Capital Letters - Keynote 3 - Bernard Beckett

Have just read his latest book, Lullaby, so interested in hearing this. 

Follows on nicely from the 'Connected Curriculum' workshop this morning! 

Beckett challenged us with quite a few questions - Why do we  teach our subject? What is our idea of the specialisation of English? 

His humour resonated with many - and there were lots of nodding heads with the very funny comments on the list of jobs we do - and how we  prioritise them! 

Marking the roll - in the first 10mins - most probably not ? Priority list depends on how scary the end user is!!

Two reasons we shouldn't have for why we teach : 

The agendas of people above us - govern what we do! 

He looked at the  task of getting good grades - how this filters down from BOT to Principal to HOF to staff  - and the impact of this on Level 2.

The myth that 85% Level 2 will make a better society - our economy is structured around casual part-time labour.

This is not why we teach. What you respond to 'what have contributed to these kids lives?' 

If this is what you think - shift your thinking! 

AND 

Effective pedagogy and modern thinking drive teaching - but modern educational research is poor! Most educational researchers are not strong Mathematicians - as shown by Hattie's research. Always ask 'who gains from this research?'

Not everything important is measurable (Einstein)

He had very little positive to say about educational research - mostly educational research is on narrow measurable fields - reading, literacy. 

Hawthorn effect - that any change creates improvement-and 'cos kids are growing then they are learning - so therefrom there will naturally be growth and development. Biggest shift at primary level - naturally less shift at top secondary level. 

Variance in teacher quality - will show teacher quality is variable - not what you would do to change this.

As an economist he was pretty scathing of the push for IT integration - Look at IT providers - if the big companies can show that the technology  improves educational outcomes, then 700,000 kids will want it!! What can you not buy in your school because the money's been spent on IT.

So why do we go there? To the English class each day? 

You know the lesson that works - the discussion that had impact  -  in the classroom - kids are trying out their lives. 

Nice thought re defining the power of literature and its place in our world 'Literature is the moment when we know we're not alone.' 

Capital Letters - Karen Melhuish - Keynote #2

I was looking forward to Karen's presentation - she is always entertaining, engaging and usually delivers a thought provoking presentation! 

I loved the opening hook- best new words of 2015 - 

VAPE - Oxford word of 2015  - particularly of interest as we have had a rise of e-cigarettes at school this year. 

However more interesting was what the Kids chose-  # 

This pretty much sums up what is happening to language - symbols and emoticons are the rage. 

Karen challenged us to question - Why are we, as English teachers, still relevant?How do we connect with our learners? 

So much is happening world wide - leads us to pose questions - especially around what does it mean to be a citizen today? The cost of technology had been a main driver of education worldwide. 

This creates its own challenges around cybersafety - scams, bullying - we have the technology in our hands but have still not learnt how to manage that technology safely and respectfully - this is major challenge for schools and teachers. 

Digital technology enables every person to have a chance to speak out! The rise of citizen journalism - anyone can report anything, anytime, anywhere. This is  empowering and emancipating - a phone, a camera - anywhere anytime!

Karen introduced the idea of the  metaphor of the 'commons' - in days gone by a public land - shared. She challenged us to think about the Internet as a 'commons' a place that is shared and respected so that we can all benefit from their use.

A nice quote from Kerry Facer - the future is an ongoing process 'in which we can intervene'.

Ministry of Education - acknowlege the following 

- change in the nature of work

- change in how knowledge is viewed

How do we manage this? 

For years we have been trying to get kids to contort themselves into education systems that does not fit them!!

There is an increasing call to do things differently!  Just look at the data around the well being of our students at school - this is increasingly worrying - ERO's recent report acknowledges this. 

Cells and Bells - where are the cells and bells in English?

- single text choice

- teach by standard

- streaming 

- no connection to other areas 

- limited reference to best practice 

.....

7 principles of learning - http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/50300814.pdf

All of these lead to the 'unbundling' of thinking. 

How do we unbundle structure? content? 

How different is English from when you you at school?

They should be looking different - and if they are not, what do you need to change? 

We may not always agree with what creators of texts say, but we need to be able to assist them to be able say what they want in a way that makes a contribution in a meaningful way. 

Edutronic - UK English Dept website - 

What does making meaning look like in 2015 and beyond? How do we make Emhlish relevant ? 

-how do we navigate the personal and digital world?

- how go we connect the dots between what we do in English and what the kids do in their world? 

- what does literature look like ? 

- what does poetry look like? 

- can game be literature? (Gone Home)

What does creating meaning look like 2015 and beyond? 

What should English look like? 

Find out what will connect the students to our programmes??

Our can we connect ourselves? 

Make your visible learning!

Take away point - if it's good enough for the kids in our class them it's good enough to share !! Great 'mantra' for moving forward.

Kia kaha Karen 

Capital Letters - Glenn Colquhoun - opening keynote - Myths and Legends Of the Ancient Pakeha

For some unknown reason, Glenn Colquhoun began his session by apologising for his singing voice - I have no idea why?? He has beautiful voice. 

Glenn's keynote was on the art of oral poetry in NZ - or songs for Pakeha to sing at powhiri! 

He started with songs and poetry that focussed on love across cultures - using Burns and Maori voices.

Ideas such as - an oral poem does not exist on the page - but in thin air and the spaces in between - and that we need to fill those spaces! 

Our country had two poetries - one  written in English the other sung and danced in Maori - very little conversation between  the two. His journey has led him to connect the two. The conference at Takapuna  forced him to confront these two worlds. 

What would pakeha oral poetry sound like - would they match the power of Te Reo?

He used a lovely phrase - Maori have 'Hymn book in the head' 

Historically writing allowed the poem to become more cerebral and more studied - this has left the poem 'spiky irrelevant and intimidating at times!

We tend to forget that melody changes the way the poem is understood - but is very powerful. 

Value of public performance changes the meaning and creates part of a conversation with an entire society. 

Glenn spoke about how he mined 'pakeha history' for the stories  of early NZers to form the oral poetry-songs of Colquhoun - Budby, Kendall, von Tempsky, Price, Diffenbach, and his own great great great great Grandmother- hymns,shanty, sonnets, ballads and work songs. 

While writing/composing these he discovered that stories of pakeha are as powerful and moving as those of other cultures. Fabulous link between the painted image and the spoken word - each piece of poetry linked to an early NZ image. 

Broken and incomplete subjects are more powerful than those that are bright and shiny. 

Again I have  no idea why he apologised for his singing - his keynote was mesmerising.

Kia kaha