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.
Showing posts with label JuliaAtkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JuliaAtkin. Show all posts
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Kitting out the Classroom (Habitat)
One of the most exciting things for a teacher is setting up the classroom. We go into a state of craziness over transforming what is often a very dull space into a spectacular, inviting, creative learning space. I'm personally not much into Pinterest, but I do identify a little with this fabulous parody.
I should point out here that my personal philosophy is that a classroom has to work for the teacher - but it's primary function is to support the learners. It has to be a safe place, and a place where students feel they belong. I believe that a teacher can decorate a room, perhaps in a theme (I had a 'Flying High'/Aeroplane theme last year) but learning materials must wait and go up when they have a context to the children. Start teaching vocab/sightwords then put them on the wall, teach your writing process then put the prompts on the wall, etc.
But what happens when there's four teachers, with four differing philosophy's sharing the same four walls? How is the space and resources managed?
It's certainly a discussion that has to be had within and team - and perhaps to school level. It needs to be considered - what do management, visitors and parents want to see on the walls? Just finished products? Should parents see the planning and crafting process as well? Should there be no children's work and just reference points to learning tasks? Do children even pay attention to reference points? Can a classroom have too much 'visual clutter'?
Then there is the matter of resources. Do you put everything out at once so children have access to whatever interests them? Or if your focus is on measurement, do you just put out the measurement things? Should books be kept in one place, or all over the habitat? Should language resources be kept in a language 'centre' or should the children access that everywhere? What if it's a language book - is that a book or is it language!?!?!?
For all of these questions I can make a decision for myself. But it comes back to the team - it's one of those little things that's going to take some time, but I think it's time worth spending getting on the same page.
The key in the end.... WHY?
I should point out here that my personal philosophy is that a classroom has to work for the teacher - but it's primary function is to support the learners. It has to be a safe place, and a place where students feel they belong. I believe that a teacher can decorate a room, perhaps in a theme (I had a 'Flying High'/Aeroplane theme last year) but learning materials must wait and go up when they have a context to the children. Start teaching vocab/sightwords then put them on the wall, teach your writing process then put the prompts on the wall, etc.
But what happens when there's four teachers, with four differing philosophy's sharing the same four walls? How is the space and resources managed?
It's certainly a discussion that has to be had within and team - and perhaps to school level. It needs to be considered - what do management, visitors and parents want to see on the walls? Just finished products? Should parents see the planning and crafting process as well? Should there be no children's work and just reference points to learning tasks? Do children even pay attention to reference points? Can a classroom have too much 'visual clutter'?
Then there is the matter of resources. Do you put everything out at once so children have access to whatever interests them? Or if your focus is on measurement, do you just put out the measurement things? Should books be kept in one place, or all over the habitat? Should language resources be kept in a language 'centre' or should the children access that everywhere? What if it's a language book - is that a book or is it language!?!?!?
For all of these questions I can make a decision for myself. But it comes back to the team - it's one of those little things that's going to take some time, but I think it's time worth spending getting on the same page.
The key in the end.... WHY?
Sunday, 25 January 2015
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.
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.
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