Social Media & Education - how close is too close?

I have just watched a news report on TVOne news about a Kura Kaupapa Principal up North.  She teaches older students and the Teachers Council have just cancelled her registration for inappropriate behaviour - having facebook conversations with students who chatted with her about their daily lives, including sexual habits.  The teacher was deemed to have overstepped the mark by asking inappropriate questions of a student who admitted to having a one night stand without protection.  The teacher in question said she took on the role of 'aunty' or 'mother' to her students where needed.  The Teachers Council stated that it was not her place to take on such roles with students and that this is seen as 'unprofessional'.

I know and think about how we as professionals, carry out our job within boundaries, and often consider research that has revealed that 'knowing the child' is of the utmost importance. 
This story raised questions for me around the cultural responsiveness of the teachers council and the community response to the decision.  The small Northland community effected by this was divided over the decision - the complainant being interviewed was concerned that the teacher involved was leading the chats, often initiating them late at night and asking leading questions.   Another parent stated that they were grateful that students felt they could talk to someone (a trusted adult) about issues they obviously didn't feel comfortable discussing with their own whanau. 
As Teachers, we have to be constantly aware of our actions - always reflecting on what we think, why we think what we do and what others may think and why.  I try to play the 'devils advocate' to open my thought processes, considering other sides and trying to think outside the box.  Elearning opens up a whole new world and relationships with students that are extended outside of the classroom through social networking. 
Personally, I am not 'friends' with any students or families within the school I currently teach, I have made a conscious decision not to have links to students (both past and present) in the school I am in.  I am friends with a very small number students and families of students in schools I have previously taught.    I have taught in a variety of schools, both in NZ and overseas, and I find social media a great platform to keep up with old students with whom I formed friendships with and their parents - I have connected with students and their families in the UK, USA, the Pacific Islands and Australia.
I am very conscious of what I post online and am aware that students can access my page through links outside of my control.   We have to make professional judgements around how close we are to our students, often we have profound affects on them, just as they do on us.  I believe it is not unprofessional to form friendships with students and their families.  I believe cultural responsiveness is required and indeed drives relationships.  I believe we have to think hard about the use of social media in developing those relationships with our students.
Conversations with staff are important, indeed crucial to ensure a shared understanding and expectations are in place around the use of social media and the pitfalls of this in relation to the jobs we have.

Registered Teachers Criteria - Evidence gathering

The Registered Teachers Criteria are the guidelines set by the New Zealand Teachers Council for quality teaching to be met by teachers in New Zealand.  These 12 criteria are both independent and intertwining and are important to ensure that teachers are accountable in their roles across the schools they work in.

This year our staff set about unpacking the criteria, delving into the essence of each criteria and identifying where evidence of each criteria can be gathered and used as a record of their professionalism.   While unpacking the criteria, teachers were given a great opportunity to make links with the criteria and actually see how much they were (...or weren't) achieving in their roles - both inside and outside the classroom.

During our Manaiakalani Lead Teachers Meeting, we also discussed and shared out thoughts on the criteria from a digital perspective.  The evidence identified here enhanced our school documentation which has expanded our ideas for collection.

TPS staff sample of unpacking of criteria

Manaiakalani sample of unpacking of the criteria

 Reflecting on the RTC is a beneficial task to give teachers added clarity of their roles, reinforces their understanding of accountability and assists with setting goals.  We also encourage teachers to use the goals in writing reflections on their professional blogs...a task I will be carrying out on my own blog.

Universal Design for Learning.

Every term I look forward to the Manaiakalani Lead Teachers meetings and today's meeting was another goody.  I always walk away with professional learning to feed my brain, mull over and think about how it could fit into our school environment.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), is an educational framework that addresses multiple ways of learning through creating instructional goals, methods, materials and assessments that work for everyone.  In delving into this framework I was reminded of the work of Karen Boyes around learning styles and reflected on how this is changed up in a digital world.  Giving options for students
to address their learning needs through music, visual text, lecture styles and rap (to name a few) opens the door to students self directed learning, self management and self advocacy in the classroom environment.  Doing this in a digital capacity offers endless opportunity for engagement.  I know that many teachers are already using similar principles in their planning and practice, so in looking through the information provided on this, it was a timely reflection to look at how our teachers are differentiating their 'teaching' and keeping students engaged through a myriad of activities aimed at a variety of learning styles and interests. During our session, we were given provided with a variety of different digital learning objects giving the same information but on different platforms.  Below is a 'music' based learning tool explaining UDL, this is the DLO I most connected with - other DLOs included 'lecture style presentation', 'animation' and 'visual/text'.  Check it out to give you a better idea of what UDL is about and maybe encourage you to think about how you can enhance your classroom programme with some new ideas.

Sergviovanni - A critique of Power over, Power to

 Below is a critique of Thomas Sergiovanni's work on 'Power Over, Power Too'.  In focssing on this reading, I have been enlightened by the idea of power over, power to within leadership.  I know that as a leader, I like to think that I promote 'power to' by working hard to lead by example, showing professionalism in all that I do, encouraging collegiality and collaboration, distributing leadership roles and sharing responsibility with my colleagues.  I enjoyed reading Sergiovanni's work and am reflecting within using the knowledge this reading has given me. 

Thomas Sergiovanni states that “No single model of teaching is sufficient to address all the aims of schooling”.  I believe this can be extended to leadership in the form of - ‘No single model of leadership is sufficient to successfully manage a school’. 

In reflecting and delving into the writings of Sergiovanni, the idea of ‘Power over, Power to’ and the stages leaders and followers go through to achieve educational success are filled with ‘AND’s making it complex in reflecting on a stance or position in thinking.  Power over is the transactional style of leadership that has a hierarchical base and aims at controlling people and events through dominance.  It involves ‘bully sticks and carrots’ in describing punishments and rewards. Part of Marzano, Waters and McNulty’s (2006) description of transactional leadership is ‘management by exception-active’.  They describe this type of leadership as so aggressive that followers believe that they should not take risks or demonstrate initiative.  These two descriptions are in the extreme as transactional leadership also promotes extrinsic motives and needs, establishing what Sergiovanni explains within his four stages of leadership, as the bartering stage.  This stage is where leaders and followers exchange wants and needs.  There is a place in here for positive reinforcement, reward through remuneration and promotion for good work or increased performance.  A sense of ‘fitting in’ through cooperation is established but no shared vision or intrinsic motivation is developed in depth.  Initially bartering could be seen in part as finding one’s ‘niche’ within an organisation, but this is ongoing throughout as it oversees fairness and is human nature in the larger scheme of things.  This stage of leadership is also recognised as the more ‘traditional’ leadership style, one which is difficult to sustain and as Sergiovanni indicates ‘does little to encourage people and schools to transcend competence (p.124).  Transactional leadership links strongly to the ‘power over’ model described by Sergiovanni as ‘controlling and is concerned with “how can I control people and events so that things turn out the way I want?”

To use a more sustainable approach, Sergiovanni suggests that leadership by building is the next stage on the leadership continuum in that it gives followers a sense of ‘esteem, autonomy, achievement, competence and self-actualizing needs’. This sense of professionalism provides the leaders and the led with aspirations and drive to meet and exceed expectations.  This stage of leadership is regarded as a lead in to ‘transformational’ leadership that taps into ‘human resources’ and working relationships.  Leaders are influential and supportive to their followers, building connections through trust, confidence, and encouragement, and providing a vision for the led that is clear and responsive to the needs of the followers.  In building these relationships, leaders inspire others in sharing a vision that is radically different to what has come before, promoting change and a promise of achievement success.  Sergiovanni describes these leaders as charismatic; one who advocates a vision, willingly takes risks, is unconventional, is sensitive to and responds to the needs and beliefs of followers, can communicate with confidence, is influential and great at problem solving to help others to success. 

Leadership by bonding is one step further in the stages and is tied closely to ‘building’ through its moral compass, but provides also a ‘cultural cement’ that ties people and the school together.   This stage of leadership encourages teamwork and collaboration amongst staff which promotes ‘an arousing awareness and consciousness that elevates school goals and purposes to the level of a shared covenant that bonds the leaders and led in a moral commitment’.  Bonding raises the bar, inspiring the team to work together as a group to achieve goals and realise the vision. This purpose is the platform for shared values that in turn builds a school culture.  The values system is the agreement or bond by which everyone lives together and is the pillar for decision making and actions there of.  Sergiovanni describes this as the ‘school’s covenant’ - a binding and solemn agreement.  The forming of this covenant is grown by successful leaders through developing followership.  Leadership density is one way followership is developed through shared roles of responsibility.  To be a good follower, Sergiovanni talks about such attributes as managing self, being committed, taking on responsibility, doing a good job, doing right by the school, being self-motivated and being able to work without supervision.  Leaders build leadership of good followers who strive to become leaders of leaders.  Part of being a good leader is being able to work ‘autonomously on behalf of shared purposes’.  Giving this power to good followers is part of building leadership within the school environment and giving followers the ‘power to’ accomplish the shared vision.  Successful leaders build leadership through power investment where power is distributed amongst people and there is shared understanding in working towards realising accomplishments and shared goals.  Intrinsic motivation is built through purposing and empowerment to staff. 

The final stage of Leadership is Leadership by banking.  This stage is the routineness of bonding and building throughout the institution.  The leader becomes more of a ‘minister’ as Sergiovanni describes them, a figurehead who ministers to the needs of the school.  This leader is a leader of leaders, follower of ideas, minister of values and servant of the followership.  Moral authority replaces bureaucracy, a dream for many, a way of life for some!

Power Over - Power To: Looking at leadership with MDTAs.

The Manaiakalani Digital Teachers Academy is a programme running within the Tamaki Cluster of schools in the development of digitally capable teachers at BT level.  The Manaiakalani Education Trust has teamed up with Auckland University to work together in producing a practical/theory based beginning teacher PLD model to strengthen the output of new teachers into digitally immersed learning environments.  This is the first year of the programme, and while there are teething issues to be ironed out, the bones of the vision are extremely promising.
This semester, I am involved in the 'Introduction to Educational Leadership' paper with John Roder at AU.  I am currently working on my second assignment which is based around the different types and stages of leadership with a focus on 'Power'.  I have found that throughout my readings, I am constantly reflecting back on the MDTA programme and have decided that this will be the context of my assignment.  The purpose of my assignment is not so much to critique the programme itself, but to investigate the 'Powers' afforded to the key stakeholders and the affects this has on all involved.  I will be examining power in terms of leadership, empowering, disempowering, power over vs power to and ideas beyond the binary of power - i.e shared power/distributed power.

So, with this direction in mind, I am critically reflecting through questioning and have framed a number of questions: where does the balance of leadership lie within the programme?  With the mentor, with the schools SMT, within Manaiakalani, with lecturers at AU?  How much 'power' do the MDTAs have with regard to the development of the programme?  How much real autonomy do the MDTAs have in their day to day running of a classroom?  What power plays are at work between the stakeholders at the chalkface?  What styles of leadership are more dominant as the programme roles out?...(this is just a taste - I have many more questions, the list is added to every time I read a new article!)
I will be using a number of articles in reference to my findings including Sergiovanni, Bromfenbremmer, Lingard, Fullen, Timperly and Robertson to name a few.   I think this will be a great opportunity for me to reflect on 'how' this programme has been led and to examine my role as a school leader within the programme. In a change context...what would I do differently - isn't hindsight a great thing!

Now....where's that article I was reading....

A trip to Japan...Oh, the possibilities!

This week, we received a letter in the mail inviting our school to apply for the 2015 APCC project and send up to six students to Fukuoka Japan for the Asian Pacific Children's Convention.
We are very excited to be applying for this opportunity and are hard at work filling in the application and putting a process in motion for students to apply for a chance to be one of the six students who, should we win a place at the convention, will attend on our behalf.
I know at that end of the day, that any student we select from Tamaki Primary School would do us proud at this convention.  The chance to mix with a range of like minded students at an international event, in a completely new and different environment is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  For many of our students, an event like this is something they could only dream of and yet they share the same potential, same dreams, same aspirations as other children who through their good fortune of being born into a life of ample opportunity, are given these experiences as they grow up.  
In a previous life, I taught at a private school in the Pacific Islands who regularly had students selected to attend the conferences.  Each year, at least two children from our school would go and what an experience they would have.  I remember tears of joy from one student who couldn't believe she could be so lucky as to be picked to go to Japan.  These types of opportunities are very rare and even more rare for a young Pasifika student to experience.
The benefits of these events are immense and should not be underestimated.  To have their eyes opened to new experiences, new foods, new cultures, new environments, new languages and to forge new friendships is life changing for many.   Our school recently took a group of students to Waitangi on an all expenses paid 4 day excursion to learn about the history of Waitangi and the role the treaty has had in the formation of our nation.  This was sponsored by Westpac and was the 'trip of a lifetime' for the students and teachers involved.
It's wonderful to know that there are organisations out there that are pushing the envelope for the sake of 'all children' - poverty or not - providing experiences for those who don't always get the opportunities some take for granted, and to see that there is a big wide world out there and no-one is confined to their circumstances growing up. 
My fingers are crossed that our students are accepted to participate at this conference and get the opportunity to represent.

Leaving a Legacy

This week through attending the funeral of an amazing teacher, I was forced to reflect on the legacy I am leaving behind.  A daunting and very humbling process, I'm met with questions of myself that I had thought about but not in any depth - a bit too much of an 'honest' task.
"What have I done to inspire children in my teaching?" "Who do I think I have inspired over the many years I have been working in schools?" "Who has inspired me in my lifetime and how did they do it?" "How do I inspire people around me?"
During the funeral service I attended, every person who spoke, talked of the 'profound effect' this phenomenal person had on them in so many different ways.  Through his love of reading, the great outdoors, passion for knowledge and sporting prowess, this person touched many people in his lifetime.  So much so that 3 past students stood and spoke, honouring  their teacher.  Two of them remembered this great man who taught them in 1954 in standard two.  The other was still at school, the teacher had worked as a regular reliever in his school.  I was both inspired and deeply moved by what these people had to share of a man who touched them in so many ways.  He was firm but fair, extremely passionate, eloquent, larger than life, well read, generous, humble and a walking encyclopedia. 

I attended this funeral in support of this great man's beautiful wife, a person who is very much a reflection of her soul mate.  I have never met the man, but was so touched by him and his legacy, it drew me here - to think, reflect and hopefully act.
 I feel that it's important that I reflect on my questions above regularly because amongst the demands of achievement expectations, assessment analysis, management, paperwork and everyday occurances, it's easy to loose sight of the child.  At the end of the day, the child is at the center of all that teachers do.  Yes their education is important, but so too, is the person that child becomes and I have a part to play in that...isn't that the reason I became and still am a 'teacher'?

Back at the 'Chalk Face'.

Part of my role as a school leader is to carry out observations and modelling sessions with staff to inform professional development, ensure support systems where needed, set goals with teachers, observe best practice at work and stay informed of current practice.   I thoroughly enjoy this part of my job and feel very fortunate to be able to observe such professionalism and dedication at work.  I believe that as a leader, it's important that I stay in touch with 'teaching' and the nuts and bolts of the job. 
In reflection of this role, I have to ask myself - "Am I critical in my observation of others?" "Is the feedback and feed forward I am giving of high value?"   "How do I inform the practice of experienced and expert teachers?"
I'm of the belief that, as a leader it's important that I can 'walk the walk and not just talk the talk'.  So, this week I asked a colleague to observe me teaching a writing session in her class.  This is a very experienced teacher and I don't consider myself a 'model' of best practice to her, as all the new learning and PLD I've experienced has been alongside her and a few others since I started teaching at the school.  I asked if I could do a lesson in her room and if she would write up an observation.  You can see my plan for the lesson below, along with the teaching goals I had.  I was keen to see the lesson through her eyes and read her feedback and feed forward.

I felt the lesson went well, and I really enjoyed focusing on the 'dialogical practice' and generating 'learning conversations' with the year 3/4 students in her class.  It did go on a bit longer than I'd originally planned, and the duration of the lesson was noted during the obs.  I was a little unsure as to the level I had projected the lesson at, but I knew that I wanted to challenge the class with activities that required critical thinking, so went with the focus of careful scaffolding throughout the lesson.   The students responded well to the 'say it' structure of the conversations and this strategy proved very successful in developing the learning intention for the lesson which was to "elaborate on ideas".
The reason I wanted to do this particular lesson was in part in response to the feedback we received from researchers at the Manaiakalani Hui which took place on Friday last week.  We already recognise that our students benefit from sharing their ideas before committing to paper and researchers have found that 'expert' teachers promote co-construction of writing more than twice as much as others. 

Other feedback received focused on depth of thinking and expert teachers were once again acknowledged as promoting more critical and strategic thinking in their lessons than others.   I was very interested in what the researchers found around student activities and the reflection of synthesis and creation.  Expert teachers were identified as promoting DLOs (digital learning objects) and having students creating them, themselves.
They also used open ended templates, and gave more extended reading and writing opportunities.  This information further fuels my goals in coaching and guiding teachers in their professional learning and when given the opportunity I will endeavour to further my own practice in developing these areas.

UPPING THE GAME

We had a visit today from a school near Wellington who are embarking on their own digital learning journey.  We have schools come through each term, seeing our teachers and students in action in a digital world, asking questions on where to start and where not to.  It's during these visits that I get a certain feeling of pride for what we've done in our little school, knowing where we have come from and the obstacles that face this community of learners everyday.

One of our visitors asked us...so where to from here?  It was such a loaded question, we sort of skimmed over the answer and talked about hardware for the junior school.  But, looking at the bigger picture the answers are endless and to some degree daunting.  So, determined not to be overwhelmed by the immenseness of the question I narrowed my focus to the 'teaching' and here I am writing a reflection about it.
We have a school full of talented, dedicated teachers who are committed to and passionate about elearning.  Our journey is only in its infancy and who knows where it will take us.  I.T is evolving all the time...there are new aps, new websites, new hardware rolling out daily and the question of 'how are we going to keep up?' often comes to mind.  While these exciting tools are there for us to use in our practice, we have to remember that they are just 'tools'.  These do NOT make us better teachers...but enhance what we do.  Just as these tools can compliment our teaching, they can also magnify bad practice.  Which leads me back to my narrowing of 'focus' from the big question.

During our Manaiakalani Lead Teachers meeting we had an opportunity to get to know the SAMR model for elearning.  This model emphasizes the link between technology, content and pedagogy.  Throughout the session reference was made to the model and our task was to randomly select a grade/level, a subject area, a learning intention and an app and create a very brief idea for a lesson outline at each 'level' of the SAMR model. 
This was a challenging task, especially because the level we randomly chose was Year 1 and neither myself nor my team mates had taught at that level...through a lot of discussion and brainstorming we came up with what we thought hit each of the elements in the model.

This use of a 'thought process' to be used in planning is not new, but SAMR is, I think, of benefit to teachers in a digital environment as it is a guide for pushing the envelope (so to speak) in getting us to think at the highest level - a sort of digital taxonomy. 

Also during the meeting, we had teachers sharing recent experiences or knowledge with the group.  We had the TPACK model shared in relation to SAMR.  This was an extention on the SAMR model which gave an even more in depth guideline to consider when planning or creating lessons.

Both of these models are great tools to use in planning classroom programmes.  They are current and serve as a challenge to 'up our game' so to speak in developing critical thinking through engaging activities for students at 'all' levels.

Leadership styles - all for one and one for all?

Currently I'm involved in a paper at AU called 'Introduction to Leadership in Education'.  Our first few readings have been about leadership styles and identifying the skills and attributes of a Leader.  Reading these have given me the opportunity to not only have a greater insight into leadership and the elements there of, but it has made me look at my own leadership skills and attributes and allowed me to identify next steps in my own leadership style from a personal perspective.

The terms that have been bandied round are transactional, transformational, change agency, teamwork, servant leadership, carnivalesque, situational leadership and so on.  It's all new learning to me and reading about each element and putting previous experiences with, and labels on, previous role models and reflecting on my own ideas of leadership has opened up a whole new vision of what a leaders is/should be/could be in my mind.  There are so many layers to leadership and within each layer are a multitude of elements, many of which intertwine between layers. 

At this time in my study and the learning I've been involved with so far, what has spoken most clearly to me is 'to adopt any one element of leadership is not a means to achieve success as a leader.'  On the contrary, success is achieved through the careful selection of a variety of leadership styles demonstrating responsiveness to the context in which they are administered.

I'm thoroughly enjoying working my brain around the complexities of educational leadership and am looking forward to sharing more of my thoughts and new learning as I wade through this paper and add to my kite of knowledge in education. 

Kawa of Care...Getting parents involved in elearning.

Tonight we had a "Kawa of Care" session for parents in the staffroom.  These sessions are run by a Manaiakalani tutor who works with the parents in developing their understanding of how we use netbooks at school, how to use and take care of netbooks and the expectations of care needed in order for netbooks to stay in good working order.

It was wonderful to see parents using the netbooks to access their child's learning and write comments to them.  Some of the parents present had a little experience on the devices, but there was new learning for all involved around their child's blogs, class sites and the school website.
Courtney ran the workshop and talked to parents about encouraging discussion with their children around the sites they access, the learning they share with the world and how to use a netbook responsibly.
The questions parents asked were around "How long do I let my child work on the netbook?"  "Where is the best place for children to work on their devices?"  "What do we do if there's a breakage at home?"  "How can I see what my children have been doing?"
The advice that we passed on regarding these very relevant questions were....

• Length of time on the computer would depend on how old the students are and what work they have to complete.  Most teachers wouldn't recommend more than an hour for 9-10 year olds and maybe one and half to two hours for older students.
• It's best that children work on their netbooks in an open room.  Not their bedroom.  That way parents can see what their children are doing and have piece of mind that their children are using the netbook for the purpose they expect them to be used.
• When netbook financing is arranged parents signed a contract that included insurance and processes to go through in case of breakages.  If a netbook is broken, parents should contact the school for details on insurance and repair.  For further details, parents can access the Manaiakalani site for information.
• Courtney took parents through, step by step, 'how to access students blogs' and also gave them a list of questions they can use to ask children about their learning.  
  

To complete the session, parents were then shown how to post a comment on their child's blog.  This is always wonderful to watch, as many of the parents can become quite emotional about the work their child is producing...often, it's unexpected and parents are impressed with what they see.
This is such a great way to build stronger relationships with our parents, and I think they appreciate the insight that these workshops give.  We will be having a few more Kawa of Care sessions before the end of the year. 
Thanks Courtney for a great service!

Tidy House...Tidy Mind.

This is just a quick jot down or reflection on Head Space.  The first week of school went well, everyone hit the ground running once again with teachers back ready to teach and learn and students back ready to learn and teach!  It's been busy with data checking, performances, assemblies, new staff at school, overviews and calendars getting in sinc to name a few things happening this week.
One thing I did get stuck into this week was a wee tidy up of the drawers...amazing the amount of things one drawer can accumulate over a couple of terms.  I didn't realise I had accrued so much in such a shortish period of time.  Hence this post...Tidy house, Tidy mind.  I find it easier to get myself in the right headspace for work, when things around me are in some semblance of order.

  By semblance of order, I don't mean alphabetised folders and colour coded papers...I mean, a place for everything and everything in its place.  The 'places' I refer to here are 'my' places and I know where something should be, and if it's not there, then it's lost or someone put it somewhere other than 'my' place. 
So, with lists made of 'things to do' and professional readings ready to be read, I shall endeavour to add my thoughts, opinions and ideas around 'education' and my role as a senior manager in a school to my blog this term.
....and that's all I've got to say about my drawers!

Term 2 Reflection

This term I've decided that I really don't like 9 weeks, particularly in the second term (assessment and report writing).  While mentally it's a positive, knowing that it's a short term, work wise it's added stress in a limited time frame.
So, what did we achieve this term? From the outset the term was set to be a quiet one.  Management purposefully kept the overview as free as possible due to the quantity of assessment and reporting that was to be completed by staff.  While on paper it looked quiet, it didn't quite turn out that way.
This year we have become part of the KIP programme.  This is a joint initiative where a handful of students are identified as 'Kid with Incredible Potential' and are invited to go on a four week camp at STAND to develop confidence, self-esteem and leadership skills.  The initiative was created and is run by the RTLB service and we have 5 students who have accepted the invitation.  This is a wonderful programme where students who generally 'fly under the radar' so to speak, have an opportunity to gain confidence and develop a voice in their learning.  Students identified are those who are shy, quiet achievers who require encouragement to participate and lead to their full potential.  We are looking forward to their participation and to see the effects this programme will inevitably on these beautiful students.
Our PLD sessions have been in full swing with Kate Birch in writing and Lucy Cheeseman in maths.  Both consultants are with Cognition and are worth their weight in gold.  We are beginning to see some progress in both subject areas on the assessment carried out this term and teachers are endeavouring to implement their own new learning into their programmes.  During discussion with KB, staff regarded what we hoped to achieve, teachers created a success criteria for their learning which was - to develop learners who are capable, confident writers.  The overarching goal to this is for teachers to teach with 'clarity', so that their students fully understand what they are being taught, why they are being taught it and  how it will help them.  We want to focus on the 'learning' that is taking place, and the clarity in this was developed in the form of a success criteria.

Clarity in teaching is an area that we as teachers are endeavouring to focus on and deliver consistently in our practice.  Through clarity comes understanding.  This is visible in the progression of skill and process which is ultimately the desired outcome students should strive for...not just the product.  This clarity is delivered though goal setting using current data,  process based success criteria, creation using new learning, feed back and feed forward, scaffolding and expectations.
I attended an informative session at an RTLB cluster meeting where the resources teachers shared the services they provide.  Many of the presentations shared were new to me and I was really pleased I attended.  My questions really focused around why we didn't know all of the services available.  The website didn't contain any of the programmes addressed at the meeting, such as Early Intervention and outdoor education programmes for the development of confidence and self esteem.  We will be looking into a few of the 'group' programmes shared with us that we know our students would benefit from.
Jam Bus came early in term 2 and was another huge success.  Our students were once again given an opportunity to share their talents and gain experience in recording.  Jam bus is a programme run by the 'Play it Strange Trust'.  The programme encourages students to develop interest and skills in music, composing and performance.  The Jam Bus team were in school for the day and at least 50
students took part in recording a range of songs in solo, band and in a class singing format.  We were also lucky enough to have TV3 come into school to do a news story about Jambus and include our school's music story too.  We were on the TV3 news and became 'world famous' in our community.  It was FANTASTIC!  Check out our TV appearance here. 
So, now half the year is done it's time to look forward.  Half a year to go and more great learning to do.  Bring it on!

REPORT WRITING....just love this time of year!

We are nearing the end of term2 2014 and it's report writing time.  I've spent the past week looking over reports for teachers before they are handed over to our Principal for one last perusal and they get signed off.
I'm always amazed at how professional our staff is here.  Most reports reflect an absolutely thorough knowledge of the students in our school.  The directive was that all reports must pass through 3 sets of eyes before they are handed to the Principal, to minimize errors on printing.  Most staff have followed this lead and been very supportive of each other in ensuring that this directive has been followed.  It has been A LOT of work for all involved, but the professionalism is such on our team, that no-one wants to send home a report with any errors in it...be it grammatical, spelling, formatting or just plain typos.
So...now to problematise an issue around our report writing.  We seem to face the same issues each year with frantic writing, printing issues, proof reading faux pas and formatting problems.  Why does this have to happen when we think we have stringent guidelines and tight procedures in place to combat these issues?  Teachers work under pressure pretty much the whole time they are in the classroom.  There is no down time, and reports are an added pressure to an already packed schedule.  I did consider whether report writing has gone to a whole new level, but it hasn't...it's always been this way.  So what can we do to better minimalise the stresses - errors, repeats and reprints? 

This year, our school has switched to eTAP, a new school management system that we hope will minimalise the chance of errors in report writing.  In term 4 we will be introducing the new report writing model, and are hoping that the new format and digital application will make report writing much more efficient but just as effective as our current system.  As a staff, we will need to get together to create a bank of comments that can be used as drop downs for teachers to choose and insert to improve on efficiency and minimise mistakes.  The format should be firm and not move with every insert added.  All should lead to a less stressful, more productive cycle for reporting to parents.

The arguments raised in producing reports in a 'drop down' type manner are mainly: loss of differentiation, less personal comments, corner cutting...but I beg to differ.  Parents in general want to know where their kids are 'at' in their learning.  They want to know how they measure up in the system and National Standards in many ways panders to that need.  Parents also appreciate a brief outline of how their kids social skills are developing.  I think reports created from a collection of statements relating to curriculum progressions are acceptable.  Parents often don't want the technical jargon that some teachers add to reports, complicating the messages with curriculum specific language.  As long as the report comments are accurate and clear to the individual, and the report itself is personalised particularly through the general comment, I believe this is one way to ensure that reports are created with accuracy and efficiency.  Fingers crossed, our new applications deliver on the promises and expectations we have!

Kids Loving their Learning

Our students always manage to bring a smile to my face, and everyday they produce something to share that I often just don't expect.  Today was one out of the box, when I hear the story of a group of students who regularly do their homework at night...all the while chatting together on line.  On this particular night, one of them came up the idea of creating a song using their spelling words.  So together they came up with this hilarious rendition of 'Earth, Wind and Fire's' "Remember"...I loved it!

....What about the Others?

Tonight I attended the "Walter Kirby" music concert at my sons high school.  It is a music awards show where students share their learning, playing in a competitive environment where winners receive awards which are handed out at end of year award ceremonies. 

There was upwards of 30 participants, both soloists and groups.  Soloists sang and either played an instrument (piano or guitar) or were accompanied by a musician.  Solo musicians were many and varied, playing piano, cello, flute, trumpet, saxophone to name a few.  The music was wide ranging from operatic to modern day and the boys who contributed were between 11 and 18 years of age.

I was struck by the talent that these boys displayed.  They performed with confidence and aplomb.  I could see the look of pleasure each one had as he left the stage, soaking up the adrenalin and the applause from an enthusiastic audience.  As I was enjoying the show and after my son and his ukelele group had performed (an impressive rendition of 'Hoki Mai' accompanied by a pianist), I slipped on my educator hat and began to ruminate over the value of extra curricular activities over and above the 'core subject' areas. 

As I watched the achievements of the students tonight I had to question our systems focus on literacy, numeracy and the sciences.  What would our society be like if we gave equal recognition and importance to the arts and sports?  How successful would our system be if we identified student's strengths and developed them in those areas?  I wonder how classrooms would look if students were taught completely to their area of strength...that's not say they don't learn to read, write and do maths, but that the value of these subjects are equal to their area of strength. 

Often at primary level, we only see glimpses of talent in the children we teach.  We identify students who have strengths in reading, writing and maths, and we develop their strengths within the programme, giving them differentiated advanced rich tasks to develop their cognitive engagement.  We acknowledge the talents of children in sport and the arts through one off sports tournaments, one off music performances and visual art work given through integrated units.  It's up to parents to feed their students talents...to develop them by enrolling them in after school activities that cost more money that in some families is hard to find.  The students who are from families who have difficulty making ends meet, are the ones who tend to slip between the cracks...their talents left behind, forgotten, potential not met in a lifetime.  What a waste.

Reflecting on "Reflective Practice for Teachers" using Smyth's Reflective Framework.

             When I first started this course and participated in the ‘on campus’ day, I left the workshop feeling a little uneasy about the content and direction this paper was taking me.  Discussion throughout the day was around lenses and gazes, either/or/AND and these were things that I’ve never really delved into in my role as a teacher.  Call me old fashioned, call me a conformist, but I’ve always just followed the leader in my job as a teacher.  Taught what the curriculum says, in a way the specialists preach it always with the goal of raising student achievement. 

I’ve never been asked to question things and I love what I do and enjoy new learning, so am one of those people that jumps in boots and all and gives it a go.  That’s not to say I don’t recognise when things don’t work, and that’s not to say I’ve never bent things to fit the mould of the students I teach - that’s probably as deep as reflection of my practice ever went.  As part of our school practice, we write a weekly reflection attached to our planning.  My reflections were usually a recount of things that happened in the classroom during the week.  A brief overview of things that worked and things that didn’t in my programme and how I might change them next time, children’s behaviours and how I might address them, and any special events that may have happened in the school.   The most significant part of the learning I have gained since being on this course is without a doubt, the depth of my reflection now.  The importance of ‘critical reflection’ in what, how and why I do things in my own practice and the effects it has on those I work with is so much more magnified in my thoughts, more so now than it ever has.  

            On this learning journey I have come to understand that reflection is about contemplation.  It’s about growing as an educator through understanding where we come from and how our past so inextricably influences and impacts every decision we make - tied to this is having the ability to examine how our culture, beliefs, values and assumptions impact on our ‘espoused theory’ versus our ‘theory in use’ (Argyris & Schon, 1974).  I have discovered throughout this course, that this new learning has opened my mind to the assumptions I make as a manager within the school I work.  I am stopping myself from ‘waiting for my turn to talk’ to ‘listening’ to others thoughts and opinions - all the while reflecting on my thought patterns and contemplating theirs.  Throughout this course whilst carrying out the readings and especially throughout dialogue (both online and ‘on campus’ days), I have developed a deeper understanding of the depth and breadth of reflection.  The breadth of reflection I’m referring to here is the lenses, gazes, stances, spaces, ‘isms’  we have examined, read about and discussed since the beginning.  Most of these I have never consciously considered before in my role as an educator.   Smyth’s framework for reflection gave me a pathway to opening up my consciousness to reflection, it added clarity to the mixed up thoughts, opinions and grey matter that our initial discussions had stirred up.  

            One of the first readings of the semester, John Smyth’s (2011) ‘Teachers as intellectuals in Neoliberal times’, was my first foray into questioning where my ideas on teaching and learning come from and the socially construed nature of these ideas.  I have never questioned the political, social and moral imperatives that influence my teaching and having put these under more of a microscope, I have come to realise that questioning, examining and critiquing these things leads to a transformation or a more fluid liminal space that allows growth and change.  Being in this liminal space is something that requires work and effort, as I have to consciously stop myself to re-examine why I’m thinking the way I am, it’s still new to me and there is no automaticity in my actions yet. 

Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) ecological systems theory encouraged me to contemplate my own upbringing and the microsystems and mesosystems that moulded and shaped me into the person I am today, I now see more clearly how and why these form expectations and presumptions in my role as a manager.  I never realised how narrow my views were around how and why I taught my classes the way I did.  I have always considered where the students I work with have come from.  A large part of best practice is ‘knowing the learner’, and I’ve always considered myself strong in this area - having taught in the Pacific Islands I could make a connection with the many of the students and families I work with.  Now I have a new understanding of the influences of the ‘exosystems’ that function within our families and the direct effect they have on the school I work in.  It was through this reading that I realised schools weren’t as insular as I had taken for granted they were.  I was forced into looking at a much bigger picture than I’d ever considered before.  There is so much more to the school context than what is in and immediately surrounds it.  The idea of governmentality was enlightening for me.  I realised how much of a conformist I really am and how important it is for me to ‘find my power’ through advocacy, open mindedness and autonomy.  This particular stance became real to me through the problematised issue I researched and reflected on for assignment one – Manaiakalni: The Hook from Heaven. Keeping it Human.

Kincheloe (1991) opened my mind to the idea that the pursuit of excellence could be crushed by the search for efficiency.  As a school manager, this led me to confront the bureaucratic element of my job hindering the creative autonomy of the teachers I lead.  My awareness of hierarchies in the workplace lead me to examine our own environment and the structure of management in our school.  In the article, Kincheloe encourages teachers to become ‘researchers’ and to explore what that means for teachers.  I believe that we are heading down this path in my workplace, but that teachers are at different places on this researchers spectrum.  Recently, an advent of my learning from this course, we have extended our weekly reflections to ‘professional reflections blogs’.  During a teacher only day, we had a session on Smyth’s framework for reflection. 

The session was introduced with a quote - "Reflective practice is a deliberate pause to assume an open perspective, to allow for higher-level thinking processes.  Practitioners use these processes for examining beliefs, goals, and practices, to gain new or deeper understandings that lead to actions that improve learning for students (York-Barr)”.  Teachers were given an opportunity to discuss what this quote means and how important reflection is to best practice.  Now, every teacher on our staff has a reflections blog, and many dove straight into blogging the night after our session.  Smyth’s framework will be a pathway for our teachers to grow in their reflective practice and the power knowledge of themselves and their critical pedagogy.  This course has given me the confidence to talk about reflection with knowledge and understanding around how beneficial it is, not just to professional but to personal growth and development as well. 

The idea of ‘living pedagogically’ struck a chord with me.  In reading ‘Burgeo and Back’ (A.Clark, 2012),  I was taken with the idea of being conscious of the learning opportunities that take place around me outside of the workplace.  The idea that tending to ones inner life as an educator is connected to ones success as a teacher in the classroom resonated with me.  I began to wonder if I live pedagogically and I came to the conclusion that while I sometimes am attentive to interactions such as those noted in Burgeo, I don’t often remember or retell the experience, which has been identified as the most important thing.  Being aware of this, has only made me more attentive to opportunities to recognise pedagogy and to recall and verbalise the interaction. Having a professional reflections blog gives me a platform to do this and is something I have already put into use...living pedagogically is new learning I am now living.

The discourse that took place on line in opening up (unpacking to deconstruct) and complexifying ideas was totally enlightening.  Being able to participate in and follow discussions, while carrying out the readings was empowering.  It was almost like connecting the dots.  Kit’s discussion around ‘Synergy’ was completely mind boggling to me initially.  How can we use synergy in an educational system?  Our system is black and white, synergy gives nothing to measure or sign post!  Whilst the idea of synergy and subjective epistemology is very abstract to my thinking, through the discourse which took place, I was able to reflect on my understanding of the idea of ‘either/or….AND’.  It was in part through this line of discussion that I gained a whole new level of thinking around the traditional ideology of our education system versus a more abstract system.  Who controls the big picture and how does change this?

I found that each conference linked to another, just as Kit’s linked up to Molly’s questions around Maori education and where it fits in our education system.  Why are we trying to make people fit the system?  Shouldn’t we be shaping a system to fit the people?  Why can’t Maori just be Maori? The idea’s around synergy and subject epistemology fit with this topic.   This conference really reflected the idea of ‘tensions’ and the never ending arguments that surround this issue. 

How can Maori be Maori when many students don’t know what being Maori is?  When I looked through the microscope lens, I realised that although I am part Maori, I truly don’t know what being Maori is.  I was definitely brought up in pakeha culture, so I was then confronted with what do I know about being Maori and what could I bring to this conference – not just as an educator, but as a Maori/Pakeha? 

This assignment is a personal narrative of my learning and as Diti Hill (2011) suggests it has given me the opportunity to think deeply about the theories/ideas that flow into my practice in a connected, personally meaningful and storied way.   I was able to draw on the literature and connect and confront my own beliefs and assumptions.  I found this a little scary because it did reveal some things that I didn’t know about myself, but also gave me insight into the hows and whys of me - that was both enlightening and empowering.  I think there has been quite a bit of self-transformation taking place on this journey, and the tools that this course has given me has opened up a refreshingly new and exciting path through ‘critical reflection’ that will benefit my practice as a teacher and manager in a school. 

            Argyris, C. Schon, D. (1974).  Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness.  Jossey-Bass Publishers.

            Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994).  Ecological models of human development. International Encyclopedia of Education. Vol, 3. 2nd Ed. Oxford:Elsevier.

            Clarke, A. (2012).  Burgeo and back! or Living pedagogically: Catching oneself in the act of being attentive to pedagogy. In A. Cohen, M. Porath, A. Clarke, H. Bai, C. Leggo & K. Meyer (Eds.), Speaking of teaching... :Inclinations, inspiration, and innerworkings (pp. 55-62). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

            Kincheloe, J. (1991).  Teachers as Researchers: Qualitative inquiry as a path to empowerment. Chapter 2. Routledge

            Hill, D. (2011). Theory as a Story: An invitation to engage with the ideas the nourish practice. The first years: Nga Tau Tuatahi. New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education. Vol.13, Issue 1.

Smyth, J. (2011). Critical Pedagogy for Social Justice. Teachers as intellectuals in neoliberal times.  Bloomsbury Academic.

           

York-Barr, J. (2001). Reflective Practice according to York-Barr et.al. Retrieved from ppt Reflective Practice. HTML -  http://www.specialed.ccsu.edu/nicoll-senft/A%20Brief%20Introduction%20to%20Reflective%20Practice.ppt.

TOD - Strengthening a Strong Staff

Our Teacher Only Day saw the expertise of our staff sharing, discussing and clarifying our understanding of: Running Records, Learn/Create/Share in Reading, Reading Data Analysis, Dialogic Practice and Professional Reflection.  The day was crammed full of new learning for some, clarifying for others and consolidation for many.

Sally led a session on the application and analysis of effective running records.  Discussion flowed around clarification of seen/unseen text, reading to learn and learning to read, administration, RRec versus Probe, senior/junior similarities and differences, teacher judgements and a simulated test.  For my own learning, I felt affirmed around my understanding of the administration of running records in relation to probes.  One area of debate was the suitability of Probe testing for our students, particularly around texts that many of them found difficult to connect with due to language difficulties.  It was agreed that all text must be seen, but not necessarily in guided instruction - to ensure testing of comprehension isn't compromised.  Before students begin tests, teachers can ask students to explain/recount what the story/article is about and also ask if there are any words they didn't know the meaning to e.g names of characters, specific nouns such as 'quilt' - teachers must use their prerogative here to judge whether answers may interfere with comprehension testing. 

Following our running record session, we went into unpacking what learn/create/share looked like in reading in our classrooms.  Each syndicate brainstormed their approaches and shared their ideas with the whole group. In sharing with each other, we could see the progressions across the school of the learn/create/share ethos.

After morning tea, we began a session on 'Dialogic Practice'.  If you look through this blog page, you will see a post that gives a bit of an explanation around what it is.  Kyla lead this session with her and I sharing our new learning of dialogic practice from the Manaiakalani Lead Teachers meeting we attended 3 weeks ago.  During this session we talked about what dialogic pracitice looks like, made comparisons between monologic and dialogic  teaching practice and how we can enhance cognitive thinking and engagement through it.  Towards the end of the session, we shared a clip of an expert teacher in a guided reading situation and identified what dialogic and monologic teaching took place.  Teachers got a clearer picture in differentiating between the two and understanding become clearer as discourse took place.

The final session of the day was around our 'Professional Reflections Blogs'.  Rhonda shared ideas for what and how we use the blogs and discussion centered around what reflections should contain.  Teachers were directed towards John Smyth's framework for reflection.  This framework is an excellent pathway to describing, confronting and reconstructing thinking around the tensions of a problematised topic or idea.  Teacher's were then given time to create their own professional blog and we discussed regularities of posts and expectations.

Our TOD as always showed the professionalism and commitment of the staff at TPS.  Our teachers are true LEARNERS, passionate about their subjects, enthusiastic to share and generate a genuine sense of  value and respect for each other.  I am a very proud member of a very professional group of people. 

National Standards - Moderation - How do we know if we're right?

Since the introduction of National Standards we as a school have undergone PLD, and many a staff meeting and informal conversation, trying to get a united understanding of moderation.  In my opinion, we have made great gains in our understanding of how moderation works and I've watched that understanding grow since its inception in 2010.

My concerns around moderation sit in the 'individual understanding' on a national scale and this is a concern that I'm sure all teachers/managers have.  While there are exemplars, progressions, ELLPs and illustrations of the standards themselves, how can we be sure our judgements are accurate?  How do teacher's remain objective in their opinions and decisions around individual students?  I believe that the answer to these questions lie in the collaborative efforts of teachers and managers to gain a global understanding together - through PLD, discussions and plenty of sharing.  It's imperative that everyone use the resources available, knowing them inside out - back to front, in order to have an understanding that ties all curriculum strands together.

At Tamaki we carry out whole day syndicate data discussions each term, using these discussions as an opportunity to share students progress and make comparisons across the school.  Within syndicates, teachers take ownership of all students...not just those in their own classes.  This means teachers sharing data, comparing progressions and reaching a joint understanding of what learning levels look like across the school.  This year we have created a rubric for writing in students speak (collated as a staff) and students use the rubric from years 1 to 8.  Our next steps from the development of the rubric is to collate exemplars of our students work at each level to illustrate the progressions of the rubric.  After assessment, teachers moderate GLOSS and writing to check judgements and talk through their decisions, debating in a non-threatening environment where all that matters is getting a joint understanding of progressions.  When teachers create OTJs, we gather in syndicates to share samples of work at levels to ensure there is a joint understanding of what the levels 'look' like across the classes.

So while we work hard to have a joint understanding as a staff - and this is ongoing as understanding still varies due to experience and the introduction of new staff members - how do we know if we've got it right on a National scale?  The Tamaki cluster have writing moderation at the beginning and end of the year to check joint understanding of judgements based on the the easttle writing rubric.  These moderation sessions have been successful and as a cluster we've seen accuracy and agreement grow through a collective understanding over time.  These sessions are carried out by school management, and I believe these would be even more effective if we involved more teachers at these sessions as PLD for staff.  As a cluster, we don't collaborate in the development of OTJs understanding.  I think this is an aspect of assessment that needs to be addressed to encourage transparency between schools.  Of course some schools would be hesitant to share their data to this scale, but I believe that this type of collaboration would be beneficial to making National Standards work.  After all...the alternative of Standardised Testing is hardly the path we want to go down.

So if we can come to an understanding in making National Standards work there should be more done to unite teachers, encourage collaboration and provide a platform of trust (not fear) in assessment judgements.  I could keep going into what National Standards identifies as expected levels of achievement and whether these levels are fair and equal to all students...but that's a whole other post!!!  Not exactly comparing APPLES to APPLES...