Te Waihora-Elllesmere : Waterwise Project

This morning I was privileged to attend a fabulous presentation of contextualised problem based learning - presented at the Rolleston Community Centre.

3 of our students, along with Science teacher, Marian Hansen, spent a week with students from a number of other schools (Gisborne, Kaikoura and Canterbury ) investigating and learning about 'the water, the lake and sustainability' 

This is the 2nd year of this programme - looking at the water issue in the region. Led by Jocelyn Papprill - youth engagement advocate. 

Lincoln Uni made their facilities available to the students for the week. They along with CPIT and the UC mentors have provided invaluable support.  Ngai Tahu, Untouched World and eCan also contributed to the collaborative nature of the project. 

Over the week over 500 trees were planted around the waterways. 

Team Dynamite

Discussed the issues of dams on NZ rivers, including the problem of the lack of silt  flow revitalising the coastline; the decline of eel (tuna) and the free flow water algae production. 

Team Questionmark 

Is this our future?

Great visual on what water quality might ( or might not!!) look like.

Message : young people need to get involved in local bodies and councils - for example Hamish Keown.

Team Jess and Lucy

'If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem'

The history and importance of Te Waihora to local iwi cannot be underestimated.

Message: The urgency of the need to create sustainable farming practices. 

Team AJ

Use you imagination - what we have could soon be gone. 

Educate, Activate, Facilitate - Youth Voice for Nature - educate the youth to activate action and facilitate change. Engage youth by using social media - easy access - as is radio.

Aim: music festivals to promote change in order to create a sustainable environment 

Team We Are G 

The message of starting school in their own school - Gisborne Girls' High - beginning with an Enviroment Council was one the girls had learnt from the Canterbury schools' models. 

Social media is away forward for many of the teams. But using the traditional stick game as a way of passing  on the message.

The challenge for the team is building knowledge around the erosion of the beaches. 

Team Film

How many regions will have to face the same problems before action is taken?

Created a short film to show the challenges they had overcome during the week - in order to share the knowledge and message 'take action'

Message: nature needs a voice 

Today we saw a snapshot of their learning - the tip of the iceberg! A group of great young leaders in the making. 

Session 4: Kerikeri High School - no wonder they were school of the year

Nice to be hearing about a larger secondary school - 

Wonderful to hear another Kotahitanga story

http://vimeo.com/103203458

Kotahitanga well embedded before PB4L

Progress slow due to size of initial team. Had reduced to a small team - and jobs 'contracted out' 

Key slide!!!!!

Perfect student vs perfect teacher

We've done the ideal RHS student - but have we ever done the ideal teacher????

Student Handbook

- interesting pages 'what to do if....'

Team - meetings optional - but small team kept momentum going

Align all paperwork with values

Eg student referral forms 

After school detentions became learning opportunities - rather than punitive 

At Yr12 replaced by after school parent meetings. No more afterschool detentions. 

Trial and error interventions

Eg Yr 12 truancy - rewards for no ? 

This morphed into students taking ownership

 

Positive phone calls home 

Getting the message out 

Third year funding spent on visual representation of the values.

Classroom competitions - the classroom that best displayed the school values.

Differentiated values for Yr levels

Students teaching students very valuable tool.

Aligned report attitude matrix - values 

This became the first lesson - with a range of activities for staff to choose from.

Second lesson was around exams and study leave.

Tackling Litter

Involved the property manager!!

Build an installation from school rubbish!!

Using students to create the visuals - video 

- after seniors go

- use juniors still at school

- teacher release time

When there's no funding????

- student team - expanded

- they judge classrooms

- feedback on matrix and activities

- shoulder tapped or took volunteers 

- classroom competitions increased - mark sheets aligned to values 

- staff prizes included a week in the principal's carpark; some afternoon release time !!!!

Rewards system 

- certificate system revamped

- no answer yet to the whole school rewards system 

- staff need to promote

- admin person offers the data 

- levels of awards - from form teacher up to Principal

- data shared - class data 

'Stop the bus' lessons

-1 per term - based on bubbling issues

- Cybersafety / Manners / Litter 

- different lessons for different levels 

Summary

- huge reductions in discipline and suspension data

- increase in class attendance

- importance of acknowledgment over reward 

Keynote 3 Dr Rob Horner - establishing and sustaining school wide

This session looks as if it will be more geared for those who might be thinking about coming on board - apart from the last part.....

'Using positive behavioural interventions and support effectively and equitably'

Don't get drowned in the details - pick the details that work for your context. 

Make it predictable 

Can students not just name the behaviours, but also explain what they mean - can they articulate them in their own language? Have they been acknowledged for dojbg things right in the last two weeks.

Create a culture, make it consistent! 

Make it positive - it takes a lot of work for students to believe that teachers are positive

Make it safe - bullying is an 'iceberg' behaviour - we only see the tip. Systemic problem that undercuts the fundamentals of a school - insidious and systematic 

You will not build an effective learning culture unless the social climate if right. 

In NZ 21% of schools on PB4L 

PB4L makes the circle of inclusion wider - we cannot be choosy about who we have in out schools - it has to work for all. The kids who learn really easily make teachers who use ineffective strategies look good! It's the hard to reach ones that are not easy to reach - benefits huge

A framework got building a 'social culture'.

Use consequences as a learning opportunity - don't allow little problem behaviours escalate. Use consequences that do not end up rewarding the student for the wrong thing. 

 

Language is power - give the students the language to explain what the values stand for in their own words. This becomes part of the road map to success. Teachers' goal is to make the students successful - make the students part of the community - that will enable them to learn. 

Tacoma - all buses have the PB4L values of the schools they service. 

#1 is the key 

NZ data shows ( only from a few schools ....) 

- truancy biggest behaviour issue

- boys and girls equal referral

- no set time of day for higher referral / incidents

- Pakeha/Maori little difference 

Reward behaviour not children - artificial ways of building ritual ' I like what you did' 

Fidelity measures - a core element of implementation 

Summary

- build schools where students are empowered to care each 

Keynote 2- Marcus Akuhata-Brown

Fabulous speaker - thought provoking messages 

Whakarongo - through the three domains of all of our senses - to enable us to weave together that which is disconnected; to weave together human relationships 

Marcus interests lie in how we are connected - both to people and to place.

Family and place are what's important. 

Amazing to hear the recitation of whakapapa... 

By identifying our origins and beginnings we can realise that the picture is bigger than ourselves....

Glass lid of low expectation - exacerbated by lack of connection 

Nice quote from Jared Diamond's 'Collapse'

Transformational change takes place when head and heart connect - theory alone is not enough.

Often we are far too quick to focus on what is going wrong - power in the recognition and honour from a community. Don't give up on the first negative response - sustained encouragement cannot be underestimated - they help form courage.

Connection can give meaning to learning - condition of care comes from a position of authenticity.

When you isolate people (students) they cannot participate - then communities develop (disengaged).

 

Where do students who have no connections to people or place, go to in moments of crisis?

As teachers we have a privileged place of influence. We can have a transformational, generational impact. Enduring processes of change. 

People are the only things that make a difference in people's lives - do that they can hear the 'call of the bird'!

Ghandhi - 

You must be the change you wish to see in the world 

What glass lids need to be lifted of our own worlds??

'I believe that if you see potential in someone, you have a responsibility to act  on that - and it will more than likely cost you something' Marcus Akuhata Brown

 

Really enjoyed this presentation 

School Stories - Queen Elizabeth College - No secrets, no surprises

 Even before QCC begins, I'm liking the documentation they have provided as resources to share! They can be found here - 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8HiRczKc0HIWGpCWEI2REF1ZVU&usp=sharing&tid=0B8HiRczKc0HIUzdlUUc2c0Z6TVk

Only 210 students yr 9-15 - range if cultures and nationalities.

QCC had an interesting background - new student numbers high at Yr10/11 high absenteeism; unpredictable achievement....

Selection of the team was crucial -different skills  needed for different jobs. Team has been unchanged since Oct 2012.

# Visible Expectations

A lot of money spent on signage - making the values visible - seen from every part of the school.

Classroom expectations laminated on desks - for different aspects of a lesson - might be different for each subject. These  are not 'one size fits all' - teachers can focus on one or two of these expectations.  

All of the values are incorporated into the website design. 

Postcards home for top 'gold star' rewards (below)

Open night Quiz - good idea for prospective students - around the visible

info

All data needs to be available - otherwise there is no trust. 

- ODRs

- transparent

- collated using SWIS and excel

- analysed

- used to plan interventions and rewards 

# Big 5 and specific solutions

- logical efficient and powerful model of solution development 

- allows everyone to be aware of the issue

- target specific behaviours of a specific group  (this is somewhat a Tier2 issue and response) - manageable behaviour modification in a small school - worked with 8 Yr 10 boys around teaching basic social skills - weekly meetings - behaviour modification programme - replacement behaviours discussed 1-1 ; this was then reinforced by classroom behaviours. Students then need space to practice and make mistakes. 

#Challenges

- workload for all staff - double data entry an issue

- consistency amongst staff - 2-4 years to get the staff to do things regularly - make them as effortless as possible (eg referral as tick boxes) - staff need to be reminded to give out the reward cards ; dealing with new staff 

- communicating with whanau - can be a battle 

# Successes

- uniform and lateness - consistent approach - group approach year level at a time - no single teacher left to address issue alone a classroom - a 'correction script' - questions around the issue in a supported environment; compromises around jewellry and piercings 

- small group of defiant and disruptive 

- seeing and rewarding positive behaviour  - staff have become good at identifying good behaviour - seniors often feel left out 

Summary 

-simple paperwork

- supported approach 

Session 1 - Why and How is teaching social skills important in promoting positive school climate?

Social skills cannot be taught in isolation - respect and consideration need to be modelled daily.

Data shows that if you have low levels of discipline referrals, there is likely to be higher academic success.

Social and academic skills need to be taught in conjunction - otherwise neither

 will be effective. 

Academic behaviour and social behaviour need to go hand in hand. 

Embed the social skills in the instruction.

They do not replace each other. 

Violence prevention is about teaching social skills. Positive climate building is about teaching social skills. Employers can teach the skills of the jobs - they need their workers to have the social skills already.

Teaching social skills needs to delivered and formalised. 

What are social skills?

Verbal and overt behaviours that students do.

What students give us, is what they have learned - therefore more likely to become habits.

Behaviours are 'situationally specific' Gresham, 1986

The consequences / social benefits - two groups of responses - peers' and adults' responses. 

Teaching academic and social skills - use the same process - model - reteach if not  successful. How do we teach a social skill - how do we reteach? What reteaching strategies do we have?

Need a simple model for teaching of social skills - need to quick and efficient in order to de-escalate the situation. 

We cannot leave social skills to chance - they accrue over time 

- acquisition - show model 

- fluency - practice

- maintenance - sustain with accuracy and fluency 

- generalisation - can be used across settings - use in new contexts - learn to discriminate

- adaptation - modify and fit into any new contexts 

A good social skills lesson has a name, a context and examples - reinforced at home 

Social skills are like habits - we have good and bad 

Charles Duhigg (2012) The power of habits 

Bad habits are difficult to replace with better behaviours. 

Some kids need more help to require a social skill than others (alarm clock analogy) - some may need that assistance throughout their entire school life.

How do we teach social skills in a differentiated way? This graph is a good image of range of support needed 

Understand functional assessments - in order to teach targeted social skills.

Summary

Teach the social skills like academic skill

Train for automaticity

Supervise social skills

Establish networks that maintain social skills

Resond to higher needs

The 'honourable' (sic) Hekia....

I guess we do have to thank her and the Ministry for funding PB4L .....

First time I have heard her live - slick speaker!!

Lots of strong rhetoric - learning attitudes, learning behaviours, learning possibilities, learning communities...

500 schools in NZ in the initiative (not a programme). A way of operating and sustaining changed behaviours. 

The strength is in the evidence base - evidence overcomes our prejudice base.

Apparently we are developing a 'data - fluent' culture.  There is nothing to be afraid of on using data !!!

Party political broadcast just launched in middle of quite a good start ...

	Alison Cleary (@AlisonCleary)
12/09/14 11:12 am Hekia - Nothing to be afraid of in using data - there is no hidden agenda - I'm a minister of what you see is what you get

She respects the decision made by NZEI and PPTA ... Not that members have had a voice yet!!!!!

She has some notion that primary and secondary schools don't talk to each other!!!  Ooops after 5 mins of that tirade she acknowledges 'exceptions to this model' 

Happy to take 'safe' and 'unsafe' questions.... Followed by the next 'party political broadcast' - classic!!!!

What can we do to maintain funding - Hekia's question.

Our answer - scrap charter schools!

She had that data embedded in her head!

'We'll get what we've always gotten ' -FAB English from the Minister if Education !!!