I Love Teaching Conference, July 2011

Over the first two days of our end of Term 2 break our whole teaching staff attended the I love teaching 2011 conference at the Ascot Hotel, Invercargill, New Zealand.  Usually we have to travel quite a distance (ie the North Island!) for any professional learning of this quality so it is a real credit to the Conference Convenor, (Marlene Campbell) and the committee (Kerry Hawkins, Alison Cook, Peter Forde, Allan Mitchell) that we have an opportunity of this calibre on our doorstep every two years!

There was a wide range of very high calibre speakers but right now I want to share just a few of my 'lightbulb' moments!

I really enjoyed James' presentation - both his keynote and his workshop.  One key point was:

Getting the balance right throughout the school day on introducing / discussing concepts that push the student into the pit or conflict or wobble zone (where new learning and understanding is constructed / takes place) and yet gives enough scaffolding so the learner gets the chance to reach that Eureka! moment.

An important part of this process is the use of effort centered praise for what a student is doing - not praise telling them how smart they are or what a good score they got!

As this image shows the problems solved on the third test after different types of praise was given shows the effect on the students results!

I believe the challenge for our school from this is that we have to carefully consider the balance that the structure of our day to day curriculum across our learning environments is giving to the process of Concept, Conflict/Wobble, Construct, Eureka!  Getting this right within a schools curriculum framework is a bit like walking a tightrope as we try to balance different teachers passions with learners needs and community wishes.  A good inquiry scaffold that is articulated and understood across our school gives our foundation learning areas an enriching concept on which our learners can 'hang their understanding on' along with the chance to 'wobble' before reaching that 'Construct' and 'Eureka!' moment.

 Wilson McCaskill

 

An inspiring and highly engaging speaker who is extremely passionate about helping all teachers and learners to chance to change the student, teacher relationship from one based on control and compliance to one based on guidance and self-determination.  In his keynote and workshops Wilson worked on introducing and demonstrating with us the words and strategies that empower students to manage their own behaviour, improve their emotional intelligence and increase their chances of success in life.  Perhaps the best way to appreciate this initiative is to watch an example of this learning in action!

As a school the potential for this to further enhance the positive culture of our school is huge and I look forward to discussing with staff where to next with this powerful initiative!

Allie Mooney is someone who you will always learn something from.  She gives you a reminder about knowing who you are, what you see your strengths as and what you need to understand about appreciating and understanding others!  

Our school is richer for the diversity we have around our staff team and it is something that I think is very important for everyone that we appreciate and value all types.  There is great strength in diversity and as staff changes happen in the life of the school I believe it is important to keep that balance right!

"Pressing The Right Buttons" 

Curriculum Connection!

Last Friday Jan, Mark and I attended a Curriculum seminar in Gore facilitated by Professor Lester Flockton on the direction and implementation journey of our school curriculum.   This day was a great opportunity to reflect on what we are doing regarding the key four point direction of the New Zealand Curriculum and has given me cause for some continued reflection on the following questions:

1.  What are the learning priorities for our students in a balanced curriculum? We want to ensure that we give value to both the foundation areas of Maths and English and the enriching areas of the curriculum; Science, Social Sciences, The Arts, Health & PE and Technology.

2.  What are the characteristics of effective teaching that we choose to uphold in our school? As a teaching team our staff spend a great deal of time sharing and reflecting on the individual programmes that happen in each room and what we can do both in and outside of the classroom to further support the learning needs that are identified.

3.  How will we interpret the national curriculum in ways suited to our school and its students? As a school we work to develop a localised curriculum that reflects the learning needs of our students and the goals of the local community.  This is the benefit of having a self governing school with its own Board of Trustees where we can work to integrate government initiatives such as National Standards with our own school expectations without loosing the strength and engagement of a balanced curriculum that is key in giving the foundations areas real life contexts.

4.  What strategies will we use to give every encouragement and opportunity to parents and whanau to engage with their children's school learning? The developments in teaching and learning has meant there is a difference between the reality and perception of what happens each and every day in a modern primary classroom.  The physical environment may look the same (as we remember it) but the focus on your child and their next learning goals is more specific.  Add in the new tools that eLearning brings, the recognised strength of collaboration and the recognition that identifying the different learning stages for students, rather than by the page of the book they are on, means that school today needs to brings its community onboard to share the journey!

Just some initial thoughts!

Professional Learning Support

The first week of term has been a busy one.  One particular highlight for me was a meeting of our ICT cluster sub group (3 schools) which was facilitated by another local Principal - Alison Cook.  We had asked her to take us through the inquiry planning journey that her school has developed over the last 4 years.  Alison shared how she has implemented an inquiry process that is structured around 4 key understandings, indicators of how this looks across the different levels and then a planning framework that sets a road map for where the inquiry could go.   At the same time her staff ensure that it is still flexible enough to be altered to reflect students' interest after the initial tuning in stage so that it can't be called just an over planned unit of work.  Their inquiries are locally focused and reflect both prior learning needs and current wants of the students.  Alison has developed a process that manages to make an assessment of the key understandings quite manageable and meaningful and which provide her school with some excellent reflective assessments on where to next for future inquiries and robust achievement data which shows the areas of strength, concern and interest across the school.

It was a great opportunity to discuss, at times question, and to then just listen to this incredible journey of a fellow professional who was more than happy to share her expertise and documentation - openly and selflessly.  It gave me and my management team an incredible snapshot to reflect on alongside what we have been working on at our school and our next step!

I really enjoyed the morning and believe that it is people like Alison Cook who remind me that it is in our colleagues - both near and far - and the networks that we develop with each other that gives us the chance to develop our own schools to be the best learning environments they can be.  As a Principal (which in your own school can be a lonely job) the support, encouragement and just the chance to hear another person's journey can remind us that we are not alone on the road!

If you're ever in the deep south a visit to Alison and Bluff Community School is well worth the effort.  Her localised curriculum is an amazing example of what was intended by the revised curriculum (that now seems to be slightly sidelined?!?)  To hear and observe her school will be an experience you will not forget!

21 Things That Will Be Obsolete in School by 2020

Had to link this one - I have summarised the list below and linked to the blog post where you can read the original detail on each one - some may be more pertinent for high schools - maybe not??  I'm going to try and comment on each one over time on what it might mean for our place!?!

21 Things That Will Be Obsolete by 2020

1.  Desks gone! - 2 classrooms down - 4 to go!

2.  Language Labs

3.  Computers - mix of iMac's, MacBooks and iPads happening!

4.  Homework

5.  The role of standardised tests in college admissions

6.  Differentiated instruction as a sign of a distinguished teacher

7.  Fear of Wikipedia

8.  Paperbacks

9.  Attendance Offices

10.  Lockers

11.  I.T. departments

12.  Centralised institutions

13.  Organisation of education services by grade

14.  Education schools that fail to integrate technology

15.  Paid/Outsourced professional development

16.  Current curricular norms

17.  Parent / Teacher conference night

18.  Typical cafeteria food

19.  Outsourced graphic and web design

20.  High School Algebra 1

21.  Paper!

Social Networking in Schools

While browsing the 40 odd posts summarised on Google Reader from the 'Committed Sardine' Blog that I hadn't yet read was one that I found really topical.  The pros and cons of Social Networking in Schools is something that our school is working through at the moment.  We have a generation of students to whom online networking is 'normal' and still highly engaging and rewarding for them in their learning journey while some teachers and parents - while mostly not negative about it - are unsure about something that is not natural to them.  As the linked post examples there are pros and cons to any social networking online and part of the development in use of them is to ensure that good procedures manage and minimise the risk without restricting the potential it brings to learning.

Part of reviewing our local goals and strategic plan this year will hopefully involve some good discussion with parents about how education is (and has to) change to meet the changing needs of our 21st century society and just how social networking / online collaboration fits in with this.  This is an exciting time as we attempt to keep our school and its learning environment relevant to todays students while also ensuring that partnership with our parent community is enhanced rather than disconnected!

Sustainable Leadership

Since coming back to school from the NZPF conference I have been reading Andy Hargreaves and Dean Fink's book on Sustainable Leadership.  They list seven key principles of sustainability in educational change and leadership.  I want to list them here and then over time I hope to come back and reflect on them in more detail as I continue to read the book over the term break!  They are:

1.  Depth - Sustainable leadership matters.
2.  Length - Sustainable leadership lasts.
3.  Breadth - Sustainable leadership spreads.
4.  Justice - Sustainable leadership does no harm to and actively improves the surrounding environment.
5.  Diversity - Sustainable leadership promotes cohesive diversity.
6.  Resourcefulness - Sustainable leadership develops and does not deplete material and human resources.
7.  Conservation - Sustainable leadership honors and learns from the best of the past to create an even better future.

How we engage and learn from others - Andy Hargreaves 1

To grow as a teacher, leader and school we have to find what is positive, optimistic and challenging from learning with other teachers, leaders and institutions.

You become a better teacher from learning from other good teachers.  You don't just learn from the biggest or the most powerful, you learn from sharing with some of the best, usually more than one!  One example tends to be overwhelming.  We have a staff of individuals that are very good at sharing and encouraging improvement in each other.  They may not always agree - but that is a good thing for in our diversity lies our strength as it is brought together by the shared purpose of whatever a particular initiative is trying to achieve.

Its the same for schools - you don't just look at one when you want to improve or reflect on what you are doing - you network with a number of them.  Like our ICT cluster we should be able to learn from each other.  Though for this to happen authentically it requires genuine trust and respect for what each other is doing.  This does not happen overnight but it can!  Otherwise, we are all just islands doing our own little thing and like the old saying goes - "united we stand, divided we fall!"

Learning time for self

Last week I attended the NZPF Conference in Wellington with around 800 other Principals and School Leaders.  While attending the keynotes, catching snippets of discussion around the trade hall and having in depth discussions with colleagues and friends from around the country my head became rather full of information that will take some weeks to work through.  Coming back to the real world of school for the last week of term means catching up with the happenings in house and the initiatives that we are working on locally and with other schools.  This is the real world and gives the context to what was a very powerful time and one that enables a return on the investment (time and money) for some time to come.  With the term break approaching at the end of the this week I look forward to listening to a couple of the keynotes again (yes I bought the discs!),  some light reading (on topics such as Sustainable Leadership by Professor Andy Hargreaves!) and then posting some reflections (hopefully for a comment or two!)

Watch this space...

Protect your Dreams

A short but very powerful clip - nothing more needed except your response...

Steve Spangler - How to be an Amazing Teacher

A great clip that reminds us of why its important to create unforgettable learning experiences - wonder, discovery and exploration!

The difference between good and great - a great teacher doesn't just teach facts they teach us this real world application - not just how to do something but why to do it. Unforgettable learning experiences- you may not always remember what you did in that class but you do remember that you loved being there!

The surprising truth about what motivates us

I found this an interesting presentation on what it is that really gets people to engage in their job/career/vocation.  According to this the three main motivating elements are:

1.  Being challenged - able to be self directed
2.  Mastery - getting better at stuff
3.  Making a Contribution - making the world a little bit better!

The majority of people want to feel that they are part of something meaningful.  I believe this is a key element for the majority of those involved in education and why our job is described as having a large vocation element rather than it being just a career.

I believe this ties in with the Simon Sinek TED talk blogged about below that examples the difference in businesses / schools that work on the 'WHY' before the 'HOW' and the 'WHAT'.  People believe if the direction is passionately shared?!?  Buy in follows??

Your thoughts?

The changing face of education

Learning @ School was a great opportunity to observe, discuss and interact with a lot of different individuals from all over the country about the potential for eLearning to impact on how we 'do' education. There are lots of tools and processes out there that promote cooperative, interactive and real thinking/problem solving situations for students today but there seems to be an increasing 'disconnect' with the 1 group we want involvement from - the parents of our students. They still see a lot of e stuff as fluffy and the extra bit rather than a real part of the learning process. How to shift / bring them along on the journey of learning that school is blazing is one that needs as much attention as the way we seek to structure our eLearning and eCompetencies within the school curriculum framework. The following talk from Sir Ken Robinson is one possible example of showing people just why this change is necessary.

Quotable quotes:

"The present time is the most stimulating period in the history of the earth and our children are distracted by boring stuff. " [Sir Ken Robinson]

"We are alienating millions of our youth who see no purpose in going to school." [Sir Ken]

"We have to go in opposition to standardisation which is systematically destroying the capacity for cognitive development." [Sir Ken]

It is one way to try and counter the seemingly opposite direction that we are currently being pushed in. One that seems to forget the amazing potential that the revised curriculum gave us in regards to developing a school curriculum that reflected local content and context and set the foundation for the development of true 21st century thinkers!

iPads in learning

Posted from the iPad breakout at L@S!

Some ideas of how these are being used in a NZ classroom

http://ipodsiphonesineducation.wikispaces.com/

http://learnersandthinkerswithipadsandipods.wikispaces.com/

iPads in classrooms - do's and don'ts!

http://learninginhand.com/do

You need a school iTunes account and a 'mother ship' laptop that goes 'with' them. Powered USB hub best way to charge and sync multiple iPads. Numbering each iPad wallpaper to individualize them.

ePortfolio platform debate?!?

Interesting discussion yesterday at the eportfolio forum hosted by Jaimen Lietze from Bethlehem College.  There was some great sharing about what different people are doing and even though the discussion tried to stay away from the platform debate an interesting point was thrown out there!  The Ministry of course are backing and have made free the 'myportfolio' aspect of mahara while the sharing that happened was mostly based in 'Ultranet'.  The point was made by one person about how this direction seemed to be in complete contrast to where the world is going - ie open source, free and transferable across multiple presentation platforms.  This in contrast to the paid for platform by schools where all info is held and when the student leaves it goes with them as a static pile of stuff on a flash drive / whatever.   The MOE made the point that myportfolio is aiming to be interoperable with the main 2 - Ultranet and KnowledgeNet - but the point made was that the ownership is still not with the person who creates the content - its managed by someone else.  His example was things like blogger are owned and administrated by the student and therefore can stay with them and 'alive' for ever.  Interesting debate and one not liked much by some people who have a vested interest?!?  Your thoughts??

** Here is a link to a presentation by Nick Rate (CORE) who is a bit of a guru on the ePortfolio journey.**

http://www.slideshare.net/mobile/nickrate/eportfolios-ls-2011

Getting to Learning@School Conference 22/2/11

Flew through Christchurch this morning - landed there at 8.30, flight out was delayed but we flew out at 10am - some 3 hours before the earthquake struck.  Glued to the news throughout the afternoon and really feel for everyone and what they are going through.  Going to be hard to concentrate tomorrow (if the conference goes ahead?!?)

What is eLearning @ MBS part 2?

Last year was a real 'sandpit' time with Inquiry Learning and the use and place of ICT tools in our teaching and learning.  Today we reflected on our e-learning journey so far.  With Mark introducing the concept of Teacher and Principal Inquiry (where we focus on something to do with our own practice or school development) and the Pod groups with 'e-buddies' it has given us cause to stop and ask the 'WHY' question of what we are doing and how.  This process became clearer after I watched the Simon Sinek TED talk blogged about below.  The connection between what he said and our schools journey with e-learning inspired my rough draft (the good ol' giant stickie) which we discussed today after I shared that TED talk as an introduction.

What is eLearning @ MBS part 1?

As our school enters the second year of our ICT & Inquiry (I would say eLearning) contract it finds us at an exciting point.  Last year had MBS buying / trying and talking about how the opportunity for using digital learning tools could make a real difference to teaching and learning in our classrooms.  The conversation ranged from seeing ICT as just adding some interest to what we already do, to seeing the development of the Inquiry Learning process becoming a core part of our curriculum framework.

The exciting thing is that we are having conversations that 12 months ago were not really possible.  It gives us the chance to now ask the 'why' question  - to work out the pedagogy / philosophy of what e-learning really means to our school (as we now know some of the things the 'tools' can do) before we get stuck in the detail of how we're going to do it and with what (just as the Simon Sinek TED talk exampled )!  If we get this right then it will truly make a difference to all our learning community - the students, the parents and the teachers!

First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

Is it the 'Lone Ranger' that sets the trend or is the first follower that gives a trend the legitimacy of something that is more than a random act and therefore allows others to join??  Comments??

Just browsing through Jamin's presentation on e-portfolios that he presented late last year to his school colleagues at Bethlehem College (http://lietze.org/?p=415) - looking forward to talking through how its going with him at Learning @ School conference this year! I then checked out the link that someone had posted on his feedback to a TED talk on 'How great leaders inspire action'


(You need to view this so the next few comments make sense!)

I like how Simon Sinek explains how the 'why' described passionately will give true meaning to the how and the what (that is from the inside out!)  You need to know what you believe - why what you do is what you do.  It is only then that they will believe and be inspired also.  In the context of the school world it is the 'why' of each school culture that gives it a unique flavour - and the leadership and the sense of ownership and pride of the wider team that makes being at some schools much more that just a job!

Derek Wenmoth talked recently about 3 key words that are used in schools all around NZ. They are (outside in) curriculum, assessment, pedagogy - every teacher can talk about their school's curriculum, every teacher can talk about the way they assess their school's curriculum but how many can really talk about the pedagogy of their school - the why?? Some can, and so - just like Apple in the computer company world - they have more success and 'buy in' from all stakeholders (parents, staff, students). Jamin is doing the why - awesome. I am inspired to do the same and with a passionate staff (who understand the importance of pedagogy) and support from Mark Herring, our ICT2LRN facilitator - I am excited about where our journey is going!

Learning to fish or fishing to learn??

Just been spending time with Mark (our ICT2LRN facilitator) who is helping our ICT leads / pod leaders(!) to learn some tools and tricks that will help them share and inspire their teams on our e-learning journey! He made the comment that time spent giving them the tools to learn to fish is better than just giving them the fish!

For our school this means that time invested in ICT leads and all teachers to increase their understanding and use of how e-learning tools and skills can give a context to 'real time' reflection and growth which will effect change in the way we think about teaching and learning - both with our classes and each other, but with ourselves!

(and yes that is a photo of the mighty stags on the office wall!!)

Principal Inquiry

Year 2 of our ICT2LRN cluster has Mark getting us, as Principals, designing our own Principal Inquiry for our own schools and where we see our school - in my case Myross Bush - going. This is also a great example to our staff as Mark inspires them to design their own Teacher Inquiry for 2011. Watch this space!

What school needs to be - and what it shouldn't!

I found this interesting discussion off a link that Justine sent. (http://weblogg-ed.com/)

In it a guy called Seth Godin is interviewed about the reason public education was set up for industrialisation and why this won't give much of a future for the children of today if we don't nuture their willingness and ability to seek their own topics, question everything, and participate with others from anywhere in meaningful ways that could end up changing the world?!?  Are we at Myross Bush School on the right track with our curriculum planning and inquiry process discovery??

Key Competency workshop with Graham Watts

This was an opportunity for our leadership team to reflect on where we are at with the development of our school curriculum and how the Key Competencies will be embedded in that to reflect our attempt to ensure a localised curriculum that is intuitive to the individual needs of our students.  One that is not a 'one size fits all education' but one that will give them a glimpse of the world around them and what they are individually capable of!

The idea of developing a 'learner profile' from the question 'What is it about your students that tells you they need to become more competent learners?' will link in well (me thinks) from our essence statements for the different curriculum areas and KC's.  I see it pulling all those together and giving some life and purpose to our vision - 'From strong foundations we grow and stand tall together' - and the values that underpin it!  Your thoughts??

I also like the idea of taking those essence statements that we develop for the KC's and developing a 4 point 'rubric' to show the progression of each across the different levels and ages (under the labels Beginner, Apprentice, Practitioner, Expert).  This could also be done in each curriculum area to show was a particular type of thinker may look like in each area - eg  a scientific thinker, a social sciences thinker etc.  Your thoughts??

Principals conference - Queenstown

Firstly, thank you to the Board of Trustees for allowing me to attend the New Zealand Principal’s Conference in Queenstown.  The week was full, with both Workshops and Key Note speakers taking up the days. It was tremendous to meet with other Principal’s and I was able to catch up with old colleagues from my teaching days.  Much of the conference was centered around the concept of “Managing People and Building Relationships” and the barriers that exist within a full functioning school.  Although this on the surface sounds rather woolly, it was incredible hearing, seeing and learning about the differences that exist between individual’s makeup and points of view and in short, how we can sometimes forget  the qualities that we try to instill into children as adults - such as respect, tolerance, viewpoints and responsibilities.

The education revolution that is needed...

Ken Robinson talks about how if a person is doing something they enjoy, rather than just enduring it (ie waiting for the weekend!) then time will fly!  An hour can seem like 5 minutes or 5 minutes seem like an hour.


The way education is delivered in schools can either follow an 'endure it' model (the old industrialised model) or the 'enjoy it' model (a revolutionised model that aims to personalise learning).  However, by developing this fully it may come into conflict with 'tyranny of common sense' (national standards??)


Sir Ken emphasises the point that a human community depends on a diversity of talent - not a singular conception of ability.  A linear and standardised education system just does not suffice anymore.  He uses the illustration that you don't describe a 3 year old as half a 6 year old!


While we have a national curriculum that gives license to localise things like National Standards show the conflict that we are still embroiled in.  Sir Ken talks of how we need to rise with the situation (not to) and to think and act anew - to disenthrall (cool word) ourselves from the current situation!  He references this from a quote taken from the closing remarks of a speech that Abraham Lincoln was giving to the 2nd annual meeting of congress in December 1862 just One month before signing the Emancipation Proclamation:


"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."


What enthralls us that we must disenthrall ourselves from?
What excites our spirit and gives us energy?  What does this for our students? 


The battle of systems or models must move from the industrialised one to one that is more organic in nature - as Sir Ken says - based on the principles of agriculture.  


I believe that at Myross Bush School we are working to develop a curriculum that gives conditions for our people - both teachers and students - to flourish.  By thinking about what each curriculum area means in our local school context and the 'Big ideas' that we are looking to develop across the different strands will help build a framework that will support the direction of our inquiry learning.  Tying this in with our values and how the KC's could develop across the levels and ages will give us a profile of the Myross Bush learner and further scaffold the structure of our thinking curriculum!


Sir Ken concludes with a poem from W. B. Yeats (that is below) which he used to illustrate the picture of how our students - and indeed ourselves(?) - spread their dreams everyday as they go about their learning.  


I wonder - how often do we lift these up dreams up?  Or how often are they trampled? 

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with the golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams beneath your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams...

William Butler Yeats

The full TED TALK is here for your enjoyment and reflection!