Regeneration NZATE16: Keynote 2 Rose Hipkins - Capabilities: an idea to regenerate interest in the NZC

Rose posed a number of thought provoking and highly academic questions:

Why did we out key competencies into the curriculum back in 2007? 

The background for them came from the OECD. 

The minor path is to see them as ideas that ask the 'so what' - using them to actually drive what the teaching and learning actually looks like. 

The 4 words that drive the key competencies - capabilities for living and lifelong learning 

What does that actually mean for whatever do? 

What are people actually capable of and how do you frame that capability? What happens in society where there is no social justice? 

What are all students actually capable of?

Are they then having the opportunities to develop these capabilities? 

What do students actual need in order to be capable of living a decent life? 

Our system gives us the freedom to do a whole lot around these capabilities? But few of us actually do! 

Rose referenced - 'The party in the car' resource - LTSA. The capability that they are tapping into 'thinking'. What is it about this verbal and visual text that enables it to get under the skin of the reader. 

Knowledge of text features - personal experiences and values. In using this text students have to use all the key competencies in a meaningful way. 

Another example was a systems thinking model - consider an issue and fully resists the urge to come to a quick conclusion. 

The English rich task would be to reframe the model from formal language to a more accessible language. 

A text to  review - Triple Focus - Daniel Goldman and Peter Senge.

Any school curriculum should focus on - systems thinking, managing self and the ability to work collaboratively. 

I see 

I think 

I wonder 

What is the difference between inference in English and Science? 

Science searches for evidence in the world. English searches for evidence in the world of experience. 

We need to put meaning making on the outside - so that students can create meaning across the curriculum areas. 

If we hold social justice and equity dear - them we have to have a close look at the lack of equity in NCEA external preparation. Low SES classes not likely to be exposed to the contexts needed in order to do well in for example 'Unfamiliar Text'. 

Questions to take away - 

- how do we prioritise and manage complexity 

- what basic capabilities across the curriculum should exist? 

- can we define expectation? 

Critical Thinking - not just cognitive - dispositional/emotional as well as empathy 

Persepective- taking 

Disciplinary (meaning making) 

If the task is rich and interesting these things will be there. 

Re:generation NZATE 16: Workshop 2 Marama Salsano - decolonising the English classroom

Teacher, writer and student ....

Boy, we had to think is this workshop! 

Lots of conversation around post-colonial theory of literature in Yr13 - which was interesting! 

Decolonizing the English classroom - normal use Te Ao Maori in the space. 

Whakapapa as literary analysis - more than genealogy, layers of meaning. Relationships beyond the blood types. Everything whakapapas back to Ranginui and Papatuanuku. 

Papatuanuku - a model of sustainability, the human connection to the natural world. We all live here - this is a unique way to see the world - links really well to the NZC - especially Level 8.

The woven universe - written post WW2 - Maramaosed some challenging questions - for explain how would you explain the whakapapa of an atom bomb? 

Think back of smart phone / computer / bomb etc - they all whakapapa back to Papatuanuku and Ranginui. What happens when you dispose of a smart phone?  The idea of recycling and sustainability - most students can actually do this. 

The whakapapa of a .....watch 

- what components make up a watch? 

- what happens when it comes to the end of its life? 

The hat - 

A very useful and interesting activity 3 different 'readings' - Marxist, feminist, whakapapa 

Zines - 

Non commercial magazines - DIY - print excretion of 'punk rock' 

Indigenous zines - alternative world view - students speak back 

Created for and by young people of colour - see Starling, L.(2016) source - how they can be used to validate world views - as well as fostering creative freedom. 

However - we need to create that safe space for students to create. Also there needs to be an awareness of intellectual property - and exploitation of indigenous knowledge. 

Zine - templates here - http://greengrubsgardenclub.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/Mihi

Re:generation NZATE16: Workshop 1 - Rowan Taigel - Design Thinking for Effective Teams and Collaboration in English

CORE - future focussed inquiry and learning with digital technology

Focused on - curriculum innovation; design thinking; teaching as inquiry and modern learning pedagogy

Collaboration (common cause) vs Cooperation - what's the difference? 

- a power difference

- everyone's input is crucial to get the task done 

- cooperation more of a social skill 

- product focussed 

- can you have one without the other? 

- choir ( from the same pre arranged sheet) vs jazz band (evolves  during the process, everyone has solo, different every time)

Collaboration - common journey together at the start, the journey may evolve

Why collaborate? 

- new perspectives - which may raise new questions

- cross disciplinary skills 

- diffused responsibility and pressures, distributed workload 

- comaraderie - humans are social beings - designed to work together 

How can we change thinking and processes in order to achieve what we want to achieve? You know something can be better - eg how can our team work better as a team? How can we change, innovate or move forward? 

What is design thinking? 

A mindset, we know there is a framework to work through.

- human centred

- collaborative - as many perspectives as possible 

- optimistic - we are going to make a change

- its experimental, risk taking, be prepared to change 

One model  

- empathise - observe the problem, take notes, watch, what is it like. Ask and listen. Research, dig deep, what is like? 

- define - look at your 'data' - synthesise, focus

- ideate - brainstorm 

- prototype - analyse and choose one to try, incorporate feedback

- test - seek feedback, try again 

Our challenge - work through the process

- hold off from jumping to solutions too soon - stick to the process 

Empathy phase - deep understanding of the challenge - can be huge or small 

Underlying issue - what are the links or themes? Is there a thread ? If what you believe, affects what you understand, and what you know..... Digging deeper, agree within the team that this is where are going to start 

Ideate: how might we action what for whom in order to change something ......

How might be change or improve the perception of English for boys in order to increase engagement? 

Ideate: Brainstorm - Don't reject anything at this stage - post its, share round the room, add as many 

Refining - safe, favourite, moon-shot and collaborate on choosing these 

Prototype - Sketch the idea - visualise this - if there are many ideas rank them, and work through the list 

Test - seek feedback - good stuff and what won't work - rosebud, flower, thorn - refine and try again 

What is English? - big question, not often addressed but essential 

Re:generation 16 - Keynote 1 - Nathan Mikaere Wallis

The regenerating brain: 

(The brainwave trust: http://www.brainwave.org.nz/)

The 1990s saw the change in what we knew about the brain - due to brain scans. But the 2000s saw the change in what we knew about brain development. 

The most important learning is done in early childhood teaching. No evidence that genes relate to intelligent growth. 

The first 1000 days are crucial. The environment is crucial. How well you do at high school is decided by the 1000 days not which high school you go to! Culturally informed as opposed to research informed. 

In NZ we do not value early childhood teachers. Cultural capital of the hierarchy of teaching. Compare us to Scandanavian countries and where we spend money on children. Our biggest bucks go to 17-19 year olds - worldwide research tells us that this is not money well spent - NZ behind the ball here. 

We know the frontal cortex is not developed in teenage brain - it gets in the road of risk-taking. In adolescent years it 'regenerates'. No single age for this -as late as late 20s - new research pushes the finishing line out later and later! Individual cases - gender based! 

In fact the age is being pushed out with more and more research! 

Women - 18-24. 

Men - 22-32

100 different things that define end to adolescence:

Gender; birth order (first born or not first born - biggest differences - too complex too compare!) - and that's only two points of comparison! First born gets the most attention in the first 1000 days. More words spoken to the first born - therefore more likely to develop capacity of intelligent development. 

Most of our brain grows outside the womb - allows us to nurture the emotional brain. 

Body mass and height impact on how early the frontal cortex begins regenerate. It needs to shut down in order to regenerate and renovate. Some frontal cortex still works - teenagers still speak! So 10% of the time it does actually function fabulously well. You need to whakamama that part when you see it. Try to ignore the other 90% of the brain. You want to nurture the decision making, the empathy, the consequences etc. That's why restorative practices are so essential for supporting frontal cortex growth. 

Sometimes is better for others than parents to act as the 'handbrake' and the  voice of reason. 10% of the time even adults don't use the frontal cortex - otherwise we'd be ' Spock-like'! 

No use asking teenagers 'what were you thinong' better to ask 'what were you feeling'! Thinking involves consequences! And analysing risk factor. It might be dangerous but it's fun! 

As teachers we need to speak to the 'emotional brain' - speaking to the cortex is 'nagging'! Why do some teachers 'get' this! They talk to the emotional brain. 

Cognitive training - tell the kid what to do - not what not to do. Train with what they should do - social training - teach them the skill. Teach the behaviour that you do like (PB4L). 

Hence the growth of 'mindfulness'! You need to calm the brain stem I order to engage the cortex! This is different for each student! 

Validate the emotions coming from the emotional brain ( the limbic system) - this involves listening to the 90% not just the 10% we want to hear! Listen to what they want us to hear. Try not to 'invalidate' what they want us to hear. If we want kids to listen, we have to listen to them. Children do as you do, not as you say! Validate doesn't mean agreeing - we don't have to agree! According to Nathan, husbands do this all the time! 

Listening to listen! 

Grow Waitaha's Secondary Community of Practice

It's s pity that we (Rangiora High School) did not have the services and of the recently established  Grow Waitaha  http://www.growwaitaha.co.nz/ when we began our rebuild journey in 2014. No such thing as a Ministry apppointed 'navigator' for us!

Instead we came up with wild and wonderful plans as to what our rebuilt classrooms and Science labs could look like, only to be told they did not meet MOE guidelines for new build. How many meetings, hours and consultants fees went on this I wonder?

 

We are now hooked into Grow Waitaha. One of the benefits of this is the monthly 'cluster meetings' and for schools getting partial or total rebuilds. Schools share their stories and similar experiences. I wonder what it our design would look like, if we were going through this process now?! 

My notes from last week's cluster are below - a common thread was providing staff time to make change, experience failure, spdiscuss, reflect, retry......

Grow Waitaha

7 April

Hillmorton - A Brokenshire

- positives of collaborating across schools

- true collaboration takes time

- break down isolation of the 'job'

- stop taking my kids/stop taking my staff

- the moral imperative as a driver

- Cross school professional learning groups

- 4 teachers Cross faculty 4 days a term for PLD

- time

- 3 Cs - embedded - co-construction collaboration and choice

- the sport model - across junior teams - can't get this into senior yet though - engagement and results up- sport and classes ideally in the gym - sport and ed funding - how does that fit in a timetable - glass ceiling of streaming

- collaborative planning time in the timetable

- cross curricular resources developed

- Fun in the Sun unit - but still discrete units - the shift pedagogical change - report authentic contexts

- base camp - Yr9-13 learn from Yr7-8 teachers - meeting time on the timetable

- 7-10 1 day episodes

- enhance learning through outside opportunities

- teachers need to see the value of cross curricular

St Thomas - Hamish and Brad

- Zion- designed and built 2012 - about to build a community sports complex on back field

- about to design a new set of buildings with a new evolving design process

- change from bottom up - evolve practices in education

- evolve as opposed to change - to a 21st century school

- staff have to buy into and drive the vision

- review of pedagogy shift due to 100m lesson

- team is essential

- knowledge as verb

- staff have to model the 21st century skills

- growth mindset - OK to fail

- staff - be prepared to learn and evolve

            - professional learning groups

            - break the silos - cross curricular

            - led by appraisal facilitator - early adopters

            - not just led by SLT

            - values based curriculum 7-10

Braided river model of learning

- core skills

- minor collaboration - 2 teachers

- major collaboration - 4 or more

How do we use technology to enable learners?

KC are more measurable in terms of success

100% BYOD - provider deal also provides PD for staff - needs to be more than glorified B5

SAMR - all staff must be on the progression

Eng SS Art - Yr7/8

Cross curricular similar language

Engagement - nail this

Emphasised the need to measure Progression vs Achievement - move away from assessment for assessment sake. 😃

Test show how well the teachers have done their job.

Think about having 'Must do/ Should do / Could do'

Liked the idea 100 Day Induction - all events to get them into the life of the school - similar to our 6 weeks in. Impact on pastoral issues - drop off in the combined class areas. 

Haeata 

Referenced Ken Fisher - whose idea I'd like to read. 

Learning design principles - the rocks! Liked this phrase as we have the rocks as the foundation of our lighthouse emblem. 

 

Three very different versions of the same vision! 

CETA Big Day Out - 23 .11 . 15

Workshop 1  - Using Games to teach Creative Writing 

A workshop of ideas to use games to engage students in writing and learning activities - Jenny Burgham (Lincoln HS). 

Creating Ideas 

- roll the dice and create a story from the learning grids (UK based) 

- variations - study grids (film terms) - they can also create their own 

Sentence types

- sentence randomiser  games - roll the game, identify the sentence type 

-  also use for vocab, language features 

- use whiteboards cos then not permanent in their books 

- use the dice, have to write the sentences the dice identifies 

Kahoot

- language terms

- identifying features 

Relay Races - writing to describe - teams, post its, each person in the team has to complete a different sentence 

Round 1 - describe your favourite place 

- hear 

- metaphor

No Red Ink - free, anyone can enter, but class has to be loaded

- individualised language tasks 

- can do a lot of diagnostic of language skills 

Cantamath - proof reading, Cantamaths style, gets them up and moving, and they like the competitive element 

- capital letters, full stops, spelling 

- one person walks, only one up at a time 

- approved, you're get the next sheet

- all take turns being the walker - 30 secs penalty 

- walker must wear badge 

TIPS - colour page for each group, have an answer page 

Workshop 2 - preparing for University English 

Dr Nicholas Wright

Why do students value English? 

What does Level 8 of the curriculum look and sound like? How do we create critical thinkers? 

The liberal humanist mode of teaching English - there are more than one way of reading any text?

Think about the image of 'good' teachers in Hollywood 'movies' ? Most are the 'liberal humanist' depiction of teachers and teaching. 

What aspects of English do kids find difficult? Generally it's the writing? 

You're not actually thinking until you're writing? 

Situated in the context of the here and now ? 

Liberal Humanism 

- Skeptisicm about thinking critically - do we read enough into anything?

- literature can teach us about the world, but is that all that it should do? Assumption that there are essential truths  in all literature that we have to 'crack ' the code of. 

- a discourse that suggests that the value of a text is like the value of an individual?

Timelessness 'empties' the text of what it means in a changing time ? 

These bullet points can all be argued against.

Looking at texts from a cultural; racial; social; economic; gender view point changes perspective, for example - how can you study a text in isolation from its time and place?

Beyond the close reading of a text: 

- adopt a differ enrolled position

- whose voice is not heard? that's critical literacy!!

- Memories back to my MastEd @ Waikato Uni - when I analysed Anthony Horowitz's Storm Rider  novels from a critical feminist viewpoint 

- critical sale awareness through an academic voice - where does your voice fit into the voice of others

- everything is inter-textual 

- how do language and representation - counteract the liberal humanist approach 

- discussion is vital - everyone's reading is different from each other's - a community of scholars - this is how you augment your learning 

- the way you process or decipher the texts is what's important - that's critical? 

- what's weird about this text? What's missing? What's the problem? 

Imagine if Gatsby had Facebook! We're all Gatsby's because of Facebook! 

What do you gain by looking at something from a different perspective? 

Workshop 3 - Teaching English and Media - mgh@papanui.school.nz 

- teaching English in a Media context

- Eng and Media standards

- all writing authentic media contexts

No Media Studies taught at Papanui HS - students choose this or straight English 

- production standard get progressively harder from L1 to 3 

Check out Papanui HS YouTube site. 

 

 

The MindLab Weeks 17-20 - getting organised

The second half of the PostGrad is around school-based research and inquiry.

Our Saturday group has created a Google+ Group for discussing each week's readings and reviews.

Focussing on the Lit Review

Tell the story of why your question is important and what we want find out....and look for the gap

Think about: Abstract
Theoretical Framework
Needs to be broken up by themes or question - several people can be referenced under one theme OR one piece under different themes
What are the strengths, weakness and where are the gaps - why is the research needed
Think about the research question - make sure it is concrete and specific

When searching - key words are then important - make sure that you have the synonyms for key words - internationally different terms are words.

The best piece of advice was to use an excel document to create a grid of tall the readings - work out the themes - keep the page references - pull out themes from the literature as you do the reading for the lit review - FABULOUS

Get the Q right - f the question is wrong - the research becomes a 'living hell'.
A focussed and specific question

What/How ......IS THE  .......FOR .....AT

My MEd thesis (integrating blogging into classroom practice)  the tension between teacher as research - how much do you intervene and how much does this impact on the research data.
The Week 18 readings on making us if academic readings and making sense / collating your data reminded me of the plethora of paperwork that one collects when doing research - even with digitial PDFs and Google notemaker .....

I'm looking forward to the next few week's readings based around Teaching as Inquiry - as we have been working this model for our teacher appraisal for the last few years - and I am thinkiong of using Google Sites for the second part of this paper's assessment.