The Week Gone By

13 days of induction have gone by. This week has involved getting into the real nitty gritty of day-to-day running of the school. We've had lots of great discussions about curriculum statements and practices. Of course, we have been using our beliefs to drive the principles and practises. It's great to be able to work together on this and have the ownership of that documentation. 

One of the best things about this week, for me, has been the time we have had together as teaching teams and nutting out our first weeks - discussing the use of space, resources and skills that each person has. I'm really going to enjoy working alongside this team.

However, the highlight of the week for the staff was the handing over of the keys! Some of us gathered together on Friday evening for a small ceremony to receive the keys. There was an extra added bonus of seeing the furniture there and unpacking some of it. There were a few children who had come along too and the magic was in watching those children use and enjoy the spaces. I can't wait for next week, when we will get to work in the spaces ourselves, and for the moment the children arrive! It's getting real - this is what it's all about.

Growth Mindset

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Growth Mindset is a term I came across late last year when I saw the above animation. At that time, I identified with a Growth Mindset, but was a little naive as to how crucial it really was. 

As part of our pre-induction this year, we were asked to read a chapter of Carol Dweck's work (highly recommended), and it really became clear to me that identifying with a Growth Mindset was not enough. I had to be explicitly aware of it.

To have a Growth Mindset is to have a belief that you can do something and put the effort in to achieve it. I really like in this animation that James Nottingham's 'pit theory' is referred to (perhaps unintentionally). I particularly like that the two characters at the end are making their way through a series of pits, of varying sizes - because this is what learning is like. Sometimes you do go backwards but how you learn from that becomes a crucial part of your development. 

With Growth Mindset being a big part of the beliefs at school, I have been thinking about the best way to communicate this to the children - particularly the Y1s and 2s. I think children naturally have a Growth Mindset, but it is up to the adults (teachers and parents) around that child to nurture their growth. In my last classroom I had a small poster on the wall: FAIL - First Attempt In Learning. I was amazed by the number of parents who started a conversation with me about that. So often we forget that failure is a part of learning and developing resilience. As adults we have to be very mindful of how we talk about failure to children. 

Although I've been active on Twitter for some time, I have predominately been a 'lurker' and 'retweeter'. On Thursday I plucked up the courage to participate in the #edchatnz thread on Growth Mindset. In one hour I had some of the most thought-provoking PD and challenged myself against some of the questions being asked. I have a new addiction to Twitter as a result, and will be participating in future #edchats because I can learn about anything!

A Side Note on Inquiry

During our discussions of the learning process/model the school will undertake, the word Inquiry came up. It is a commonly used word within education environments. Usually you hear it in the context of, "we are doing Inquiry, or "it is Inquiry time." 

My brain tells me that Inquiry is a verb. It is an act of finding out the answer to a question. Therefore you can 'make an Inquiry' about a topic. 

Topic seems to be bad language in education. But, I believe, it has its merit. We teach a process of inquiry about whatever  topic child is learning about. 

In the coming year, I will be careful of language and I will be listening out for what others say - perhaps I can be persuaded otherwise.

A week with Julia

The penny dropped last Monday night that the person coming to work with us was Dr Julia Atkin - as in the lady in the curriculum video. I'm not sure why it took so long to make that connection, but it caused a rush of excitement because she is a person that makes sense to me.

What made it more exciting was the anticipation of getting our Herrmann Brain Dominance Results. I love these kinds of things! She made us wait though by starting with a card swap game related to the colours and characteristics of each quadrant. From that game I was predicting I was going to come out mostly blue with a little green and yellow. Red didn't seem to come out too strongly. It was interesting to see when I got the results that it was pretty close. I'm actually a slightly more green (practical, organised, detailed), with a little less blue (rational, logical, analytical, factual) and yellow (experiemental, visual, conceptual) and even less red (relational, emotional, expressing), but not too much. I would say that this is a reasonably accurate description of me. 

The fascinating thing about this survey is that it also shows the qualities that are likely to be enhanced under stress - for me: blue and green, no surprises there!

The idea is that within a team, it is good to have a balance across the colours. Of course, some professions come out predominately in one or two colours, but teaching (and nursing) is different. My profile looks quite square on the diagram and another colleague with a similar shape wondered 'well, what do I actually bring?' At that point I hadn't considered it but upon reflection I could see where they were coming from. I was neither one thing or the other. However, it usually means we are good mediators. It can also mean we are a little indecisive because we can see all side. Anyone who knows me well, will also know this to be true of me - I'm not usually a fan of making big, on-the-spot decisions. 

But what does all this mean? It means developing an understanding of ourselves, our team, other associates, and most of the children. Teaching them to be aware of their internal processing and be flexible in their thinking. It's really important for children, especially those that haven't reached a natural cognitive connection to a concept, to do the talking about the thinking process.

Part of Julia's mission was to facilitate us through the 'nitty gritty' of a school set up - the values and learning process. She has an amazing ability to stretch your mind more than you thought possible. In fact one day I went home completely unsure why nothing made sense and how to sort it out. I was 'in the pit'!

However, using personal stories and her 'WHY? tool' we got through with a much clearer outlook. I came to realise very quickly that WHY is the most important question you can ask. And you have to ask it first. You have to know the value in doing something. So often, without thought, people put into practice a system that has been put in place - perhaps it's "always been that way," but if there is no value and belief behind it, then it is an unnecessary practice. The rule: you can't argue about practices - you can only argue about if the practices live out the value.

Values v Beliefs

You value something because you have an underpinning belief.

It was an amazing privilege to work with Julia and she has left me with many questions - mostly WHYs! I look forward to the continuing work we will be doing leading on from this mentally exhausting but stimulating week.

The much anticipated site visit

It was difficult to contain the excitement today due to the much anticipated site visit. And it was certainly not a disappointment!

Site Visit on PhotoPeach

The first couple of photos show the outside of the admin/library block and the first two learning habitats which are joined by a short hallway. The final photo shows the roof going on Stage Two which will open later in the year - this is a block with three learning communities.

The indoor photos show the admin block first - of which still needs a lot more work. The photos of (just) one of the learning habitats really doesn't do it justice. It was so hard to capture the network of spaces within the habitat. There are two areas with tiered seating - one larger and facing a TV screen, the other facing a small stage. There is a wet area with a full kitchen and art bay. There is one quite large open space that will be able to be broken up with furniture if desired and then a smaller area, identified as a 'formal teaching space' which is broken off from the rest of the room by a wall with a window. There is a small break out room and another reasonably large media room which will be sound proofed. You can identify this space by its green screen wall - great for those filming projects!

The habitat is so well designed and leads itself to many functions and uses - I'm so looking forward to being in there!

Identity

It was mentioned by one of the team members the other day that it was really important that even though we were working together in one space, it would be really important that we don't lose our own identity. 

It seems silly to make this so explicit, but it really is important when considering what people naturally do when put in a space together - that is, tip toe around how others might react to situations. 

We have been selected to work together as a complimentary team to deliver an outstanding programme to our students. We each have our own 'true colours': strengths and qualities. It is so important the children get a 'piece' of that. 

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I'm looking forward to developing a better understanding of myself, the team and the wider staff when working with Julia Atkin. Watch this space....

The Learning Environment and a Discussion on Professionalism

Learning Spaces
We are so lucky to have such a wealth of knowledge and experience on our senior leadership team. I have been inspired by Claire's journey of learning spaces for a few years now after meeting her in the Educamp circles and then staying connected via Twitter. It is fantastic now to be working alongside her as we both fulfil a dream.

Today she, and Helen, imparted the theory and their knowledge about learning spaces. The number one message: everything we are doing is for the learner. This means that we have to think about the why - before the how and the what (practices are put in place). 

There are 7 spaces to make up a classroom: group, secret, data, watching, publishing, performing and participation spaces. We can certainly see all of these things in the plans of our habitats.

One of the most enlightening parts of the day for me was having the chance to Skype with the design and development architect, Wayne Stevens. It was so fantastic to hear him speak to his design and explain the theories behind different aspects. Credit for these notes goes to Claire, as I was too busy hanging on to every word.

• The architecture can shape the behaviour and engage the students
• The spaces will allow authentic, messy play, small and large group work, performance spaces
• Children will be able to develop relationships with a range of adults
• Building designed to suit the environment including schist
• Interior has acoustic treatment to prevent reverberation: underlay, ceiling,
• There is a closed off space that allows for acoustic isolation
• Within each habitat, teachers need to plan for what daily activities are needed and where those activities will take place
• Furniture: it’s not about moving furniture around on a daily basis. Moving furniture creates down time. The spaces need to be set up.
• Education needs to be transformed and this will happen with personalisation and student agency.
• Neuro science: the blue light makes the brain attentive. (South light)
• Need to expel the carbon dioxide by opening windows even in winter
• Blockers (typically parents) will show concern re noise
• Groups sharing a space become white noise
• Displays: teachers need to define the purpose of display and agreed practice
• Montessori: meaningful displays that show the learning process
• Internal glass creates transparency which promotes transparency of practice and openness of learning

It started to get real when we were given the floor plan along with the list of planned furniture. I think everyone in the room is just waiting now for that site visit so we can check to see if what's in our heads is for real!!!

Professionalism
I really love that this team, right from the top, live their speak. The latest big project was to develop our definition of professionalism. In two groups we had to come up with four 'elements' and list the details behind that. Then we had to write a statement 'Professionalism looks like.... because... because...' I really liked that we had to justify our over arching statement twice as it really made us consider the WHY! From here we then talked through and joined the two documents all together with the principal as a facilitator continually checking that we agreed. What an eye-opening and amazing process to go through. It took quite some time but we really had ownership of that document and will live by it because of that.

The Dream Job

You know that feeling when you know something is totally right for you, but you still have a tiny bit of anxiousness towards it? I had that about this job - no matter how much I knew that I wanted to be working collaborativly, wanted to be working in a new school, wanted to be working with and for the people who interviewed me - there is still that wondering of 'have I missed the catch?' 

The second day (Thursday) started with some vision casting - where was this journey heading. By morning tea time it was a relief to let out that big sigh and say, "Yes! - I am working with the right people - they think like I do."

We covered a little bit of Growth Mindset...

a bit about curiousity and thinking...

and some things about trust.

It was so refreshing to talk, so early on, about trust being one of the biggest factors within a team environment. Stephen M R Covey has a book titled 'The Speed of Trust - the one thing that changes everything,' I love the second part of this book title, as having experienced a change in trust with a colleague before, I realise the significance of that statement. Ultimately now, I have grown from that situation and I know that for me building trust looks like: leading by example (showing others what trust looks like), communicating and taking ownership when it doesn't happen, building a relationship first, looking forward to improving the relationship, not back. I am so looking forward to working with this team - I truly believe that after this conversation together we are already have a high-trust dynamic. 

We also had a wee look at the essence of the NZ curriculum. I think the NZ curriculum is a fantastic document and really fits with developing a whole child. My personal belief is that primary education in particular is about exposure to exposure to everything and growth of the child. This video from Julie Atkin sums it up nicely as the 'development of self.'

Dr. Julia Atkin: Expressing the essence of the NZ Curriculum from EDtalks on Vimeo.

We were asked to consider these two questions and would love to hear your responses as well: What is learning? What is my job? 

We found the second one much easier to answer succinctly - to make learning happen. 

Friday was another great day with the team and guest Rob Clarke who gave us a whirlwind tour of everything Google. It was fantastic to learn about the vast scope of what Google can do. Apart from lots of shortcuts and handy hints to organise emails, one of biggest take-a-ways was the power of a Google+ profile and inspiration to develop this new blog. 

By the time Saturday rolled around it was definitely time for a brain break and the opportunity to make the most of this environment with a bike ride, walk, lunch out and a swim (indoor at the events centre - not quite brave enough for that lake!!).

Day One: Welcome to the Adventure Capital of NZ!

Since accepting the position, day one seemed to take forever to arrive! All that excitement and anticipation. Moving to Queenstown was not only a career decision, but a lifestyle choice - and who wouldn't want to be in one of the most beautiful and adventurous towns in New Zealand!?!?

And we sure did kick it off with some adventure!

 

The boat ride gave us a great introduction to the area and the history behind it. From the naming of the Shotover River to the Legend of the Lake. We also enjoyed some disk-golf at the (quite steep hill course) Queenstown Gardens and an introduction to geo-caching. It was a great way to get to know the team and begin building those ever important relationships.

We even became famous!
Otago Daily Times: New school's teachers arrive by jet boat