Term Three Reflection

Term Three was hard. I tried to write this reflection in the holidays and couldn't bring myself to it. I tried to write it during the first two weeks of Term Four and I couldn't bring myself to it. It's only now, that I've had a long weekend away that I feel ready to record my reflections in writing. 

It's not that it was a bad term - far from it. I even quite like a busy term, so it wasn't totally that either. But there was something about the term that didn't go right and I really can't put my finger on what exactly it was. Unfortunately, whatever it was had a snowballing effect and by the end I was making big about little things. That's not really me. 

It was a really odd feeling, it was like my head was full of fog and I couldn't see anything clearly. I didn't feel like I was doing my best work. I dealt with this snowballing by keeping the focus I had on the children and the team. I reduced whatever personal 'work' I could. I stopped tweeting as well as stopped publishing blog posts. There's a few drafts there that I will go back and review.

In an open space and ILE, your team are your flatmates. For 8 hours a day you 'live' with them. The are your support - like a machine in which all the components work together in a rhythm. Unfortunately one of our team members became quite ill for a time, and although no one is irreplaceable as far as work load is concerned, you do miss the rhythm that that person provides. 

If there's one thing I've learnt about this year, it's about teaming and collaboration. I've blogged before about the value of working in this way and I would find it very difficult now to go back to single-cell teaching. However, (and I'm very brave to put this out there) I do wonder if I'm the only one who sometime feels like it holds you back a bit. In some ways you can only go as fast as the 'slowest' person. Let me explain - when you're in your single cell you prioritise your next steps/focus: maths development, use of space, teaching technique, school belief etc. and you get on and do it. When you're in a team, each of you are still individual thinkers, so often your priorities will be different and two things can happen. One - you feel like your priority is not priority enough. Two - they all become priorities and then you feel overwhelmed because not only is there a number of different focuses, but there is a number of different people to bring on board. 

It adds a certain pressure to each team member because you're constantly trying to please everyone - and as the saying goes "you can't please everyone". Of course this is where a shared vision is essential and I feel most grateful that this is a constant focus of staff, teacher and team meetings. 

I would like to finish this post with some of the highlights of term three:
Skiing
CL conferences
Art PD
Pirate House Day
Open Evening
Flash Mob
The movement in some of my readers

Putting myself in the learners shoes

It turns out learning is hard. Especially if it is in an area that is not particularly 'your thing'.

I have a passion and interest in literacy and I mostly enjoy being challenged and put in the pit in this area.

Sport is not my area. And I have traumatic childhood memories of skiing. Nevertheless, I decided that it was something I should have another go at. 

Conditions were ideal - the sun was shining, there had been a little extra top up snow overnight, I had all the gear I needed and some supportive friends. 

I got out on the learners slope and was zipping up and down there in no time. It was time for the next step. The chairlift. This was my big barrier. But with some perseverance and grit I managed that - and experienced the joy that comes after conquering the pit. And to top it all off, I had been convinced that the bigger chairlift was just as easy as the smaller one.

And that's about where the good part of the day ends.

The mountain was too big. My legs were too tired. My determination diminished. I was trying to run before I could walk.

And will I go skiing again? Not this year.

I took away from this experience a few things as a learner.
1) Conditions have to be ideal in order for positive learning experience outside of someones comfort zone.
2) A gentle push is OK. But always take the smallest step to build the learner up.
3) When a learner says enough is enough - STOP now. It is likely they will come back to it and pick up from where they left off.

Can change happen in an Open Learning Environment?

A fellow tweeter posted this quote: 

"Great teachers change their methods min by min: while being staunchly consistent in their relationships with students."  @Charbonneau 

with their own comment, "One of the reasons I love my single cell classroom! I love change & are always trying new things!"

Naturally, this got me thinking.... The big question that popped into my head was, well if I'm not a single cell teacher does this mean I cannot change my methods and therefore I'm a poor teacher!?!? But it's more important to answer the little questions.

• Can I and do I change my methods min by min?
• Have I made changes since moving from single cell to open environment?
• Are my changes any less?
• Do the students 'miss out' because I may not be able to make an immediate change?

I think there are different levels to what you might change in a classroom. 

There are those days where students or the teacher is 'not feeling it' and so in the morning, or throughout the day you 'throw away' your planned writing and you spend that time doing something else - an experience that leads to great oral language, values building, skills in other areas, and then perhaps even writing about it at another time. In a single cell classroom, this can happen on a whim. In an open learning environment it can require a bit of communication but actually, there's no reason why the group of children your with can't have that opportunity too. As a school and a team we believe in the importance curiosity has on 'in the moment,' engaging learning and therefore it is always our best intention to have the children's idea and questions be the vehicle for any learning.

Then, there's the changes of groups. At this moment in time, with the phase we're in (phase - suggesting we're changing/refining the way we work), for some learning areas a student is assigned a mentor for that area. For example, I have a group of children who always work with me for literacy, they are 'my' literacy children. Within those children I DO frequently change their groups depending on their needs and pull them out for workshops based on that. This is not necessarily levelled, but based on their needs. What about between mentors? Well, overnight they move mentor groups. Assessment, planning and anecdotal notes (most importantly conversations) are open for all mentors to see. They are really 'our' children. And yes it does work even with high numbers - but that's a whole other blog post!

So what about within groups? Well that's easy. It's no different to a single-cell classroom. For example, if you're trying to teach subtraction and you quickly observe a student or students can't count backwards, you immediately change the learning purpose for those students.

Quite simply, I don't think I have lost any freedom. We are encouraged to be innovative, share ideas and make change happen for better learning. The team are always talking to each other and when you have support from others, I have found it's often easier to put change into place.

Am I lucky with the support I get from the team I work with? Maybe. Or is it the culture and expectation?

Word Power

With a background and big interest in most things literature based, I thought I knew a lot about literacy. That was, until I taught emergent readers.

At the beginning of this year, I volunteered myself to take our habitat's emergent readers on. It was a challenge I really wanted, and I really needed it to prove to myself my literary abilities. It wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. I think almost everyday I initiated a conversation with our school literacy expert, gathering little tidbits of information and help where I could. 

I'm feeling a little bit more confident now, and six months later I can see the progress in the children. More important than just noticing reading levels increase, I am noticing changes in their oral language, alphabet knowledge, phonics, concepts about print (that was something I had never considered before with older students!), listening, writing, the list goes on! More than that, I had taken it for granted for so long that children would know how to spell their first and last name (let alone what their last name actually was!), and would know about concepts such as beginning/end, opposites and that things had to make sense! It really has been huge learning for me.

I have been fortunate enough to extend myself through some professional development as well:

• A Ready to Read course (provided by Otago Literacy Association)
• Observation of teachers in our other habitat
• Observation at another local school in their NE-Y1 block
• Observation of our literacy leader working with my students
• In-house Teacher Meeting looking at ELPs Dimensions of Effective Practice
• Being observed with formal written feedback

The final one was a great way to finish the term and see some affirmation. It was great to see that:

• I'm doing a great job of introducing and de-bugging the book
• This children (but I think most/all) are really keen to read
• I'm encouraging correction through use of visual and meaning clues
• I step in at the appropriate time (this particular child can get quite stressed), but not too early to encourage learned helplessness

What does this mean for me now?

I need to allow the child to read on further (than I am allowing) to see if they can correct themselves and I need to show less hinting on my face. 

With the guided reading coming along reasonably well, my focus for next term is working on shared reading.

The power of Learning Beliefs

This term, at one of our teacher meetings we realised after some confusion between our school curriculum and national curriculum that we were using the terms Learning Values and Learning Beliefs interchangeably. We felt this needed to be ironed out. However, it wasn't a decision that was just made as people clearly felt more strongly about one word than the other. In the end it was decided that at Shotover School we would use the term Learning Belief. 

Over the year we have been unpacking these a little using the Beliefs to Practice model. It has been a valuable exercise in understanding the WHY. And this has led to changes. At the beginning of the year we had a 'Belief' for each of Thinking and Reflection. At one of our more recent meetings we combined those (as Reflection is a practice of Thinking) and toiled with the idea of Joy (not confirmed). Our other Beliefs are Curiosity, Collaboration and Growth Mindset. 

I think our Beliefs have hit the nail on the head in terms of current and future education. Growth Mindset alone has been a very powerful teaching tool, and the others compliment each other and learning just perfectly!

Mid year check in: Goals

Setting goals at the beginning of this year was a bit of an unknown. Fortunately at the end of Term One we were given an "official" chance to review where we were heading in terms of appraisal. 11 weeks later and it's time for a check point.

1 (continued from Term One) Develop a strong understanding of students and their relationships (personal and learning) in Y1-4.
This has been a really interesting part of my professional development. Of all the ages, I really thought that I would dislike NE-Y2 the most. But I have surprised myself! I actually really enjoy working with that age group. I have learnt sooooo much this year and have a greater appreciation of all junior teachers. Every teacher should work at least one year in this age group to fully appreciate the development of a child from a New Entrant. Everything, absolutely everything, is a lesson - social interactions, self management, management of equipment and belongings, and of course the curriculum based lessons! The children are so eager to learn and the most important thing I've learnt that it is our job to make learning desirable and enjoyable in these early years. To nurture and care for the child to set them up for successful schooling. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to consolidate my practice here.

2 Build effective and and interesting literacy practises to engage foundation (emergent) students into reading and writing.
This is going very well for me. Literacy has always been a passion and strength of mine and I thought I knew a bit about literacy..... Turns out I didn't know nearly as much as I thought! I'm learning so much and really enjoying it. There's another blog post coming about this, so watch this space.

3 Be proactive about interactions with parents
Although I continue to work on all areas of my practise, this is the one really essential one that I feel I need most work on. I'm getting better at approaching parents before/after school and having conversations, not only to build relationships but also to have those essential conversations. The bit I need to focus on is structuring the conversation to get my point across succinctly and worded tactfully. (The 'blue' part of me tends to blurt a little bit, and the confidence side of me tends to get flustered!) So my plan is to develop some confidence by going to Toastmasters next term. But first I just need to talk myself into actually turning up!

The morning after the term before.....

And was it all a nightmare? No - barely any of it!

This year was not only the start of a new job for me - it was the start of a new school and a new lifestyle. I'm sure anyone in construction will tell you that the foundation is a key element in any new structure. As part of the team building the foundational elements of a school I can tell you it's not an easy job - but it sure is rewarding.

So this week we've moved into July and ended Term 2, marking the halfway point of 2015. Where has this journey taken me so far? And, where do I hope it will take me next?

For a start, it has taken me to one of the most beautiful parts of NZ - this morning when I woke up I pulled back the curtains to a sky blended with pink, and outlined by the towering snowy mountains. It has also taken me to a place of learning, acceptance, appreciation and sharing. What has been invested in building the team collaboratively and in professional knowledge shows the value that has been placed in us to make this thing happen. 

When I announced last year that I had been offered and had accepted a position in an ILE (MLE), amongst the congratulations and the praise for going for what I believe in, I could sense some doubt. Some asked the questions - How will work? Won't it be hard working with other people? What about all that noise!? What will happen to those children who can't cope with all that distraction? How can you actually build effective relationships with all those children? Then, I have to admit (although I didn't outloud!) the seeds of doubt started to creep in. How could I have come this far on a belief and not question that it would never be able to work!? 

Now though, from all those questions, I can see, nobody asked the WHY? I have since learnt about the power of why and wish I had been able to articulate it at the time (and not just believe it). I also have the experience of it now. The actual environment is freeing. Children who had been behaviourally 'flagged' by their previous schools have been of little issue - some, no issue at all! The noise is barely a factor and generally sits at a learning hum. I don't really know how, to be honest, but you just do build relationships with all the children. The distraction I believe is less - perhaps because the children are engaged in what they're doing, or perhaps they just know that everyone is learning differently doing different things. The children have some freedom to move to a space suitable for their task, spread out, and to where they will be able to work free from distraction. They have more choice about who to collaborate with. They have more choice about what/how they will learn. The actual timetable/collaborative nature of the day is still developing and will always be - that is how we react to the needs of our learners, and our stage in our personal development of pedagogy. One of the major benefits I've seen of that is better use of time to support learners with needs. An example of that is while one teacher runs the morning slot,  three other teachers can work with individuals or small groups on targeted needs. You'd never get that opportunity in a traditional classroom.

We finished up the term with an evening for the parents on Thursday night. We invited the parents in to share our 'Habitat Happenings' from the mentors point of view, with a short 20 minute presentation. It was lovely to be able to have a quick chat following with some very pleased parents! Some of the comments I had:

• My son loves maths! That's big for him and I can see his progress.
• *** actually likes to coming to school. I no longer have to push him through the door. I think it's something about the space - he hates to feel crammed in.
• *** lives for Curiosity time. I don't though (laughing)- he's started to pull apart things that actually work! 
• I'm really loving how I can talk to *** at the end of the day about what they've learnt. (Referring to our communication with home via our Habitat blog and learning apps/websites)
• My child tells me it's ok to feel like it's hard and fail - it's all part of learning.
• Thank you. (From several people, who clearly weren't just meaning for the parents evening.)

What a great way to finish the term. But what next......

As our experience (as mentors) and pedagogical knowledge within an ILE grows I would like to see our level our collaboration go up. A power of three or four teachers is obviously more dynamic than one, and I would like to see us continue to let go 'old practice' and make use of each other in both a planning and teaching sense. Something else I will be working on is how I can more effectively teach our Learning Model (Inquiry) with junior students.