The Value of LEARNerS Time

Day 20 of #28daysofwriting.  It was a great day today,  got most of my to do list done.  Saw some students experience success and have decided I will be changing some of my routines next week to address some of the needs of my class.  Went out for a drink after school and caught up with good friends.  So really sitting down and writing is the last thing I wanted to do, but I’m going to be stubborn and the fear of failing outweighs anything else!

Today I am going to keep it simple and talk about something new that I tried today.  I have been tasked with adjusting some of the programmes in the Junior Syndicate and one of these is Junior Developmental time.  This time has been the time students are given to just be students, to play and create.  I think this is so important for students but it did need a tidy up, a bit more focus.

Last year I helped introduce maker time into the Senior Syndicate and we tied it to our inquiry learning topic.  It was definitely about student creativity but slowly you could see ideas from the students learning coming into their creation and the conversations the students had slowly became more precise and technical as they learnt more about the topic.

In the juniors I wanted to try and keep it more open and allow students that Genius Time where they can explore their passions.  But it needed a tie in.

So we used our school Values - Lifelong Learner, Excellence, Actively Involved, Respect and Nurture.

These form the basis of our LEARNerS - with S being success at the end  

There were a range of activities the students would be choosing from; Lego, wood blocks, puzzles, water play, playdough… you get the idea.  Students could also research in books and use the iPads to learn more about something they are interested in.  Knowing this I tried to tie a few different skills to our school values.

So I came up with the following areas the students needed to think about and write about (at this stage)

1. Actively involved: This became about how students worked in groups to achieve something.
2. Excellence: Try something new or improve on last time.  Whatever you do must be challenging.
3. Lifelong Learner: Find out about something you are passionate about and record new learnings.

I just whipped up a couple of quick graphic organisers for students to use but later I will develop some templates using ComicLife or teach students how to share their reflections using iMovie.

The students worked really well and it was nice to be able to walk around and ask them what value they were focusing on.

So  I guess the point is that by tying in ideas from different parts of your school's programmes you can double up the effectiveness.  Because today I got to see my student getting to work on things that really excited them while they were actively thinking about our schools values and how they were helping them.

Lesson in Eduation from Hot Mix

Day 12 of #28daysofwriting and things are going well.  Im enjoying it and I am finding inspiration in some funny places.  Tonight's post is from one of these inspirations so please bear with me.

On the weekend our school had some potholes repaired with hot mix tar.  It looked good.  The carpark was smooth and looked much better than it did before.  But today something odd happened.  

It was a hot day and it must have soften the tar enough.  Then someone parked on it.  When they left it lifted the hot mix up and it even wrapped around their wheel.  Stretching out like a giant black bit of chewing gum they had to cut it away to sort the mess it caused.

When we looked at the hole we could see that the pothole had not been prepped.  The mix was just over loose gravel and dirt.  It had nothing holding it together to the rest of the driveway.  And that's when I realised that this was an analogy for schools.  

Our job is to patch together pedagogy, resources, staffing, vision, ministry directives, community aspirations and personal goals into our school life.  With all these things happening at once we have to be very careful to ensure that we have a prepared surface to bind our practice to.  

In my experience there are a few things that are important in preparing a school to add on and make ‘repairs’ (read change) to their practice.  

1. A clear and well communicated need for the change:  Andragogy(how adults learn) shows that adults learn best when there is a need.  Without this it is too easy to dismiss the change as unnecessary and as an extra.

2. Shared understanding of the direction:  People need to understand what the change looks like,  in education how often are teachers asked to implement programmes they have never seen in action?  Programmes that are top down driven.  The leaders may understand the system but if the people DOING the work don’t then they may miss the point.  I liken this to the use of language experience in the classroom.  It levels the playing field and gives everyone a shared understanding of the topic.

3. Provide connections to current practice: Teachers have a lot to do.  Another thing can sometimes be difficult to swallow.  By providing links to the other practices in your school you are not only streamlining your system but you should be strengthening the areas of your schools practice.

4. Provide leadership:  This is a given.  Things come unstuck when there is a disconnect between those who lead and those who do.  This barrier should not exist and everyone should be see as being involved.  A strong leader will provide the team with enthusiasm for the project and work through it with them.  Focusing on results alone can damage the initiative when leaders miss the pitfalls teacher are experiencing along the way and push for things to happen faster.  

5. Resource the Initiative: If results are expected then the resources need to be in place.  Just like providing teachers with a shared language and understanding is important, so to is giving them a shared set of tools.  Overlooking resources indicates that the people who are actually DOING the work are being overlooked.

So avoid a hot mix mess at your school by thinking through what needs to be in place as you make changes.  I have posted before that change can be scary and having strategies in place to manage the change stopping anyone getting their tyres caught up.

So thats my thoughts inspired by the hot mix mess at school today.  There are probably many more aspects that I have missed but I hope you enjoyed my post.  Let me know your thoughts.

This post relates the the following Registered Teacher Criteria

5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning

12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice

Educational Theories and Having to Pick One

Today I am going to post about something at ULearn14.  It was very interesting and in some ways threatening as it hit at my core beliefs around teaching.  But challenge is good and I hope you enjoy it.

At ULearn14 Professor Yoram Harpaz was one of the keynote speakers and honestly his message kind of terrified me.  In some ways it made education seem so simple but the kind of transition our schools would need to undertake from mainstream to what he proposed potentially could be huge.

He explained that educational “theories” are ideologies - ideologies pretending to be scientific theories and that there were three of them.  There are three meta ideologies and each has something very important, to me they all made sense.  And then came the terrifying bit…

You have to choose.

No cherry picking the best bits.  Just all in.  In his opinion this was the only way to go.

The Three META IDEOLOGIES where:

• Socialization - Which was about equipping the child with skills and knowledge for their society.
• Acculturation - Where teachers shape the child’s values and characters to society.
• Individuation - In which we foster the autonomy and authenticity of the child. The child will fulfil   themselves.

All of these made sense.  We try and do many of these at different times in our classrooms.  But I only get to pick one??

To me Socialization makes sense because it responds to the fact that we live in a society that has a culture, it has rules and expectations.  We need to teach certain things too, reading, writing, the ability to follow instructions,  so students can participate in our world.  Yea, we see people who don’t fit the mold but don’t most of us follow those basic rules?  Or are we being too conformist?  Hmmm ok well maybe, but when we have to teach so many students we need some social conventions to keep order… right?

Ok, well Acculturation then… Sounds good.  Teaching students through our values system. Teachers become model citizens for students to look up to.  Letting them be themselves in ways that will contribute to our world.  We guide from the side, help the students work through their learning while developing kindness and empathy.  The skills aren't as important here as the values of being a lifelong learner, creative and collaborative, I’m sure we can find ways to teach and assess these values to show how well our students are going.  This sounded good to me.  Values help students become a positive force in the world.  But it is still us picking what is important…

So the last theory; Individuation.  This is where the student makes choices about their learning.  Taking it to the point where they choose what, where and how they learn.  This sounds crazy to me!  Yes in a perfect world we would do this but we have a whole class!  How does it work?

And so apparently now you have to choose.  I know which one I would like to get to.  Individuation sounds perfect.  It would allow us to be culturally and academically responsive.  Imagine our Maori and Pasifika students from the start of their education learning in their preferred style.  

But how do you train for this?  How do you prepare?  If you are expecting answers then I apologise, I simply do not know. But Professor Yoram Harpaz said something that gave me hope that one day this kind of responsive practice is possible.  It was his break down of what an idealogy was.

He broke it down into the structure of an ideology.

• First there was the Utopia:  An imagined picture of an idea society.  It helps to to make sense of our world and forms our system of beliefs
• Then the Diagnosis: What does the current world or situation look like?
• Next came the Strategy: This  is how we change the actual world into the utopian world.  What do we to reduce the gap? This is where the exciting part happens, where we use a blend of research, best practice and next practice to work out what we want and need to do to develop our vision.
• Finally there is the Collective: A social group who will carry out the change.  This means us… Educators.

So we have a choice.  We must pick one sysytem.  Good schools stick to one ideology - one ethos.  All parents, teachers and students ‘talk in one language’.  The result is an well-educated adult.

Yoram Harpaz said “Education is sick because we are wanting to be Individuation, we mostly do Acculturation and really our system is based on Socialisation.”  Maybe he is right.  Maybe that's why we feel we sometimes go around in circles with what we do.

Thank you for reading this post.  It was a controversial topic when I heard it and I am interested to see what other people think.  The main message was there was no right answer, just so long as you pick ONE answer.

This post relates the the following Registered Teacher Criteria

5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning

9. respond effectively to the diverse language and cultural experiences, and the varied strengths, interests and needs of individuals and groups of ākonga

12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice

Finding the Important in What You Do

Day two of my #28days of writing challenge and I have been wondering what to write about.  Then I remembered something that another #28dayofwriting writer wrote yesterday about seeing through the urgent and focusing on the important.  Read the blog by Stephen Lethbridge here.

His article made me think about what is important, a focus at out school at the moment as we explore what our school motto means.  Getting everyone rowing the ship in the same direction in any organisation is a challenge and the ability to share a vision for the school is an important skill of any leader.  But so to is the ability to see past your own idea to allow the community and members of your organisation to own the values and direction you take.  

During #edchatnz last week I mentioned the importance of realising your great ideas are not as great as you might think.  Someone replied (sorry will find out who you are when I have time after the 28 minutes!) that your ideas are like your children, they always seem pretty great to you.  But the problem here is not everyone will agree.  As leaders we should never try and convince others that our one idea is worthwhile and the best way forward.  It might not be.  As the leader we understand our idea intimately, but it doesn't mean those in front of learners, those who work with it day in and day out will get it.  So we need to approach change and new ideas in a more collaborative way.

At ULEARN14 I went to several speakers who talked about Dr Julia Aitkin’s work.  It struck a chord with me.  Beginning with core values and beliefs,  not outcomes, is extremely powerful.  And when you have a high degree of input at this stage then you can develop your vision and practices within your school community from this start point.  The upside of this is people can see their values and beliefs shaping the school,  filtering out into every action.  As Stephen Lethbridge put it… it lets you see through the urgent and see what is truly important.  

When you imagine a perfect school, or at least when I do, I see a school where everyone understand the direction and can articulate clearly the goals and values.  But I also believe it needs to go one step further and everyone needs to OWN the practices.  Top down driven change gets the job done yes, but I do not beleive it gets the vision embedded and owned.

That last staff meeting where you talked the talk and shared you brilliant idea… probably didn't go as well as you thought if you gave little opportunity for others to co-own the ideas.  If you shut down questioning and debate and if you made it clear that this was happening then you probably lost half your staff.  Start with values and beliefs and trust your team to work together to put it into practice.

So be brave, whether or not it is at a class, syndicate or schoolwide level… survey your community, your parents, colleagues, students.  Go further and survey local businesses.  See how they perceive you,  see how they would like to perceive you and find out what they value.  Put this in the middle of your planning and see what comes out.  I have no idea how this might work for you… but try it and see.  Because as a school our job is to serve… serve our students, a parents and our wider community and their input is hugely important.  

I hope you enjoy reading my second blog from the #28daysofwriting challenge.  Thank you to Steven Lethbridge for his post that inspired me.