Clarity in the Classroom - Absolum

We've had a focus at teacher meetings around Chapters 1-4 of Clarity in the Classroom. This has included Learning Focussed Relationships and providing clarity about learning that is to happen. 

As a team we decided that Integrity, Respect and Openness were the best fit for our principles to guide our belief around learning focussed relationships. These are not too dissimilar to the principles that Absolum himself uses. It was an interesting exercise to go through to get to this point, and we really had to dig deep to understand what each of those words meant to us. 

Building on those principles, we looked at sharing learning intentions/objectives/goals etc. with the children and co-constructing these for shared ownership. Chapter four was a good read and I think Absolum makes some very interesting points that confirm my thinking around some of the things. 

• It doesn't matter what you call them
• It doesn't matter how you share them - in fact, different ways will work for different things
• Learning isn't segmented and should be seen as a whole.

This last point, I think is particularly important and I like the example he used about a surgeon knowing how to make an incision, drain wounds and stitch. It's all very well for a surgeon to know these things, but we want them to be able to put their knowledge together to complete a successful operation. If I think about the complexity of writing, learners need to know how to hold a pencil, form letters, spell, form sentences, create interest etc. and put it all together to complete a story. Children need to be aware of the whole, and the parts.

What I worry about, is that balance between communicating the learning process and teaching the actual process. It would be a shame to see great portions of school learning time spent on writing up great screeds of intentions (for the students or on planning) - from the global to the specific. Although there are benefits to working through a sequence of teaching, a teacher is a trained professional, and has good judgement to know where to take students next on a whim. I would hope that a lesson would not have to stop to inform the student of what is about to happen. Often there's joy in the surprises.

Relationships - putting it all on the line!

The bigger context: Our teacher meetings have been focussed around Absolum's Clarity in the Classroom, looking in particular at Learner Focussed Relationships (v Controlling v Caring v Activity Focussed). 

The context in question: Assembly technical rehearsal where the technology was not going quite according to plan.


I been thinking quite a bit about relationships with learners lately, and what type of Absolum's four teacher personalities I identify with. I have been noticing things and reflecting on them throughout the last couple of weeks and trying to make small adaptions to the way I talk and behave along the way. 

But yesterday, the words that came out of my mouth startled me and I went to bed feeling quite sick about the potential damage I could have done to the established learner focussed relationship I already had with those children. (The fortunate thing is that I think I have established that enough for my comment to be somewhat dismissed... I hope).

It is no excuse, but I was under stress at that particular point, with things not going exactly how I planned and my mind primarily focussed on two things. The children waiting were "in my space" and I asked them to move back to where the audience would be. They did so. But they did not go where I expected them to. Was this a problem? In the big picture no. In my head, at that point in time - yes. Then came a mumbo jumbo condescending mish mash of confusing questions that related only a little to our habitat focus of 'thinking'. Any observers would have thought I was barmy!

It goes to show though how pressure can effect a situation, and change your perspective and behaviour almost instantaneously. I'm certainly much more aware of that side of it now, after reading Clarity in the Classroom. 

I also have made a connection to the work we have done around HBDI and how elements of our thinking style can change under pressure. It would be interesting to do more work on how teaching style changes under different kinds of pressure. My prediction is that short, intense pressure (like a tech glitch) would result in controlling behaviours, but ongoing stress would result in either investing too much in a caring relationship as avoidance, or activity-focussed to "buy" some time.

Avoiding pressure is impossible, but I will be challenging myself (and hopefully you will be too), to notice what changes in your style when under pressure?

Current-Desired Reality Check-in

Refining my goals:
(Changes I have made)

1   
Was: Seek Feedback - constructive 70%/ positive 30%
Now: Seek transformative feedback (not just information) that requires action to grow leadership.
How? Ask specific questions, engage in professional conversations.

2   
Was: Honest conversations regarding priorities and balancing responsibilities
Now: Prioritise and balance responsibilities.
How? Book in social time and exercise, cull to-do lists weekly, ask myself if my contributions are 'token' or if I can commit fully.

3   
Was: Make time for professional reading 
Now: Activate my professional reading
How? Write about it, record my synthesis, record my what now, and talk about it.

Putting on the presenters hat

Yesterday was a new milestone for me - co-running my first teacher meeting!

I was a bit nervous leading up to it, but actually it was more excitement as the topic is a passion and sharing that with others always brings a sense of joy. The actual presentation I felt went well mostly, apart from the odd fumbling of pages, making sure I hadn't forgotten to share any of my notes and the bit where I kicked the bucket of pens everywhere!

It felt really good be able to talk about and share what the team had been up to. Emma and I complement each other in many ways, and Emma (with far more experience in leadership) is doing a great job of extending me in my ability to both think about and articulate my ideas more clearly. 

It was wonderful to get some great feedback from teachers today - saying they enjoyed the meeting and appreciating the great deal of work that has gone into what seems like a very small slice of what is to be done. 

Getting nice feedback is always a good feeling, but it's the more specific stuff that will help me to grow and learn. 

One person said that they really liked my manner as I was presenting and sharing. 

Another gave me some more critical feedback (which was probably not intended this way, but was good to hear anyway). They said I had done a good job coping with co-presenting and that from their experience they knew how hard it is when presenting with someone who is good at talking off the cuff to an audience and how when you have your notes you want to go through in the planned order and make sure everything is covered. 

This unveiled a big realisation for me - something I think I already knew, except this was the moment of true-recognition: I have not yet developed confidence that I actually do know what I'm talking about. I rely too much my notes as though they are the only ones who can 'think' for me in a public situation. 

Next week, we have session two. I think I'm going to try to put the notes to the side, be more present in 'reading the room' and engage in the 'feeling' of the day.

Here I am clutching my notes as though my life depends on them!

Most Likely to Succeed Film

The QT-Basin was lucky enough to secure one of Core Educations screening rights to show The Most Likely to Succeed film here. 

It was a brilliant showcase of the changing nature of education and we need to get this film out there so as many people can see it as possible. It was great to have so many people there - I just feel that most of those people were already 'sold' on the idea of why education is changing.

Although there was lots to take-away from the film, the biggest thing for me was the need to for (some) parents and older generations to get their head around school is not about content anymore. 

Content is free now - it's on every internet device. 

-MLTS film

I recall a moment in about my fourth year of teaching. At the time I was living in the small town of Kirwee, about 40km west of Christchurch. Nana was visiting and I was giving her a grand tour. She asked a question about the geography of the land and we I said I didn't know the answer, I remember very clearly her reply...., "but you must, you're a teacher". It is a sign of her era, where the teacher was the giver of information, and the children were the  sponges to soak up what they could. 

As we move into an increasingly technological world, we need students who will be thinkers, innovators, collaborators, and people who can fail intelligently without being defeated. A robot will do everything else!

It brought together a lot of the things I've been reading for my role in the Innovation Incubator team, particularly what I have learnt from Claxton.

Guy Claxton - Achievement and Character: Can you do both at once?

I awaited with nerdy excitement for the day to arrive to hear Guy Claxton speak. With the focus for Emma and myself to pick up ideas relevant to what we are doing in the Innovation Incubator team. I left with some answers, and many more questions!

Here are my notes:

• Can you fulfill potential? How do you know how much someones potential is? Have you fulfilled yours? When? So why do we so often refer to wishy-washy terms like this?
• How do you 'evidence' values like Growth Mindset or resilience? I like how 'evidence' has been changed into a verb.
• Things need to be grounded in good quality research.
• How does time effect stuff - is a 45min period or one rotation going to allow persistence to grow?
• There are four Layers of Learning: today we were focusing on layer three - habits

• "Flounder" intelligently
• It is no teachers dream to turn out passive, docile, compliant, students - yet we do....
• Content gives a topic that you teach your habits through - "Today we are stretching our ______ muscle." E.g. questioning.
• Skills v dispositions - dispositions are far more important because it drives the development of the skill.
• Low socio-eco status kids benefit more from higher cognitive load. Don't go easy on them because 'their lives are already stressed'
• You can't teach attitudes and dispositions directly - they have to be coached, cultivated in culture.
• Epistemic apprenticeship

• If you diet is predominately 'efficient' then you're going to end up a bit lopsided!
• Removing own desks increases collaboration and collegiality in a classroom - proved somewhere in Australia (sorry I didn't get the details)
• Phrase: "hump of resistance" often used when referring to staff not willing to change or even explore change
• Performing v learning - learning has some form of difficulty attached to it
• Students learning to choose, design, research, conduct, troubleshoot, and evaluate learning for themselves
• Build power to teach themselves 
• Things should always be under review, status quo is not safe or neutral.
• Stepping in too soon during a learning struggle deprives an opportunity for that student to Build Learning Power. 
• Have a High Participation, Low Shame culture. Make it safe to learn.
• Display a final product with the draft - shift the focus from achievement to improvement.
• Flexing learning muscles - coach, coach, coach!
• Learning muscles to stretch (on the left hand side)

The final three points really resonated with me. This video that Guy shared with us shows the importance, and how easily coaching can be done from a very young age.

Austin's Butterfly

What next? For me:

• Read How Children Succeed - Paul Tough
• Give students authority and ability to challenge what people tell them
• Give activity and then give students think/peer/share time to decide how many people should be in groups - ownership and decision making onto kids.
• Two stars and a wish - go back to coaching children how to give feedback (I used to do this so well - why did I stop???)
• Mix up groups more - ensure children are frequently working with different people than usual.
• Use a distraction scale - show me 1-4 fingers how distracting that (plane/lightning/noise/class clown - don't actually say what was distracting though) was. If you show 5 fingers, you were the distraction. Children monitor their own focus.
• Use a kind continuum - children can move their own or others face depending on how kind/supportive/helpful they've been. Or not! Keeps an open dialogue of support.

What next? For the Innovation Incubator team:

• Give mentors strategies to embed teaching of character so it's not 'more teaching'
• SOLO - depth of though, not level of thought
• Review, review, review - this year and into every other year Shotover School exists!

Expansive Education

The main theme I'm getting out of it is the need for a 'whole' education. School is not just about the content, but learning about being a person too. This includes knowing how to behave when we don't know the answers.

The early chapters in the book has referred to the Theory of Mind a bit. This was a concept I knew about, but needed a little more context before I could continue reading. I found this little video helpful.

The basic vision of Costa and his colleagues is that schools should prepare young people 'not just for a life of tests, but the tests of life'.
My other keys points:

• students to need to be self evaluative
• willpower is like a mental muscle that can be strengthened (or depleted through non-use) and likewise resilience, concentration, imagination and collaboration can be coached and cultivated
• Expansive Education see 'skills' grow into strong 'dispositions'
• three attitudes as elements of a 21st century mindset: communal virtues (honesty, trustworthiness, kindness, tolerance, empathy), virtues of self regulation (patience, self discipline, tolerance of frustration/disappointment) and epistemic/learning virtues (determination, curiosity, creativity and collaboration)
• of course, all these things interweave and even sometimes conflict each other. Balance is key
• John Dewey was ahead of his time, "the teacher becomes a partner in the learning process, guiding students to independently discover meaning."
• learned helplessness arises in students who not not given the opportunity to think of intelligence expansively. They lack resilience and resourcefulness.
• successful intelligence is to think in three different ways: analytically, creatively and practically.
• approaches (such as Building Learning Power) do not work if they are simply bolted on to another restrictive approach.
• using colours to highlight mistakes (and not fixing them for a student) means the student does the thinking about it and how to fix it - building a discussion around 'good' and 'silly' mistakes. This has created a greater feeling of playfulness and adventure in their writing
• interesting analogy: Children sitting around like baby birds with their mouths open, ready for the teacher to bring them the worms - we need to teach them to get their own worms. Learning isn't just an outcome, it's a process.
• re-defining pedagogy - should we more often be referring to it as 'Instructional Design'
• a teachers main task is to notice the impact of their teaching on students' learning and achievement. They need to talk less and listen more
• we need to be so careful with our use of the word ability - it is easy for it to become a synonym for 'talent' or 'intelligence'. Create learning groups that are genuinely fluid and regularly changed
• getting into a state of flow is an optimal learning experience. There needs to be three things for this to happen: task is sufficiently demanding and engaging, learner has enough skill to tackle the task, and time.
• talking about learning is good. If learners see what is going on as they are learning, the better they will be able to apply it to different contexts

What if education were less concerned with the end-of-year exam and more concerned with who students become as a result of their schooling? What if we viewed smartness as a goal that students can work toward rather that as something they either have or don't? 

-Ron Ritchhart

The book also covers the significance of others in the learning environment. "Little or no learning will take place unless the learning environment is trustful and the others who are significant to the learner (parents, teachers, coaches, etc.) model the desired outcomes."

This is backed up with other key points:

• Hattie says helping students to develop habits (curiosity and collaboration) works better when teachers model these
• culture is set by the leaders of the institution and what is around in the environment, even before the teacher walks in
• it is essential that teachers develop and share a common language of learning with students and the parents/community.
• thoughtful environments encourage a focus on big ideas. The learning offered in them captures the interest of students and provides them with some degree of autonomy and choice
• we have to expand staffrooms, as well as classrooms, and consider how teachers are trained and subsequently developed.
• new teachers become socialised by 'old-timers' into semi-conscious views and habits. "For expansive educators, it is vital that the community of practice of a staffroom is also a living, evolving community of enquiry."
• Hattie makes explicit connections between teachers undertaking professional enquiry and the benefits that transfer to student learning.

"A teacher can never truly teach unless she is learning herself. A lamp can never light another flame unless it continues to burn its own flame."

-Rabindranath Tagore

These last few points made connections to another video I watched today. This is Kath Murdoch and her thoughts on teachers can (or can't) teach inquiry.

All of this together basically says to me that a good teacher is prepared to, and will, let go of control.

One final thought: 

Education has to change. It has to engage the energies and intelligence of all young people. It has to respond to their anxieties about the future, and to help them develop the mental, emotional and social equipment they will need to thrive in a complex, challenging and exciting world. Here's hoping, as David Price says, that the seeds of Expansive Education that we have explored in this book will continue to germinate strongly and to populate the earth!

- Claxton, Lucas and Spencer (Expansive Education authors)

2016 Current/Desired Reality

3 Great Steps:
1   Seek Feedback - constructive 70%/ positive 30%
2   Honest conversations regarding priorities and balancing responsibilities
3   Make time for professional reading (learning environment goal and Innovation Incubator)

Behaviour expectations in an open learning space - do they differ?

I'm very fortunate to work within a team that put great emphasis on Professional Development and Learning. This means working with some very high calibre people in their fields. 

Prior to induction, I had actually never heard of this particular guy who was going to be leading our day, but now I know him as 'the behaviour guy'. I was really keen to hear his thoughts on managing children within an open learning environment, as that is one of the challenges when making the transitions. 

It didn't start as well as I hoped though. By morning tea time I was a bit gob-smacked to be honest. He admitted himself that he had probably offended a number of people in the room, and I was one of them. 

He started the day giving one reason why he believed NZ results in PISA assessments were going down. (PISA results, in my opinion, reflect a very small 'slice' of education and do not account for the other great things that kiwi kids are getting opportunity to grow and develop in. But that's a different blog post!) He backed up his one reason with six points, most of which go against my beliefs as an educator in an Innovative Learning Environment.

1) Distraction. He's right - there's a lot of distraction. These children are living in the most stimulating era ever. We should be channeling those distractions into pulling information from a variety of sources, not preventing our kids from, well, being kids. I'm sure Sir Ken Robinson would back me up on this one, as he refers to it as the ADHD epidemic in this video (about 4 mins in).

2) Social Shift in Authority. Again - yes! Children are given voice and agency in their learning because research shows it gives the children more ownership and engagement in their learning (and related tasks).

3) Lack of clarity in Practising Teacher Criteria. Here I would ask the question, if we were to tell every single teacher more precisely, how to manage their students, then how do ensure that the teacher is catering for the individual needs of the students and community?

4) Innovative Learning Spaces. Well I'm here and I'm doing it. 

5) Collaboration. What?!?! He did say that collaboration was a good thing but it creates a challenge. Collaboration is a core value at school, and as a necessary skill in an ever-changing world I won't be giving up on this 'challenge'. 

6) PB4L. I would have liked him to expand on his thoughts a little more - I think I would probably agree with him on this one. I have a small amount of experience working in a school that was starting a PB4L journey. There was some great data beginning to emerge that would lead to better monitoring and a more pro-active approach, however, the behaviourist slant was less than desirable for me. 


Fortunately the day got better and I was able to get quite a big take-a-way from it.

He spoke in depth about the importance of gaining full attention when working with students - large or small groups. This has been a focus for our team as we have started the year, and I can really see the benefits of calling a group to full attention before giving an instruction, or reading or speaking to them, or sharing with them. Full attention is the state when the noise level is almost silent and a very high number of students are listening. It has been found that when full attention is at it highest, on task focus is also higher for follow up independent work.

As we move into more small group work, my goal will be to ensure that the group I'm working with CAN be and are in a full attention state. I highlight the word 'can' because it is reliant on so many factors - Can the children see what they need to? Is there anything 'extra' that will limit their distraction for this point in time? Is the outer noise level appropriate? Can the children have my full attention or do I need to attend to other groups too? 


On task focus is really important for our children's learning. The speaker talked about better focus led to doing more work, which resulted in better learning. I'm still pondering this one - I don't know that MORE work is the answer. Perhaps better QUALITY.  

Although I left feeling a little deflated, I'm really pleased I've been challenged and have spent some time thinking more about what I do actually believe leads to good learning.

Revisiting Nigel Latta's School Report

I love the freedom that the holidays brings when it comes to late night TV. It's a shame that this programme was on so late (even though it has been on before). Nigel Latta's has some excellent points and it was refreshing to watch again - I only hope many parents across the country also did. 

If you only have time to watch a bit - watch it from the 30 min point. 

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/nigel-latta/s1-ep2-video-6037627

• Decile does not equal quality
• National standards do not equal progress
• Expect kids to achieve more and they do
• Teachers do not have to know everything - it is more freeing for students to know that

And backing up my last post about finding The Element:

• 'Soft subjects' are hard, and require thinking
• 'Soft subjects' are critical - what would we do if we didn't have panel beaters and trades? 
• It's ok to be a kinesthetic learner.
• Vocational learning is valuable learning
• Keeping kids in school for an extra year or more will improve life chances by a tremendous amount - keep them there and keep them engaged!
• Giving hierarchy to certain subjects (maths, english, science) means we won't get our entrepreneurs and services 
• "There are lot's of way of being excellent."
• The NZ curriculum is a powerful document because it talks about more than just content.

Discovering 'The Element'

I've owned this book for a few years now. I found it in a second hand bookshop at the ferry terminal in Auckland. At the time I thought, 'that looks like a good read,' but every time I tried to read it, I got to a certain point and switched off. Clearly, I wasn't ready for it's message. After finishing the past year though and being surrounded by the positivity of mindshift, it was time for me to give it another crack - and I'm really pleased I did. I think that it was a great way to sum up everything I had consciously and unconsciously learnt this year about the future of education and the children that we are teaching. 

The importance of the element, I believe, is far deeper than happiness. It is what is going to make things happen, make things change in an ever developing (and complex) world.
The book defines The Element as "the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion."

Below I have listed some of my take-aways from the book:

• Sir Paul McCartney recalled in an interview that he had been through his entire education without anyone noticing that he had any musical talent at all. Even in the hierarchy that was English and Maths during his education era, this astounded me and made me wonder if that could happen in a school today - I know that I would struggle to pick out a student who had specific talent here, so do we have enough musically talented teachers, evenly spread from Y1-Y13, that each student would definitely come across at least two or three during their education? What about other areas - do we have enough talent seekers to inspire, mentor and coach across a wide range?
• "Many of them (children) will certainly have jobs we haven't conceived yet. Isn't it therefore our obligation to encourage them to explore as many avenues as possible with a eye toward discovering their true talents and their true passions?"
• The book places emphasis on The Element requiring passion, not just natural aptitude. It is possible to be very good at something, but not feel like it fills you with joy. 
• Intelligence comes in many, many, many kinds and combinations too. If it weren't for this a number of things would never have been created - ballet, abstract painting, hip-hop, design, self-service checkouts.... They all require different abilities.
• "A lot of my work with organisations is about showing that intelligence and creativity are blood relatives. I firmly believe that you can't be creative with acting intelligently. Similarly, the highest form of intelligence is thinking creatively."
• Working in your Element is being in a zone that means your 'work' becomes effortless and time becomes something you no longer 'feel'. Using a thinking style that comes naturally to people things become easier. The example used was that of his daughter who was unable to recall information from lectures. However, being a visual person, when she mindmapped the timelines and information she was able to recall, with understanding, everything she needed to. It's important that we give our students multiple ways of 'digesting' the same information. 
• "To make the Element available to everyone, we need to acknowledge that each person's intelligence is distinct from the intelligence of every other person on the planet, that everyone has a unique way of getting in the zone, and a unique way of finding the Element."
• Part of finding your Element, is finding your Tribe. This point was a great reflection for me as it has helped me to articulate why the move I made at the beginning of 2015 was such a significant one for my career. Although I've enjoyed every other teaching job I've had, and each has contributed a great deal to the teacher I am today, I feel now that I have found my tribe, I have found the ones that speak my dialect. 
• Creative teams are able to achieve more together, than they can separately. Three key features of intelligence enable this: they are diverse, dynamic and distinct.
• Diversity stuck out to me more than any of the others. It speaks about different sorts of people that compliment each other and I know that is something that has been considered greatly in building teams and workgroups within my school. It has such an importance to raise the level of achievement.
• When elaborating on the feature of distinction, I found it interesting that a creative team was compared to a committee. Committees don't require everyone's full attention all of the time and the people are usually only there to serve a particular interest. A creative team, on the other hand, is there to get a specific job done in whichever way it needs to. This made me think about my role as a BOT member and the continuum of management to governance. I can see similarities between the BOT that manages / is a committee and I suspect there may be a number of boards operating in this manner...
• I found the section on 'groupthink' fascinating, where intelligent and well-meaning people were willing to give up their thoughts and beliefs based on what their peers were saying. My thoughts were exactly as it was written: "It raises questions about our ways of education and and the values that guide our conduct." We must allow our students opportunities to think for themselves and to be proud of their beliefs.
• The roles of mentors: to recognise, to encourage, to facilitate and to stretch. It is this last one that I think is the hardest one to achieve, particularly in a primary school setting where teachers are often a 'jack of all trades, master of none.' Because of this, they must seek whatever assistance is required to continue to mentor or to pass the student on to. Mentors "take a unique and personal place in our lives... open doors for us and get involved directly in our journeys...show us the next steps and encourage us to take them." Heroes don't do that.
• When you look at people who have done well for themselves, including the stories throughout the book, there are a number who didn't do well at school. I wonder if the changes that we're making going to encourage them stay and do well? Is that going to benefit them? Or will it just lie 'the problem with education' elsewhere? Is the change happening in the primary sector and halted by the secondary or tertiary?
• "The key to this transformation is not to standardise education but to personalise it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions."
• Should we stop thinking about school as separate subjects and more as sets of disciplines. "The idea of disciplines make possible a fluid and dynamic curriculum that is interdisciplinary."
• People need the right conditions to grow - they need synergy with the people and environments around them. It is the job of our schools to do that. "For all our futures, we need to aim high and be determined to succeed."

I am the type of person to reread books (or rewatch movies) and pick up something new every time. I will be adding this one to my 'revisiting' pile.

Professionalism

Our teacher meeting this week was on the topic of Professionalism. Our guest speaker was Tony Burkin.

I thought it was a fantastic session. The one big takeaway I got from this session is that we are professionals. The emphasis is all too often on teaching practice - it is what teacher meetings are made up of and it's what appraisal is made of. Therefore, the perception by default, is that you are a good teacher if you can teach. The perception is only a portion of the whole.

It was easy to get caught up in the surface discussion of the session - the things you are allowed to do, the things you probably shouldn't and the things you aren't. Then there was the grey areas like drinking in public and crying. These have caused a lot of discussion amongst the staff and it's interesting to listen to the perspectives. 

But, there was more to the session, and the nitty gritty really is looking carefully at the code of ethics. 

1 - Commitment to Learners
2 - Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whanau
3 - Commitment to Society
4 - Commitment to the Profession

And the four Principles - Autonomy, Justice, Responsible Care, Truth




All of these can be broken very easily - missing deadline, not reflecting, making up awesome lessons when you have a scheduled observation, not reading emails, resisting change, poor punctuality, talking behind backs.... etc. 

The word of the day for me was Truth. I was fortunate to have attended an earlier session with Tony as well that talked about Truth being an indicator of a Growth Mindset. You have to be truthful to yourself and to others.

The session has certainly provided me with food for thought, and I'm pleased mostly to be thought of as a professional, but now there is a standard to live up to! 

Concept Curriculum

A few weeks back the teachers got together to discuss our Concept focus for 2016. 

I think it's important to think about why having a concept focus is important. The leadership team could probably add more to this, but I think the importance comes in consistency across the school (children having conversations about their learning with each other) and develops understanding of some quite complex things across a range of 'topics' and across the curriculum through an integrated approach.

This year our focus has been 'Change' - which was most appropriate as we embarked on the journey of our foundational year. Change is a huge concept to grasp, and across the two habitats, there has been some variation in the learning for the children. In the end though, it is evident that their understanding has changed a great deal.

At our meeting we were presented with a number of Pam Hook's Macroconcepts:

There is a number to choose from and we were able to select next years through a process of defining each one, 'selling' it to others and then voting.

However, it's not the children I want to talk about in this post... It dawned on me, that although we, as adults, have understandings of these things - developing our ideas around these is not a silly idea. One that really struck a chord with me is 'Structure'. As I grow and develop as a teacher and leader, I believe my ideas around structure are beginning to change.

The group defining structure came up with:

Structure in my head was the traditional model of hierarchy and control. It is only as I begin to understand models of leadership that I can see that although hierarchy remains as a technicality, the relationships, and the elements of the relationships (trust, compassion, etc.) allow structure to be much more complex. 

As I work through my journey of leadership, I will be keeping some focus on 'Structure' as my personal development in understanding this complex macroconcept. 

What Big Questions does it leave for me?
What is the impact of structure?
Where can you find structure?
How does structure form?
What would happen if we didn't have structure?
What causes structure to form?
What are the types of structure?
Why should we have structure?

Staff Meeting of the Year - so far!

Being a foundation teacher at a new school is an interesting process. The 'nerd' in me thrives on all the developmental 'stuff' that is happening. Out of all the staff meetings we've had this year, today's was one I enjoyed the most - and not just because it all started with a visit from Mr Whippy - although that was pretty cool! There are two reasons why today's meeting really impacted me. One was because I've been thinking a bit about collaboration in Modern Teaching Practice, and two, because it gave me a chance to reflect back on our Hermann Brain Modelling and what that means to me now.


I'm going to start with number two. 

The focus of today's meeting was to begin the nitty gritty development of our Capacities (Key Competencies) further. It had been decided that these were to be based around the HBDI model, in that our business is to develop 'whole' children who can reach into each of the represented quadrants (Blue - analyse, Green - organise, Red - personalise, Yellow - visualise). 

Using our own experience from primary school, we had to think about what made a teacher memorable. Interestingly, many of our memories ended up in the Red and Yellow quadrants. My theory on this would be that a child remembers emotion and experience and doesn't know about the behind-the-scenes work a teacher does. 

However, when we were asked to think about the qualities we would like a student to have by the time they left in year 8, many more started to show up on the Blue and Green quadrants. My theory here, would be that the Blue and Green quadrants are perhaps a little more skills based (but don't get me wrong, because I believe you can learn strategies to be more Red or Yellow - or any colour actually), whereas, the Red and Yellow quadrants are more emotions based and we recall emotions quite strongly. 

So where does this leave me with my thinking about my profile? I am equally Blue, Green and Yellow with a little bit less Red. I get this - and I'm a big picture thinker. I have to know the details, I have to ask the question and if I don't know, I don't understand. For me, not understanding come out as frustration (I may or may not actually show this). Interestingly, the point of frustration comes out as quite emotional for me. I can get so caught up in something, sometimes the smallest of things, but I simply cannot move on until I've done the Blue/Green thing. For some time now, my biggest challenge is how to deal with the emotional bit - the getting from frustration to problem solving. I've tried many things. Nothing works quickly enough..... yet!

All of my dominant quadrants are satisfied by a thought-provoking meeting and even more so when it perfectly balances independent thought and collaborative practice.


How's that for a segway into the next topic!

I've been thinking about collaboration as part of Modern Teaching Practice. Collaboration is defined by Google as: the action of working with someone to produce something. I'm starting to define a bit more about what I believe collaboration is. 

So far, I think there's two main types: 1) The team all work independently on something and bring it together to share with others and 2) A facilitator fosters independent thought and brings it together so everyone has equal voice. 

Both types, I believe, have their merits. Organisation of events, timetables etc. are suited well to Type 1 and are a good way to distribute workload. This type of collaboration is generally easier to manage, especially if team members have expertise in necessary areas. Type 2, seems to be a powerful tool for fostering a shared understanding of beliefs and terminology. It is more time-consuming and requires facilitation (not leading), but it is essential to get consistency amongst a team.

The 'nerd' in me, I'm sure, will continue to enjoy the process and thought behind the principles of Modern Teaching Practice, as I continue to develop my understanding of what it's all about.

Addition: July 4 2015
This interesting blog post just released by Core Education's Greg Carroll reminded me of my previous thoughts about Collaboration. It continues to be a hot topic and a very intriguing one too! I feel like there's more to come.

Solitude is important

This is a must watch TED talk. I don't feel like I want to say much about this, as I think Susan Cain sums it all up pretty well. I do want to acknowledge that I identify with the idea that creativity comes from solitude and we mustn't forget about this power. I like the notion that there is nothing wrong with bringing wisdom back to the community, and then collaborate.  

One of the most powerful questions to come out of this, for me, at this moment, is, 'Why are we making children feel guilty about their desire to work alone?' 

I feel this is one of those presentations I will watch over and over again. 

Why I will try to never use the word potential again.

When you Google the words "potential growth mindset" together, up comes a list of links to all sorts of videos and books encouraging you to reach your potential using a Growth Mindset. The guru herself, Carol Dweck, titled her book Mindset: How You Can Fill Your Potential.

Mary Cay Ricci's book, Mindset in the Classroom sends a different message about the word potential. I don't know how many times I have used the word when writing school reports or during conversations with parents or students themselves, but from now on I will try never to use the word again.

After reading the sub-chapter on the Role of Potential, it seems that the word itself suggests a endpoint. Once you have reached the endpoint, there is no further. Ricci uses the example of Michael Phelps. Once he'd achieved his tenth Olympic Gold Medal in 2008, many thought he had reached his potential. Of course, he went on to shatter that in 2012 with another 8 Gold Medals.

As Educators, I think we sometimes hinder further learning when we see 'potential' has been reached. A child may have succeeded at a learning intention, so we tick that box and move onto the next, rather than allowing them to further grow in that area. 

The system itself often creates a barrier to learning and pushing potential. I believe I experienced that myself, back in the day, as a first year NCEA student. I was a reasonably able student with potential to gain Excellences, however, I didn't feel the need to push myself any harder because I gained no extra credit for it. (I can see now how it would have paid off - but that didn't mean anything to me as a teenager.)

I see part of my job as teaching students to be successful and perform to their best by having a Growth Mindset. I will be telling them to think beyond their potential - you never know unless you try!

Phonological Awareness

 

Thank you Helen for posting these questions to think about! Here's what I think!

HA: Will be interested to see how today's Phonological Awareness training sits with prior knowledge...
Did it:
- Confirm what you already knew?
- Build on some of your base understanding?
- Get you to think in a new way about language development?

Confirm what I already knew?

With a background in linguistics and a general interest in language (particularly phonology and oral language), it was great to have some self-confirmation that I was doing ok - even now that I'm working with an entirely different age level and even a stage level I have not yet experienced.

Build on understanding?

Yes, it was good to be reminded of a few things that are crucial to language development at certain stages. I had completely forgotten about syllables! They are now in my plan. It was also good to be reminded of the importance of scaffolding - no wonder the children struggled at literacy time to generate rhyming words straight off the top of their heads!

Thinking about language development?

It's probably not new thinking for me - it has concerned me for some time that an increasing number of children seem to be starting school without good oral language and phonological awareness. ECE is going to become a integral part of this language development, and it wasn't until today that I found out that most ECE teachers are not trained in phonological awareness. 

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague the other day regarding the 'state' of children's language. As an ex-linguist my argument was that language is constantly evolving. I'm sure those who spoke Old English were just as aghast as we are about what was happening to language. I have to admit though - the 'development' (or is it regression?) does worry me - I do have that natural tendency to want to protect the perfectly good version of English we've got!

What will reading look like?

Previously I have taught Years 4-6 and this year with Year 1-4s has been quite a learning curve. I was ready for the move and have found the first few weeks insightful and I am beginning to understand now the development of the full child - mainly the social and the fundamental skills. Now it is time for us all to dive fully into the reading programme. I have taught some very low readers before and have been fortunate enough to have worked with and guided by some great RTLBs and literacy experts. My background in linguistics and affiliation with the Canterbury Literacy association has led me to put my hand up to work with the very emergent readers in our habitat. It's a challenge I'm really looking forward to.

I had heard a lot about Daily 5, but had not read the book or followed the programme. I knew a colleague had tried it before, so I asked to borrow her book. She was more than happy to oblige, however gave it to me with a warning. She said something along the lines of, "I'm sure much of it you're doing already without even noticing. This is very prescriptive - it's worth a read, but I don't think it's necessary to follow it completely." 

She was absolutely right - especially for the environment we are working in where flexibility plays a big part in our day. 

The Daily 5 principles are: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work.

How might this work for me? I envisage some stations set up each week, based on the 5 principles. Each day children have to complete at least three. They have to complete each one at least once over the week. Self-direction is key to engagement, so I believe the children should be given some choice. They could be given a sheet at the beginning of each week with the names on it. Each activity has some smiley faces beside it. Every time a child completes that activity, they colour in a smily face. As long as they are spending some time on each of the key literacy principles through quality activities, I'm a happy teacher.

Ideas for stations

Read to Self
big books
poetry
picture books
browsing box

Read to Someone
stuffed toys
buddy
iPads
poem on stage

Listen to reading
sunshine online
other online stories (two for week)
buddy
music with words

Work on Writing
letter formation hair gel bags
handwriting iPads
creating words from letters
self-planning (prior to workshop)
choice writing

Word work
sight words games
letter/sound of the week activities
word finds
spelling challenges


Will this be a reality? I will only know after spending some time with the learners.