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 

Connected Curriculum and Innovative Practice - TOD with Di Cavallo

This was our third 'mini conference' TOD and it was great to have Di Cavallo from HPSS as our keynote speaker, sharing their journey and their work around learning  design. It was a thought provoking and entertaining sharing of ideas. 

Di started with what underpins us as teachers - Moral purpose - and reminded us of the ideas of C Beeby (1939)  that 'every person regardless of background or ability had a right to an education of a type for which they were best suited'

Parents send us 'their best' and we have to do 'our best' with them and for them. 

Technology has changed - the way the  classroom operates in many cases have not. We should be asking ourselves the question  - What do children need today?

Connect the dots obviously the language of HPSS cannot be directly transplanted to here at RHS, but the ideas  Di presented resonated with many of us- 

- we think kids are 'au fait' with all things 'tech' but they are in face naive pa out many things. 

- however things such as augmented  reality is here now - just like we expected the tape deck back in the 1989s, what do they expect today?

HPSS - learning centres around some key words and ideas -.

Define discover and dream

How could we empower our learners for their future ?

A new model not just what we've always done!

Loved this phrase - the most expensive words in education - 'we've always done it this way!!' 

The Big Projects were of interest to those of us who are looking to connect curriculum areas for authentic and engaging learning. At HPSS Big Projects have to be 'bigger than ourselves'

Di shared a film made by 3 Yr 9'students based around a local concern - the endangered plant - epilobium.  You can view the piece here - http://www.theoutlookforsomeday.net/films/2014/038/

The kids worlds have become on demand - TV  will be on demand - what and when they want to view it.  We need to hook into - 'Just in time as opposed to just in case' learning.m

This statement was for some,  is a hard pill to swallow - the fact that we've built empires - called curriculum areas!  One of the reasons that change is easier for primary teachers is that they have never had the silos!! 

Personalised learning - HPSS staff are committed to truly  personalised, student centred learning - focussed  student voice and student choice. 

Other key ideas include making use of Powerful partnerships. Connected learning and connecting the curriculum are key. Everyone has an understanding of what everyone's curriculum looks like. 

Connecting curriculum - what is the intent of the curriculum ? What are the common threads, language and concepts across the 8 areas.  Teachers have to look  outside of their bubble. 

Highlighting Deep challenge and inquiry in order to create  Critical thinkers and inquiring minds underpins planning. The language and hierarchy of verbs goes is central to lesson and unit planning. 

Timetable focus at HPSS - an iterative timetable it seems! 

Learning Hub / Coach - 4hrs a week - home group 

Need to change the pastoral model 

My Time - a continuum depending on self management skills - might be directed to literacy and numeracy - or totally self directed 

Learning Projects - real life deadlines and real clients 

Learning Modules - what we could call subject time

Students expected to be like staff and check in before the start of the day - before Learning Hub time - self management an expectation.  Students sharing their learning story is also a given. 

Collaborative planning and co teaching - different types of co teaching.

How do we make learning explicit and relevant to the kids. 

How hard is it for kids to make the connections?

The plate of broccoli analogy. The broccoli is the stuff we have to have. The chocolate dresses it up as a plate of broccoli is not that great by itself. 

Enjoy the nutrition in the lesson not just the way it's been dressed up?

What skill or conceptual understanding has been developed ?

Be a learning designer - we design learning every day - what experiences do you want kids to have ? 

Replace - strands with contexts  - in order to get the threshold concepts

All teachers have been challenged to look at all other areas and see what is the key thing in each area.

Huge overlaps.

At HPSS there are 8 - for the foundation years of 9 and 10.

Be agile - key to planning 

Deliver the learning design - in x curricular groups - who has what concepts that will fit?

The value of transferable tool - such as paragraph writing - consistency of tools across the school. 

Language is power - look at the essence of your learning area. 

Common language across the school. 

Natural collation of words - from the NZC - learning verbs the keywords - ordered in hierarchy of words - these frame learning objectives of the unit and the lesson.

Enhance natural connections -

How can Maths fit with Art? 

Where do we go to in Yr 13??

Help the students make links across the learning areas. 

Allow bizarre connections  to flow.

And through all of this we saw NOT ONE PHOTO OF A BUILDING 

BECAUSE -The most important open space is your mind!  

Leading by design

What is really important in our Faculty or team? 

What are the values? How do we live them everyday? 

Shared vision

Secured accountability

Self review

Process for embedding vision in learning practice 

So many ideas, so little time. Hard to believe this all came from an hour.......

Other workshops were presented by RHS staff and facilitators from Te Toi Tupu. I attended two different ones. Kerry Sullivan's session on Zaption was well received, as was the Flipped classroom sessions facilitated by Sarah and Jess from Te Toi Tupu. 

One of the key messages around flipped classrooms was to consider 

 - What content can be recorded for students to see again? 

 - And that a bad lesson, will not become a better lesson just by putting it on a video! 

Tired team at the end of the day - I hope Di had  a voice left for the weekend !!

CADAP - Building capacity of Middle Leaders

Christina Thornley - Principal's Advisor, Teachers' Council - was the keynote speaker at the term's CADAP professional learning session. She presented a seminar on effective and valuable appraisal processes. What was encouraging was that our school's PPL (partnership for professional learning) inquiry and appraisal cycle, does a lot of what Christine says, 'is good practice'. 

The aims of the day were to create a  'Better understanding through the professional workshops of what appraisal should be - valuable and manageable ' and to reinforce that 'buildng the capacity of Middle Leaders is a key job of SL - and that includes a clear vision and focus for professional learning and appraisal.' 

Any appraisal system/process should have - 

Purpose 

Value

Intention

These need a conceptual framework and a scaffold - in order to have a robust appraisal framework. The 'appraisal conceptual framework' devised for this.

Our teacher inquiry model is our framework 😏

There is a need  to sit the Professional Standards next to Registered Teacher Criteria - 

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/SchoolEmployment/TeachersPrincipals/SecondaryTeachers/CollectiveAgreement/Supplement1.aspx#1.1

Essential to have a process for the 'difficult conversations' - open to learning conversations 

- respectful

- focussed on the issue 

- sense of agreement to move forward 

Responsibility - have a clear and transparent model for staff - at all levels - who is responsible for what in the process - everyone has the right to grow - growth framing. Multi layered purpose to the system. Through the inquiry  system, evidence for appraisal is created, inquiry for the teacher NOT just for appraisal.

I think this is something that we have not 'nailed' yet - enabling teachers to see and understand that inquiry is about continually reflecting on practice in order to improve, not to generate data and evidence! 

What is good when we look for evidence for the RTC? Teachers take an inquiry mindset to our teaching already - we have just not formalised or organised this into an inquiry cycle. How are our students doing and how do we know - is what we as teachers do - it's what keeps us going! This is the evaluative capability. 

Akonga - is any learner - teachers in schools are the akonga of middle leaders, middle leaders are the akonga of the senior leadership team.....

What does good look like? 

Mediocrity is not enough - good is the baseline hurdle!! This is the bottom line. If you cannot get over the hurdle, then it needs to be addressed. Teachers can be in different places for each criteria - this is what sets the goal.

 Tātaiako a lens to look through the criteria - not a separate set. 

Knowing what good looks like us really important - especially for Middle Leaders ? Need to develop a rubric for showing what good likes. These may look different in different settings.

We need to define what effective practice look like in 'our place' - has not been done for awhile. 

Defining what good looks like through - PEP, KEP, Tātaiako, NCEA - where does this place us nationwide.  This may look different across different roles in the school - faculties, pastoral etc.

Organising evidence - holistic approaches to evidence enable teachers to link planning to outcomes for students - a central organising construct eg 

- RTC

- Tātaiako competencies

- goal for inquiry 

A holistic approach needs the teachers to have the criteria in the forefront of teachers thinking 

Good practice would come a range of sources. Probably 2 observations and discussions around this. My actions are not just based on my own view - Tātaiako affirms this -we are only one voice.

Appraisal evidence should come from the  'harvest of everyday practice' !! So much! Choose something that stands out  - something that matters in an inquiry! 

Might have lots of evidence, but does that reflect what 'good looks like' ?

# Gathering evidence is not the PURPOSE of an inquiry, it's what falls out of an inquiry! - a key point to remember. 

Questions and thoughts - questions to ask ourselves back at school 

What's working well in our model? 

What professional learning are we doing for Middle Leaders  around this process? 

What are the pros and cons of our current model?

 

Just reading - Creative Schools by Sir Ken

Reading books by leading educational researcher and thinker Sir Ken Robinson, is almost as good as listening to him speak in the flesh! He writes as he talks - in a voice that is engaging, passionate, humorous. A voice  which offers the  definitive reasons for why there needs to be a revolution in the way we deliver education - NOW.

I'm halfway through his latest tome - Creative Schools - revolutionizing education from the ground up - but it would be fair to say, that in me he's preaching to the converted, but I wanted to share two sections here.

'Opportunities for change exist within every school, even where the emphasis on high stakes testing has become extreme. Schools often do things simply because they've always done them. The culture of any school includes the habits and systems that the people in it act out every day. Many of these habits are voluntary rather than mandated - teaching by age groups for example, or making every period the same length, using belss to signal the beginning and end of periods, having every students facing the same direction with the teacher at the front of the room, teaching math only in math class and history in history class and so on.' pg57

My current school is grappling with a number of these 'habits and systems'  (which as Sir Ken, so rightly states are voluntary) right now, as we try to work through a process of change management - curriculum, pedagogy and spaces are on the agenda. We are lucky enough to have contact with NZ educators  who are leading the revolution in their schools - because it's what is best for the learners. I hope we are brave enough to learn from them.

Sir Ken's teachings around 'personalisation' are straightforward - in every aspect of life, personalisation is apparent. But as he says  -

'..it has yet to take root in education. This is ironic, because it is in education that personalisation is most urgently needed. So what does that mean? It means: 

• recognising that intelligence is diverse and multifaceted
• enabling students to pursue their particular interests and strengths
• adapting a schedule to different rates at which students learn
• assessing students in ways that support their personal progress and achievement ' pg 83

I believe we need to be brave and follow what we know is our moral purpose - and make the revolution happen. 

Interface Expo - May 2015

Spent Thursday at the Christchurch InterfaceExpo. These expo days are often about selling a product - BUT there were some great learning tools on display and demonstration.

1 ) Mind Lab - were one of the main sponsors. Their philosophy includes the statement 'Technology takes the classroom out into the world.' 

Frances Valentine - Founder MindLab - NZ Tech Board - was one of the opening speakers. The aim of Mind Lab is to create innovative kids of the future. Last year 12,000 students went through each of their 3 'workshops'. This year they are hoping for 30,000. 

One key message was that we have a fantastic primary school system. A system that 'does' learning well - student focussed, contextualised, project based - then they hit secondary!! Secondary teachers are having to cope with the 'tsunami' effect of these primary students flowing into the secondary system! 

She noted that even traditional careers are being  influenced by new changes - eg 'big data' - medical outsourcing ?

Mind Lab - is partnered  with Unitec to deliver a  PostGraduate Programme - philanthropic support to keep costs down - $750 for post grad programme. Looks good to me!

Excitingly - won $1000 staff PD voucher! Checkl out The MindLab - here

2) The GAFE team - clearly reminded us that online /blended / elearning focusses on the 5Cs- 

Communicate

Collaborate

Create

Consume

Coordinate

And that teachers need to ensure that they are making best use of GAFE by making sure that students have - 

1.  customised chrome experience 
2.  automatic web pages 
3.  enforce bookmarks URLs 
4.  chrome web store - apps and extensions 

At RHS we use Google Sites for teacher portfolios and appraisal - this presentation was a good reminder to me that Sites can be key for- 

- developing digital communities of practice 

- increase student agency 

Clearly we need to use Sites for more than just teacher inquiry in fact any opportunity for  divergent thinking via individual creating - could be Site based

Learn Create Share 

As school leaders we also need to remember that the 'pedagogical experts may not be the technological experts' - pedagogy 2.0 and 3.0 - new pedagogies need to be taught 

Google Classroom and Blogger 

Blogger as a portfolio - teacher, student, class 

Importance of linking to RTCs 

Student blogging - authentic digital footprint, student led conferences

3) ETV - while I have delved in to ETV and 'archived' a few really useful clips, I have not used them in the classroom yet!! 

I liked ETV's 'tagline' of  'real time, real life, learning resources'

- live TV - only live TV service in NZ 

- in the cloud - no software, no boxes

- biggest supplier of video content in NZ 
The fact they when contacted, they will search for ANY resource to assist you with ANY topic you want to work on.

BUT - what we do need to get onto using is their ZAPTION app

- research simply pointing students to a piece of video does not work 

- students bombarded by 'noise' - they need to interact with content 

- Bill Gates education award winner - 

- wrap learning around the video content - easy to use and many ways to engage students

4) N4L - making our schools safe online....

- the education system is becoming digitised - exams, moderation

- we need to know that it will work and work safely

- apparently our schools are under attack from overseas locations - thousands of times a day...who knew???
So I have bitten the bullet and signed up to the Pond, which seems to me to be another aggregator - I already use Delicious and Twitter and Google alerts ......

5) By 3.00pm my brain was starting to hurt - but not enough to stop me buying (well Josh actually buying) a  SWIVL - robot controlled camera - track as you move, insert content during the lesson, 360degree, tracking, can be paused, stored in the swivl cloud, can include slides and still record lesson in action. I have it on very good authority that it is excellent for tracking evidence in the PE clasroom - but for me the most useful use, would be for teachers to view their own practice. 
You can see more about how it works here http://www.swivl.com/




OK - enough new things to be think about ....and try out....and find the time to ......

A timely reminder - why teaching's FAB

This post that popped up on my my Facebook feed today -  http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/why-teaching-is-the-best-job-in-the-world/
- and was a timely reminder for me, that despite all of the issues in teaching (and not just confined to NZ), teaching is still one of, if not the, best and most important jobs in the world.

We continually read of the wide world issues facing teachers and teaching - new teachers leaving in droves, head teachers / principals stress load, unreasonable overtesting of students .....and it goes on.

My own current stress levels are somewhat elevated around specific site based issues at my school - but I'm a reasonably chilled person, so having an elevated stress levels is not too much of a problem!

Teaching today is about continual improvement - the cycle of inquiry is essential in this process. All teachers at our school carry out an inquiry - as always there is a spectrum of engagement from simple low level compliance through to those who actively and passionately want to do better, who realise that the students in front of them are individuals and that delivering the 'same old, same old' from year to year is just not going to do it for the students. These are the ones who are a pleasure to have a learning conversation with; who willingly share in cross-curricular meetings and are excited to tell you when things do (or more likely, do not) work as expected.

We hear about student creativity all the time from educational superstars such as  Sir Ken and Stephen Heppell, but how often do we think about creativity in ourselves as teachers and in the facilitation of learning in our classrooms? How creative are our lessons? Our timetables? Our curriculums? These are questions that we are grappling with as we go through a major rebuild. I'm looking forward to the conversations around this. Creativity will be a challenge for some - creativity may well be a synonym for change! The 21st century is well and truly here, and has been for 15 years! We need to make the changes that will allow for the delivery of engaging and authenic curriculum.

So many parts of the work are satisfying. Self improvement is satisfying. It might also be hard and time consuming. Using the 'teaching is inquiry cycle', self improvement is linked to improving student outcomes. That is satisfying. Focussing on 'growth mindset' (one of my goals for this year) is satisfying. Seeing students improve is satisfying.

So the post 'Why teaching is the best job in the world' was a timely reminder. Not the easiest. Not the least time consuming, Not the best paid. Just simply the best!

It reminds me of the quote that has a prominent place on my office door and features in my CV - the words are from Christa McAuliffe, the civilian teacher who died in the US Challenger disaster - 'I touch the future. I teach' 

Simply the best!