus the intense analysis and portrayal of their knowledge in their close viewing helped!!), their abilities and overwhelming sense of 'I've got this'... it's honestly just so incredible. 

Such a pleasure to have taught you all this year. Karawhiua koutou! ❤️🙌

Senior Prizegiving - 7th Nov

What an incredible night ❤️🙌 Ōpōtiki College Senior Prizegiving was absolutely beautiful. So very proud of our students, the speeches, the awards, the hard mahi to get the treats. Beyond proud. 

Acknowledging those students who continue striving for the very highest pinnacles of success and believing in themselves. The resiliency and focus of our rangatahi is phenomenal. 

#NgataHard #Ngatafari 

Looking forward to 2020 with these future leaders. Going to miss the hilarious Y13s from this year and hope they continue pushing forward and achieve all their goals. 

🙌

Tried taking some selfies with my new mates and students this year. New kura, new traditions.

Missed having my traditional selfie with my mate Bronny this year. Miss my Heights mates! Congrats to the students at Heights who recieved prizes today too. ❤️

Y13 English - Providing Options & Text Selection at OC

Providing options today...

Back in Term 1 my Y13 class and I had this EPIC day where we discussed and co-constructed text selection for the coming year. I'd chosen texts based off of what I thought would be suitable for a Y13 year with thematic connections and historical themes as well. However, they'd already tried reading the text the year previously and were not keen on the film.

That day we looked at film trailers and I took them over to the English department where I asked them to have a look through the texts that they were interested in. They came back with three texts: 'Animal Farm', 'The Book Thief' and 'Loves Me Not'.

When we got back to class - we talked more about these three texts and they began their reading from that point. Some continued reading several texts, some read and then stopped and started. Some finished. Some didn't.

Being Term 3 - with the knowledge that the texts needed to be read by now and that I wasn't sure whether they had or not (my problem - I should have been making them more accountable with their reading and shoulf have given them their novel study booklets back in term 1 and provided some sort of way to track their reading throughout the term... All learning and reflection!) I gave them the novel study booklets and very briefly went over the essay questions.

Last term they'd been wanting essay practice. I want them to be there - but without having read the text we can't do anything.

So today - I said, "If you haven't read the text yet - email me and tell me. I will send you a short story." I've since had two students own up and be accountable, emailed me and we now have a plan moving forward.

Awesome! Hopefully any others will still email me. And the majority will have finished/re-read the text by Week 3.

Week 5 exams!!! 😭❤️😂👐 So many emotions. We'll be sweet for film study essay. We'll have more time to do novel essays after the exams and prior to the externals.

If I can just have all my students feeling a LITTLE or a LOT more confident in their writing - then I've won. Therefore - we soldier on and finish close viewing.

A HUGE thank you Kim and Jaime from the Trident English Dept for their resources and benchmark exemplars, my incredible mate Pip at Mount Maunganui College for her ongoing support and to my incredible friend and colleague Tina Carlson from WHHS for the moderation during the holidays ❤️ #NgaMihi

#Y13 #evolutionandimagination #blogging #engchatnz

First Day with the Seniors

I'll say this first and get it out of the way. I miss the KAL kids and the Heights kids. Course I do - six years there, many relationships built over the years and I missed the vibe I'd had with the KAL kids.

...

Today first up - staff briefing and karakia and waiata ❤ then assembly with all the new kaiako on stage. Me - awkward, standing up, waving, then a quick, quiet Kia ora koutou and sat down, perched on my seat.

Next - moving off to Ngata house meeting - am really looking forward to working with Matua Lance! He was so inspiring in his korero today - talking about his own education and work he's done before he became a teacher. It was good to be able to introduce myself then and there and welcome the new Y12s and 13s and also myself and Lance into Team Ngata.

Then - off to my classroom for LA (Learning Advisory) with LELN. I have the Y12 and Y13 Ngata students. They're pretty cool! I asked them to say their name, one thing they hated about last year and one thing they are looking forward to this year. Pretty cool responses too. Was good to get some questions early on from this group. I asked them what we could do to improve our class and there's absolutely plenty to be done. We sorted out the timetable for the day - Lines 1-5. I wrote it all out on the whiteboard only to realise it was super easy and pre-organised on the piece of paper they'd been given. They didn't need to know the lines and all that info I wrote bahahaha

My first class after interval was my Y13 English class -- Level 3 THI class (Thinking and Delving into Texts). I tried to start off with the POL and the texts we were going to do - but we (and I actually mean they) got straight into whakawhanaungatanga. It was awesome. I was a little drained afterwards haha just because it was rapid-fire 'get to know Whaea Alex'. Loved every minute. They asked me heaps of questions and I passed around my Europe bracelet and puzzle ring to see if they could recognise any of the countries and if they could put it back together. They all want to travel and think bigger. We talked about not feeling trapped and making sure that they had exit plans once school finished so that they were driven, passionate and ultimately wouldn't just be sitting at home next year with no goals. They are SO keen. Love this. The connection was fast paced. I haven't taught Y13 kids in ages and it was a surprising and positive first impression of the class. Can't wait for our year.

I caught up with Robyn and discussed the upcoming PAT test and we arranged a meeting for later on in the day to further organise it with Vickee :)

Level 1 English.... 38 plus kids. Surely. Absolutely bonkers. I got through half of them asking for their name and how English went last year for them. We broke down what NCEA stood for and I attempted to go over the course outline with them... But they were all over the place. Talkative, talking over each other etc. It took ages to settle them down - they will need loads of attention, scaffolding and strict but fair guidelines. Because far... Discussions were super hard. The girls were onto it and way focussed, quiet as too.... The massive amount of boys... Not so much. Once the kaiarahi organise the class a bit better - we'll have a much better start to the year I reckon. Lots of knew learning for me as it's a US course.

Level 1 THI - such a cool class! A few of my new Tu Rangatahi mates there too. Was awesome. The vibe was high as! They were excited to work with me and me with them!! So can't wait. I asked the kids what their names were, something I absolutely must know about them (hint: majority of them like pies 😂) and something they're looking forward to this year. We looked over the plan a bit and talked about what we'd be doing. I floated the idea of doing 'Part Time Indian' but they'd already studied it. So... I need to figure out another text. One of the Tu Rangatahi kids, Tana, was already bouncing ideas for his speech - not due till term 2. Love this class. So cool!!

Lunch - spent quickly eating food, and then having a visit from two of my Y13 students who talked about the year and what they were hoping to get out of it. One of them said they'd never sat in a class at lunch with a teacher and talked before... I said it was normal to me because at Heights we'd always hang out in class. One of them also said how gutted she was for the students at Heights, how they'd lost a good teacher, but how happy she was that they'd gained a good one :) happy chills!!

Sorted out the plan and details for the PAT testing tomorrow. Looking forward to this online testing version as the test changes as the kids progress based on their needs and abilities. Accurate testing!

Last up was LA. I forgot to check my emails before then as we were told the kids could leave once they had their timetables sussed to remove any blanks. They all rushed off once we found out. I was trying to stall for time and then once we were told - they were gone. Not much of a good bye or see ya later. I missed KAL so much at that moment. Our vibe isn't there yet in LELN. But we'll get there, I hope.

Much more to be thought about and processed. But am happy we had such a good day and that other than the 38 Y11 kids ... There were no issues and I made heaps of new connections or at least beginnings of connections today. Stoked. 

Y13 Taika Waititi Film Study

This year I've been teaching Year 13's (ages 17-18 aka 7th form) for the first time in my teaching career.

At the start of the year I had upwards of 50 students enrolled in my class. After some quick interviewing of my students to assess who actually:
a) wanted to do Y13 English Alternative
b) should be there (credits from last year) or in the generic English course
c) didn't want to do English/didn't need Level 3 English for the beginning of their careers next year

Once I had significantly dropped the numbers with the help of my amazing colleagues who found better places for them - I was down to about 45 students I think.

During this time I somehow managed to get them all reading and analysing the epic short story 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens and later on - the two equally fantastic New Zealand short stories 'Her First Ball' by Katherine Mansfield and 'His First Ball' by Witi Ihimaera.

Eventually the class was split into two alternative level classes - and my amazing colleague TC is now working with me to continue this course.

Now that I had about 23 students - we could breathe a little easier and actually get some work done! :)

In walks the first assessment: US 3491 -  Write a report.  (3 credits)

At first glance, it looks like an easy assessment. It's a unit standard and all the students need to do is compare and contrast two texts and share their findings.

When we started teaching it and figuring it all out - it was a bit more indepth.

Films studied:

'Boy' and 'Tama Tu'

The analysis was easy and hard going at the same time. The report writing itself was and continues to be (some still have not handed it in....- cut off date is end of the term!!) Partly because of the structure I'd created for their report paragraphs - but mostly because it was a higher level of thinking and writing than they possibly had done before in their last years class. Y13 is a huge step up - even for the alternative course.

The assessment asked for the students to show their understanding of the director's purpose, how effective he was in portraying this through the key aspects and lastly evaluate his effectiveness in regards to how they related with it.

So this is how I asked my students to structure the paragraphs:

Topic Statement
Examples of key aspect
Explanations of key aspect and how they have impacted you/audience
Purpose (what the director was meaning and the purpose in creating the text)
Evaluation of effectiveness in portraying a key aspect in the film
Response - what you thought about what the director did - why it had an impact on you/audience

I've had four good reports handed in - about three that are in the near end stages and a few that still need more guidance and they are expected to go to the homework centre to get it done.


The next 'assessment' needs a bit of explanation... 

Mainly because it's a three part assessment.

AS 91480 - Close reading of visual texts (3 Credits)
US - Contribute as a team or group towards an objective
AS - Create a coherent oral text

The end product is an oral text where they present their findings and show their understanding of what the director did, why and how. Of course also how they related to it and the effectiveness etc. The best part about this is that there are loads of ways they can do this part - as a seminar, lesson, workshop, video, etc etc etc etc

Before this can happen though -  they have to collate information and techniques and analyses on two short excerpts - or in our case - two short films. And analyse their findings and think about how they relate to them and how they've been impacted in some way as the audience and why the director did it and what the director made them think etc.

Films studied: 

'Tama Tu' and '2 Cars, 1 Night'

Best part of this series of assessments is that they have basically done most of the groundwork about the background of Tama Tu in the last assessment and can solely focus on the technical aspects of diegetic sounds, shots, cinematography, mis en scene etc

The other best part so far - is while watching 'Two Cars, 1 Night' - my students were discussing aspects of the film with technical terms as they watched it, questioning it, and discussing the backgrounds of the characters and already started to think about why Taika Waititi used these characters, how he used them etc.

This is awesome because it showed me that they get it... and that they can do it. And most of all.. that when they get stressed out and say they can't - I can remind them back to the first time we watched it... and every other time since.

At the moment - they are collating the data and evidence of the film.

We've started to analyse our own information using the below questions:


Before we can attack the questions - which are rather wordy for that reason - I've decided they need to unpack each one to know what they've actually got to answer. We've already done a bit of this - with the first question:

On Monday we'll continue with this - perhaps unpack the rest of the questions - because the next two lessons I'll be in Wellington for PPTA meetings - and so they'll continue working on their answers and paragraphs... why? because it's an easy way for them to cut and paste info into a speech transcript for their speeches later. Smart aye :)

To do the collating of the information - they're working in teams or groups - and hopefully will stay in those groups for the presentation side of the close reading assessment. I love how interconnected these assessments are. Really the only way to do it too. :)


I'm hoping that my Y13's have their collated information ready by the end of the term (three weeks to go!!) and then come next term we can teach our Y13's the techniques of good presenting and give them some more ideas in how to do the presenting side. Hopefully make it less scary as each student has to speak for six minutes each.

Where I see us going next....

The next assessments are the Visual and Verbal assessment as well as the extended text teaching and learning - for their final exam in English at the end of the year.

Well be using one film for the next two assessments - though I'm pretty sure my colleague will agree that we'll let out students choose any of the films or texts we've studied this year for their visual verbal text creation.

I've bought the two copies of the film we will be doing - and in case my students find this post I will update the film later. But if you know Taika Waititi's works well - you'll know the one we're doing :)

Also - am stoked that 'What we do in the Shadows' comes out this week and that I'll be in Wellington during the hype and that there have been HEAPS of interviews done by Waititi and Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) - in character might I add.

Links for 'What we do in the Shadows' here:
Trailer for WWDITS - thanks to Youtube and DeliciousNecks
Film Website
WWDITS on IMBD - Thanks to IMDB
Werewolves not Swearwolves - Trailer
Viral Marketing at its best - Thanks to NZ Herald and David Farrier
The WWDITS Facebook Page 
#DeliciousNecks - Twitter


Links for 'Boy':
Boy on IMDB - Thanks to IMDB
Trailer for BOY - Thanks to Youtube and EastCoastCrazyHorses
The Film Website

Links for 'Tama Tu':
The Entire Film Here - Thanks to NZ On Screen
The Film Website
28th Maori Battalion Website

Links for 'Two Cars, One Night':
The Entire Film Here - Thanks to NZ On Screen
TCON on IMDB - Thanks to IMDB
The Film Website

Links for last Waititi film: 
To come later :)

Links on Taika Waititi:
TedXDoha - The Art of Creativity - AMAZING. - Thanks to TedXTalks and Youtube
Taika Waititi Fansite


Links on Visual Techniques:
Mis En Scene - Makes total sense - Good for students to take notes.

HUGE Opportunities - Presenting at the CLESOL and NZATE conferences.... Help Needed!

Wow. I got an email this morning asking if I would be interested in presenting a workshop at the NZATE (New Zealand Association of Teachers of English) in the Term 2 Holidays. About using Twitter.

Imagine my sheer excitement and horror. And the fact that I saw the title and a bit of the text from the email when I logged into my school email account just after my Y13's came into class and were all settled... There may have been a little bit of squealing with excitement... and me putting my head on my desk to breathe. Luckily the class is well accustomed to their nutty teacher.

I told them what I'd just read and they were happy for me - and told me to do it. I had and still have my reservations. HUGE opportunity. But surely there'd be someone better than me to do this?

Originally I asked the teachers organising the conference if they needed any help I'd be keen to help them. And then I got that email.

Stoked.

So - in the process of figuring out what I'm going to focus my workshop on - keeping in mind this is my first ever NZATE conference... as well... please fill in and pass on this form to as many twitter users as possible!







Also - have been asked to present at the CLESOL conference... though that one is only via Google Hangout.. but is one I was initially hugely freaking out about. Partly because of what I am planning on discussing. And also because I wouldn't be able to see who my audience is.. harder to gauge the feelings of the audience when you can't see them properly.

My CLESOL talk will be about teaching bilingually - from a Maori perspective. Partly from what Tapu and Tapu 3 stemmed from.

Thoughts and ideas are much appreciated!

Nga mihi nui ki a koutou in advance :)

Alex

@ariaporo22