Term Two Reflection

Wowsers! What a term.

It's harder to write about the successes - they are not the things that stick at the forefront of my mind. But they are important to look back on. 

The progresses/successes I have noticed this term:

Pipeline One

• Our team has gelled more and found our rhythm
• Maths has been massive learning for me (never taught these stages before!)
• Officially opening was magic and an awesome celebration of the (short) history but also the future
• Communicating Learning comments to parents

Pipeline Two

• Found some flow with the Innovation team and we're getting into the application of some the things we've been visioning
• I've been able to give some coaching to our TL around his goals
• I've done some serious reconsideration around the 'steps' I had recorded in order to get to my desired reality. This has brought me further into pipeline two
• Learning about the pipelines and having a session with Tony Burkin

Please find here the link to my updated steps towards my desired reality.

This term has been quite draining, with several factors relating to that. Having a team member away for an extended amount of time really makes you realise the importance relationships play in a team and the contribution each person makes. That, and some other events changing, meant changes to the release schedule and a shortage of relievers has put pressure on, on occasions. Planning ahead and being prepared for your non-contact time does not always bring the full sense of calmness you expected. 

Part of 'building a school' (not only the buildings) is to develop the school-based curriculum resources and references. This has been a great area of interest for me because I've always been held an interest in curriculum development. However, it comes with it's challenges, because there are still expectations to meet requirements such as forming OTJs and with some of those references and recording platforms still in the development stage it has made those tricky and time-consuming.

I'm looking forward to a well deserved break and to reassess and plan for the term ahead. I'm stoked to be working on the Innovation Incubator team and reflecting on my development in that. Our team is also looking to change things up for literacy next term, and that will hopefully bring back some of the literacy joy for me.

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.

A momentous occasion

18 months into this journey and we got to tick off another first (and in this case, only). The Official Opening. 

It has been such an amazing experience to be a part of the foundation team at a new school and it was nice to celebrate, not only the (short) history but the future. It's so much more than the buildings - but the importance of all of the people involved. 

He aha te mea nui o te ao. What is the most important thing in the world? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. It is the people, it is the people, it is the people. 

Maori proverb.

The Gap Map - Thanks for the Feedback

While doing my weekly reading today - the chapter was focused around 'The Gap Map'. This explains the gap between the way someone means to be seen and the way they are actually seen. Using the Gap Map, it allows us to see where our blind spots are.

We all have blindspots because we can't see our own faces and reactions, we can't hear our own tone of voice (Mehrabian, Non-Verbal Communication) and we are generally unaware of big patterns of behaviour.

Often when we get feedback we may focus on changing our behaviour (arrow 3), but our thoughts and feelings (arrow 1) remain unchanged. Thoughts and feelings are embedded in expectations and assumptions that have accrued over the years. This is a problem.

This, I believe, is where 'a team' would fail to meet the expectation of the 'a leader' and so if a leader does not act on feedback at the thoughts and feelings stage, those thoughts and feelings still leak through facial expressions, tone of voice and body language. These behaviours are still visible to the team.

There becomes a point where if the team sees a behaviour enough, it is amplified as a characteristic trait (rather than situational). It draws into the third arrow where the team will focus on how it impacts on them and the leader is still focused on their intentions. The team don't recognise the good intensions.

The only way to see these blindspots is to ask for feedback and if you find yourself questioning the feedback, you need to question 'Is this feedback actually sitting in my blindspot?' 

The type of feedback you need to receive is honest (rather than supportive) and specific:

• What do you see me doing, or failing to do, that is getting in my own way?

Respond with genuine curiosity and appreciation and you will be able to draw more out - especially if they have started timidly.