Week 22!

  This week in Ōtaki there is a very tired feel around the education community. After Term 1, and then Lockdown and now Term 2, without a break everyone seems to have run out of steam. 

Kids are tired, teachers are tired... everyone is ready for a break. 

Leveraging the Manaiakalani Kaupapa

The kaupapa of Connected, Ubiquitous, Visible, & Empowered has been a catalyst for change in the weeks following lockdown. For some schools and teachers there has been a real embracing of this  kaupapa. It is now becoming what they do, as part and parcel of learning in their kura. 

What lessons have schools in your cluster taken from the distance learning experience to enhance or improve the face to face schooling experience? 

There is far more collaborative practice -  teachers working together to support one another, especially at one particular school where teachers sharing resources who would never have shared before!

The value of ubiquitous learning - available anytime any where at any pace from anyone. We gathered feedback from students once they had returned to school after the lock down and this was by far one of the things they enjoyed the most, especially in a secondary setting, being able to complete things at their own pace, choosing which subjects work they wanted to focus on and not having to stop because the bell had gone. 

Lockdown has really shown us the value of ubiquity. 

We have also seen an increase in independence - and whānau involvement with learning. It was so heartening to join in class Google Meet sessions and see whānau supporting students. 

Time for a well deserved break I think!

Our Code, Our Standards - Standards for the Teaching Profession

The practising teacher criteria have been replaced with the Standards for the Teaching Profession which is a part of Our Code, Our Standard - Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession.  Further information can be found on the Education Council Website. 

End of Term 2 Reflection

One of the things that I have a bit of a love hate relationship with is the end of term WWW for our facilitation hui. I really appreciate the opportunity to reflect on the term, the highs, lows and all the in-between, but I find finding the time to complete this in the last few weeks tricky. Perhaps next term I'll use the weekly team meeting minutes to go back look at the WWW's we do each week for inspiration.

I really like that this time around the things that aren't working and I need help with were sentiments echoed around the room during the sharing time. It really helped me to see that these struggles aren't mine alone.

Google Certified!

I finally sat the Google Certified Educator Level 1 exam, it's only been a few years on meaning to do it.

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, and it's really nice to be certified now.  I'm also keen to do sit level 2, perhaps in the summer holidays.

Going through the sessions and completing the review questions definitely made me feel more confident going into the exam, but I was still really nervous waiting for my results. The first section which was multi-choice had some questions which I felt were really easy and some were tricky. I enjoyed the second section which was more practical and made me miss making docs etc for my class!

Time to start prepping for level 2 I think!

Learning through talk - Jane van der Zeyden

Discussing - Developing Oral Language in the Primary Classroom

Golden Lines - When you come across a great example (in a text or students work). This is then displayed on the wall. These can be 'borrowed' for use in students writing.

Anticipatory Reading Guides 

• Write about six statements to catch the reader's interest that focus on the main messages of the text. 
• The students work independently agreeing or disagreeing with the statements and then share their choices with a partner. 
• After reading the students revisit the guide with their findings and make their final choices
• The teacher and students discuss their choices and justify their opinions. 

Ask and Answer/Hot seating (can be used with fiction and non-fiction texts)

• Children in role 

Writing - Pasifika Boys, Charlene Mataio; Tools4Teachers

• My favourite thing about writing is ... 
• My least favourite thing about writing is...
• What do you like writing about best?
• Do you write at home? 
• What do you think about your handwriting? 
•  is it easy for you to form your letters? 
• How do you feel about spelling? 
• When we write in school I wish we were allowed to... 

The key is teaching students to notice the everyday. 

Why write?
We write to make sense of ourselves and our world, and to communicate.
Individual children each bring their own unique experience of their family and culture with them. 

All young writers have something to say. 

We write best about what we know.
writers notice and respond, non-writers don't. 

Beliefs shape the way we teach. 

"Children need models rather than critics" Joseph Joubert 

Give writers the opportunity they usually have 3 life topics they will go back to. It's your job to teach them what they don't know, about what they know. 

Do we teach to the writing? Or do we teach the writer? - Be mindful of knowing your learners and what that student needs at that time. 

Read like a writer and write like a reader.

Oral rehearsal is really important, how am I weaving oral language through my writing programme? Think it, say it, write it.  

Maori & pacifika come from a largely oral history - value it!

Ideas 

Generate ideas for writing 

Focus on the seed, not the watermelon (small moments)

Specific details/significance

Does writing always have to look written? Could be hand written, typed, drawn, video (a way to scaffold). 

Generating Ideas, Neighbourhood Maps. Example in Marshfield Dreams - Ralph Fletcher.
Making observations of the everyday. 

James Gulliver Hancock - looking at ourselves, looking at our 'authorities' 

6 word memoir 

School Journal poem - Nothing every happens at my house. 

Actions: 

Display the messy writing - the organisation, the idea selection process etc. 

Mentor texts 

Use video - scaffold writing

Neighbourhood maps

Manaiakalani Outreach Planning

During the holidays I was invited to attend the Manaiakalani outreach planning session for term 2. 

Being involved in the planning for the outreach support gave me an insight into how the term will pan out in terms of the support we receive from James. 

It also gave me a bit of a 'behind the scenes' look at how the outreach service works. 

During the session which was led by Dorothy Burt there were a few key things which stood out for me in terms of my role as an Education Programme Leader

• Start each sessions with ... What’s working, what’s not, what do you need help with?

• SAMR focus - on using meaningful learning activities that are 'above the line' (modification and redefinition) to accelerate student achievement

• I have also signed up to attend Dr. Ruben Putendura's SAMR session on the 27th of May!

• The focus this term is on the create aspect of LCS. The idea of creativity is to create! The fun, the joy, the creative fun stuff, not just another slide show!

• I loved the current events site which has been created by the Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy, I just can't see how having this set up could work with busy classroom teachers.

It was affirming to today receive the following email from Dave Winters.