Gretchen's learning

The focus of our last staff meeting was Te Tiriti. This is foundational knowledge for all living in NZ and our code of professional responsibility expects that we demonstrate a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi based Aotearoa.    It's overwhelming - the systemic inequity and racism in our health, justice and education systems, intergenerational trauma, concepts of land ownership, economics - so much learning.   Brenda asked what we can do to mitigate racism in our education system and sustain the culture of Māori learners.  What can we do differently? Demonstrate equitable and inclusive teaching practices - i.e. dialogic pedagogy, circle time, working in metaphor/story,  strength based, UDL. We need to inquire into how we can remove barriers, build connections and relationships and elevate student voice. Audit the texts/resources  we are using at school and how we are using them - who's stories are reflected in these texts? Who's perspective are ...

 This session was hosted by our cluster's RTLBs who facilitate  Incredible Years Training (IYT). The programme  - it's American, it was developed it the 70s and 80s. It's a 'prescriptive programme' for children aged 3-8 years (maybe something to consider when sending Y4-6 teachers on this). There are 6 x full day sessions for classroom teachers. There is a pre-interview with teacher and facilitator. There are 2 classroom visits. Each session ends with self reflection and goal setting. Up to 16 attendees, school receives $1000 following second workshop.  Pyramid showing workshop progression from bottom to top - i.e. workshop 1 covers bottom layer.  US: and NZ: IYT seems like a supportive space for teachers. The emphasis is on positive language, being pro active, relationships, descriptive praise and feedback - things that work. It would be even better if it worked in with the 7 (?) best-practise, explicit strategies for responding to minor problem behaviour. It'...

 2 day workshop - introduction to leadership coaching.. This coaching framework is from Positive Psychology. Facilitators used tunnel image - the GRO (goal, reality, options) is the wider part of funnel - go wide, good to generate 5-6 options and the WTH (will, tactics, habbits) is the giving it a bit more direction, narrowing down. Coach - move from one place to another. 80/20 conversations - coach/coachee.  Coach uses rich generative questions, actively listens, builds on success, stretches.   Frame goal statements 'I am/I have' as if have done it, are doing it - past/present tense. Describe reality - ' 'description of reality' a favourite since Bill Rogers in the 90s  Options - 5-6 is ideal will/tactics/habbit - commiting to action, mapping things out Active listening and being strengths focussed is an important aspect. It was good to hear and think about how these conversations can be used in many settings and in many ways - e.g. with students, with coll...

'What are children able to achieve when we allow them to be creative?'  is what Amie Williams (toolkit host) prompted us to think about.  What happens when we take the lid off the box... Amie's slides  include many creative resources and ideas including: podcasts - students could collaborate to produce these about many things,  so much learning in the process of creating them - then the podcasts become a resource for future learning. Scratch/Scratch Jnr - this is something for all ages. Great for storytelling and creating games. Can push the creativity by using other tools to create backgrounds e.g. google draw, photos of local places. A couple of student examples here  and here . Here is a fabulous way for kids to be create and interactive image in google draw to share information - and teach kids  slides is not the only way!!  A good thing here is it can be successful with only a little writing - it's more multimodal which will appeal to many of our...

Maria introduced us to OK Go Sandbox  - 'Inspiring Tools for Playful Learning' created by a group of 'joyful and nerdy' creative people. It's definitely worth having a look around this site. They share music videos and share more info about them, how they were created etc.  (BTW Michelle check out this video for some spread sheet inspiration ;) The videos on the site are supported by lessons and some follow up work. Maria discussed the importance of carefully considering relevance/appropriateness of this follow up work to your learners - it's from an American viewpoint and some of the follow up work is not so cool -  we need to think how we could use these videos as a springboard to enhance learning for our own. As well as the website, you can check out their video playlist  for more videos that might inspire learning, creating and sharing. We had the opportunity to look at some of the videos and share how we could use this to engage learners. For example this v...

 Yesterday's toolkit was with Dave Winter.  It was covering best practice re administration of chromebook insurance.  Many of the attendees were in admin roles within their school.  At our school this has been my responsibility - strengthening relationships with families has been a focus for us and we saw this as another opportunity to connect. The administration of chromebooks is a big job for our team and we are still refining and reviewing our processes. Some key takeaways: use the form Dave shared (in slides below) to record any issues with claims process - remember to update if resolved. Be sure to include photos of damage with Assurance claims Kawa of Care teaching - ensure Kawa of Care is being taught and followed in all our classes. For example the keys missing from chromebooks - this indicates chromebooks not being looked after. Say the keyboard was missing some keys due to being picked off, then other keys start not working - unrelated and would usually be ...

 Maths -  This video (Marie Hirst, NZ ) highlights importance of our maths teaching having engaging activities to build number sense - with an emphasises low entry and high ceiling activities. Many practical, useful and fun ideas for teaching maths.  It was interesting to see how she adapted games to add interest, extend learning, extend talk etc. Games Consider :  Do game engages all at the same time?  Does it depend on speed or luck?  Goldilocks principal (not too easy, not too hard).  Are games easy to learn, prepare?  A good tip is to make little videos made that show children how to play games. Tip - in games, set up so it's pairs against pairs - means more discussion. Link to session handout (image above) - some really great resources linked in this PDF that could be used in class as well as during home learning. Number sense routines: important for fluency, maths language and reasoning.  Number talks great (but not covered in this se...

We're making a commitment to change this term.   Something I will change - spend less time in the office so more time outside, in class etc.  This will mean more connections, supporting, building relationships, conversations, learning, visiting whānau etc. etc.  Ways I will support myself for this change is by putting it on the calendar initially.  Michelle and I will also hold each other to account over this (it's a goal for both of us).   Something I will stop -  I will be more selective and purposeful about my computer use.  I can get lost and easily distracted in front of my screen...my inbox, signing up to random newsletters, reading articles/opinions, registering for random workshops etc.  While sometimes these are of great value,  I can be more purposeful about my online time.  There is some admin obviously that will need to be done. I will filter my 'invitations'/online collecting to main areas of responsibility/i...

Drama NZ webinar with Dr Viv Aitken As some know, I'm a bit of a true fan of Viv's and of  Mantle of the Expert .  I learn from her, get all inspired and enthused then these treasures fade to the background as day to day life tasks seem to takes over my time and energy.  It was great to have the opportunity to connect with her again at this time, revisit this amazing learning and spark some thinking - and action! Viv has been working with teachers from Hillcrest Normal School.  Questions they have asked themselves during this period of home learning: What are our new assumptions? -'at home' means something different for every child -we're creating IEPs for every child -we are trying to be equitable -Learning from home is already happening (with whānau etc.) -we need to be flexible - moving from Level 4 to Level 3...how long? then what? What do children need in times of uncertainty? -we need to learn from whānau -connection to natural world -creativit...

This prompted much thought and I look forward to further conversations with others - webinar will be available via NZEI - well worth a look. My random notes from webinar: Relationships and Commonsense We're at home doing crisis (we're not at home doing work).  Many of us are spread out from our families. Welby spoke about his mother during polio epidemic - no school for 4 months.  His mum learned to ride horse, trapeze, can fruit... School is not the god of learning.  Most kids do most learning outside of school. On average day outside of Covid - 6 hours at school, 8 hours learning out of school. What's happening now - consider it a contribution. Teachers - may be feeling overworked, anxious, vulnerable. Anxiety we might be being measured. This is tough. Answer may be in collective ideas.  Talk and listen to the ideas of others, people we like and respect.  Multiple lenses - one lens is never as good. Look away from screen to what's around us, our hom...

Raranga Matihiko  is offering webinars to support teachers with creating authentic and challenging experiences for our  ākonga using digital technologies.  The one I attended this morning was on Game Based Learning - using Scratch . If you haven't used Scratch you'll need to create an account - it's free. Alisha Spekking (educator/webinar host) suggested these Scratch introductory videos:  https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=NTY7jAODNqM&t=16s  (or  https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=A78BfUkRgRw&t=4s  for Te Reo Māori. Raranga Matihiko created 'Decoded for Learners'  tool which puts the two new technological areas from the NZ curriculum (progressions of computational thinking and designing and developing digital outcomes) into kids speak (MoE have approved these).  They emphasise that these are progressions, not a checklist. Much info about this curriculum area is on TKI  and well worth a look. Alisha shared this video - 7 Reason...

Our school report showed out school norm tracks below national norm, though it starts fairly close to the national norm at Year 3 the gap then widens. It's important to note we have students sitting above the norm and that these students need to be catered well for also - how are we extending these students to ensure they make further progress over their year. Some areas that are 'hot spots' for Years 4-6 are fractions, statistics and place value.  It's important the students are offered opportunities to work with materials and have maths problems presented to them in relevant contexts to them. We talked about the numeracy project books   which are a valuable resource, but maybe we're sticking to book 5 and not using the other resources.  I will take a stocktake of our books and ensure each room has the appropriate books here. Another thing we talked about was the importance of critical thinking and the students being able to solve word problems and also recogni...

Having the opportunity to teach Reading Recovery again has been great. My training tutor, Robyn Dillon, was good at reminding us about 'slow learning' and this is something I value about having 30 minutes to focus on one child's learning during Reading Recovery lessons. The structures of Reading Recovery help me order my thoughts and focus my teaching. There's also the expectation that we go deep into Marie Clay's texts and discuss our practice - which our OPD sessions are for. Apparently Auckland has the highest rate of referred students from Reading Recovery - these are students who do not complete RR successfully and are referred on to services such as an RT Lit.  A goal from the tutors is to decrease the rate of referred students. Our focus for today's session was how we can get more information during the observation survey when children are scoring very low.  The message here was to use emergent Ready to Read (level 2) for early running records. Old ...

-understanding what has been identified as effective practice (via Woolf Fisher data). -Recognise - amplify - turbocharge.  Teacher needs to be purposeful, 'have a why', be selective - just because it's in 'turbocharge' column, will not necessarily mean it's more engaging or better, just that it is using the affordances of digital technology. -very interested to find out more about Engage

Where am I now: own practice: improved wait time, more scripted lessons and planning infront of me, importance of questions, importance of basics right - social norms.  school-wide: interested in cross overs in Circle Time, Mantle of Expert, tier 2 interventions.  How to increase collaborative practice school wide? Goals - how can I best support new teachers - key first/next steps rather than wave of info.  Where else in our school setting can we improve dialogue/use pedagogical strategies? (i.e. staff meetings, with whānau) https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-productive-talk-looks-elementary-grades Thoughts for 2020: Oral language curriculum progressions? Should we be using the term 'talanoa' with our 'basic' discussion norms?  Or are we mis-using the term? TLIF team - cycle 3 to start term 1 so will schedule a meeting to share our planning template, expectations, resources and support

1. session with Heidi and Justine about Child Protection - gave us clarity around the process, reminder of how long the process can take - i.e. sometimes it seems there is nothing being done but you should be expecting cogs to be turning and something to be happening even if it's not visible immediately - clients confidentiality is important. As we discussed yesterday with Karen - a focus is for us to be objective and describe behaviours/changes we can see and/or hear. 2. Seesaw - Michelle introduced Seesaw for Skills - basics.  Alongside using Seesaw to record learning and share with whānau, we also talked about cybersmart teaching such as ask people before you take their photo.  All this will need to be taught to the children and some of it will be in our class matrices for using devices. Introduction to Seesaw for Skills. >As admin, we will need to ensure new students are getting enrolled into Seesaw, google accounts etc asap. >Add to my 'to do list' to updat...