Manaiakalani Wānanga - Thursday 22nd October

A wonderful day spending time with my own cluster team, networking with the Uru Mānuka cluster and meeting the other facilitators that I haven't actually meet face-to-face (after the hui finished). It was a wonderful day of learning, discussion and building the cluster connection. I really enjoyed myself. In particular, the way the cluster worked together to move the bus forward. I'm am looking forward to what 2021 will bring. 

Agenda slides for the day

Pat Snedden 

Initiative: digital skills training for adults - more info coming… (excellent!)

Addressing issues of connectivity and devices?

Let’s be transformers

Tell neighbours

“Knock it out of the park”

Woolf Fisher Research - Aaron Wilson

Online Observation Data around Reading + Surveys from students, teachers, leaders and whānau.

Slides link

2019 - A relentless focus on reading 2020 seems to have had this happen. In the first three years we are seeing students on average starting well, well below but after 1 year of

school we are seeing these students accelerate closer to the national norm. After the first 3 years we start

to seeing a tapering off from Year 4+. Side note: We are TMP02 We need to be looking further ahead to support students to look forward to the higher leverage practices

to help to see the shift in the older years. Junior teachers focus on high leverage practices: Based on this info, this is the feedback from the online observations: The richer snapshot happens when we look at the overall data. The smaller the sample gets the less

stable the pattern is. They’ve done analysis of every text. Most instruction was on shorter texts. Extended texts are film longer than an hour or a text would be longer than 100 pages (novel/biographies) A strong focus on information texts (non-fiction) Less narrative and poems What would be the balance of these? Strong evidence of linked text sets (more prevalent after Year 3) Triangulated from teachers questionnaire Most texts are “pretty white” (white, middle class) Matariki was a major part of the programmes at this time but does raise the questions if there is this type

of focus at other parts of the year. Mirror texts - student can see themselves in the text Window Texts - looking out at other cultures Window texts - reflecting the life of students? Are there universal experiences tho? Lots of NZ texts but they tended representing more Pākeha worlds than POC What opportunities do our students have to window texts into other parts of the non-white world i.e. Africa,

Middle East … Colouring in the White Spaces Anne Milne The levels of the texts the students are encountering in class are around where they should be. (The

bell-shaped curve looks about right) Text difficulty is the interaction between the text itself and the activity Audience or purpose was often missing. It could be teachers are doing this face-to-face. Could this also

transfer over to a quality blog post. Both teachers and students thinking about the audience and purpose

when creating content on the site or for a blog post? New lessons in Cybersmart coming that would

support this. Strong focus on vocab but not a strong focus on literary devices More attention to the structure of text prior to reading helps a lot with understanding. The focus of ideas didn’t go past information of ideas or plot. Metacognition challenge. Challenge - if it isn’t visible to adults who are looking for it, how visible is it to students? Critical literacy and critical thinking needs deliberate planning and focus by teachers in order for this to

happen. It isn’t happening at the moment. What was the highest level of thinking happening on the students blog? Lower level of understanding was

what is happening, however students are more than capable of higher level thinking. Not evidence of planning for discussion Definition of rewindable - do we understand it? Rewindable is often messy and scary. Choice was around order but not choice of text or activity or product or process The data is what the data is. It is open for interpretation for why that is … the year/covid etc BUT the data

is what is the data is. Deficits within the data can be explained by schools (with “our focus was on x or y) but the challenge

(wero) remains. The data is still true Woolf Fisher Sensemaking will unpack data more and will include best practice examples from teachers

sites for each area.

Talking Point Discussion:

• What are we doing well to accelerate student achievement and progress in reading?
• What could we do better?
• In terms of instructional foci, what are we doing well to accelerate student achievement and progress in reading? What could we do better?
• In terms of activities, what are we doing well to accelerate student achievement and progress in reading? What could we do better?

Reflecting on 2018-2020, looking to 2021 and beyond

Dorothy Burt & Makaore Bevan

We have been building a good house.

Reflecting on the past

Makore took us through the culturally connected version.

E tuarua a wero:  Google MEET Drills at school!

The Challenge/Provocation

“Read like a writer and write like a reader”

Raise the floor and ceiling of our practice

Move to more sustained use of multiple texts

Move to greater reflection of student culture in text (students see their own lives reflected in what they are reading about)

Cluster Discussions: Te Ara Tūhura

What are we going to do?

Teacher Only Day? Half Day? Share sense making and look where we need to work on our practice 

Cross school PLG’s 

Set dates 1 per term that PLG’s will meet

Celebration of learning at end of year 

Multi modal data base - would be good if we were giving back and sharing on this database

High leverage practices

OLO observations - unpack the data so that our kaiako understand it - when we know better we do better

Take a look at our cluster specific data 

Cross pollination between schools

PLG’s across the cluster

Supporting and amplifying the practice of “High-Shift” (Robin Sutton) teachers

Susan Sandretto - critical literacy expert

Readings from the Critical Literacy training Sharon attended.

• What is critical literacy and how to use it

• Extending Guided Reading with Critical Literacy

• Critical Literacy with young children

• Critical Literacy Questions

From TKI - NZ

• questioning how knowledge is constructed and used

• investigating whether the writer has the authority to speak for a group or position or to tell particular stories

• considering how power relationships are established and whether a text includes or excludes particular readers or perspectives

• examining the ways in which texts can position a reader.

From Education Counts - NZ

• Critical thinking is related to multiliteracies. It is the development of the facility to understand aspects of texts such as agency, motivation, gaps and silences, and political and economic agendas. It is also about purposeful and reflective judgement, involving determining meaning and significance of phenomena, including different kinds of texts. This deliberate critical stance is as important to e-Learning texts as it is to the critique of traditional texts, because it is about higher order thinking skills: Thinking is a Key Competency in NZC.

Take Homes

The Whānu Blogging site includes support for whānau to leave comments on their child's blog.

Plus support commenting in Te Reo, English, Tongan and Samoan. Fakaaue Karen Belt, Amy Tofa and Viena Ripata for their mahi!

2017 Case Studies (for teachers) Nicole read it is good

Innovative Teachers 2020

1. Waikowhai School: Sarah Daly

Stagnant at Level 23 reading, especially ESOL students - using mini digital plays to focus on -  inferential, reorganisational, evaluative, reactionary

Set up questions using the different focus with Literal (L), Vocabulary (V),  - so chn know what the emphasis of the question is on

Audiobooks and Kahoots

Sarah

2. Hornby Primary: Alethea Dejong

 - how to enable chn to listen to each other in an independent group

Talk Moves and Dimmock Maths 

Rubric developed of skills required for effective listening - used a form to use as a self-assessment

Alethea

3. Redhill School - Tanya Mundy

How can we help students to be better writers?

Genuine context - real experiences - twist to make into narrative

You Tube, NZ School kits, Google Maps

Using different forms of writing- explicit teaching of how to grab the audience attention - examples of language features for students to draw up - using site to share examples

Tanya

4. Point England - Kiriwai Tapuke

Building Self Management Skills - transition to secondary school

Managing Self - Taha Challenge to build their powers

Survey of year 8 students 

Used camp as a practice run for self management - drawing upon Year 9s and peers in Year 8s to add

content to a Google Site with videos and lists e.g gear lists, camp related information, information for parents also

(all info in one place)

Challenge for Year 9 teachers to develop something similar

Kiriwai

5. Greymouth High School - Angela Seyb

Focus on Algebra 

Algebra needed for students to progress in high level classes

Developed a poster Algebra Big Ideas for year 9 students to refer to see what learning is required

Need to engage students

Tools used - DESMOS as a class tool, resource finder on NZmaths, real hooks proved to work and helped with

student engagement

Angela

6. Otaki School - Kerianna Sterling

Creating a resources to support Te Reo - A Waha

Online tool to improve oral language as a Maori medium resource  - activities, games, Karakia, Pepeha,

resources and instructions, slides of stories

Kerianna

6. Otaki School - Kerianna Sterling

Creating a resources to support Te Reo - A Waha

Online tool to improve oral language as a Maori medium resource  - activities, games, Karakia, Pepeha,

resources and instructions, slides of stories

7. Point England School - Sonali Carter

Developing self regulation skills - Year 2s

Used Google Form to gather information

Used consistent use of language - ENGAGE develops 4 self regulation areas  - used Google Site that

includes videos and games to be played 30 mins a day - improved self regulation skills

8. Tamaki Primary - Johanna Gormly

Implementing the ENGAGE programme in school - to develop self regulation and raise student a

chievement by developing a digital portal of games, explanation, activities, information about the ‘why’

of the programme

Let me tell you a story ...

A story of what can happen when a teacher believes in the kaupapa of Manaiakalani.

My friend Ruth Blair taught at Yaldhurst Model School when Manaiakalani Outreach first began
supporting Uru Mānuka. I need to say from the outset that Ruth is an incredible teacher who brings joy, energy and fun to her classroom. She blows me away with her dedication to her craft that is teaching.

During her time at Yaldhrust, Ruth was supported by Mark for a year of in-class support. Ruth enjoyed the learning and supported the kaupapa of Manaiakalani. She changed her practice based on what she learned and quickly became very fluent in the affordances of digital technologies in her classroom. The Woolf Fisher team found her classroom to be ahead of the curve at the time and she received many accolades from them because of what was happening in her classroom, particularly around student engagement. In 2017 Ruth left Yaldhurst Model School to bike around the North Island. She blogged her journey for her students, friends, and family to follow. She was very committed to sharing her journey.

Following this time she did a lot of relief teaching in a range of Dunedin schools while trying to decide if she wanted to continue teaching full time. During this time she shared how she couldn’t understand the lack of knowledge on how to best use the Chromebooks so many of these schools had in their classrooms. It confirmed for her that her time at Yaldhurst Model School learning the Manaiakalani kaupapa was worth it.

Luckily for education, she has rejoined the profession and is now teaching outside 20 minutes out of Invercargill at Lochiel School. Lochiel Primary is a fantastic rural school with a very supportive community somewhat isolated from the rest of New Zealand.

Ruth has constantly stayed connected with the Manaiakalani kaupapa through conversations we have. She also helps my own development of ideas as she is someone that is always asking questions and learning. Currently, she has three different areas of learning developing for herself through school PD and her own PD of choice. She is incredible.

Enter Covid. Ruth was straight onto what she can do and use to support her learners and her staff so that they can do the best they can for the time of lockdown. Because she was already using blogs and was connected with a mini 'Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu' she set up with a couple of teacher contacts through Mark and myself she had the beginnings of what was needed to help the students to fly. A quick whip up of a site, plus time spent as staff using the 'Limit the Links' doc to shape their way forward and Lochiel School was ready to go.

Mark Maddren said the following about Ruth:

Ruth's site and blogs that have been implemented this year are a real testament to the sustainability of Manaiakalani once a teacher has had the support and continues to stay connected with the programme through colleagues.

With this lockdown, Ruth has been able to upskill her colleagues and ensure their teaching and learning is also visible during this period.

So to end this story I just want to say that I believe that Manaiakalni kaupapa is not only powerful in the context of the Outreach, it is also something that can be adapted to any context. The pedagogy is rewindable, it is visible and most of all it is ubiquitous in any place where a teacher 'gets it'.

If you want to check out what it all looks like then head to these links. I'm sure Ruth would love to see some people checking our her class site and blog.

School site: http://www.lochiel.school.nz/

Class Sites for Online Learning

Below are the links to their online learning programmes for each class.

Room 1:  https://sites.google.com/lochiel.school.nz/room1-2020/home 

Room 2:  https://sites.google.com/view/lochielschool-room2-2020/home 

Room 4:  https://sites.google.com/view/lochielschool-room4-2020/home  - Ruth’s Class

Room 5:  https://sites.google.com/lochiel.school.nz/room5-2020/home 

Some examples of the blogging that her students have been doing:

https://lochielgymstar.blogspot.com/2020/05/bloggers-welcome-back.html

https://lochielcameront.blogspot.com/

https://lochielalexia-rose.blogspot.com/

And her class blog: https://room4lochiel.blogspot.com/

Put your hands together for ...

As the whole world knows, we are currently all working from home. It’s a strange space to be in. Instead of driving between schools, going into classrooms to teach Cybersmart lessons, getting to know people, I’m at home in my little office. All around the world, people are doing the same thing (apart from our amazing and hard-working essential workers).

Teachers are essential workers too though. I’ve noticed a bit of flack in the comment space on Stuff that perhaps teachers are on an extended holiday. Surprising to think that people out there think teachers have been doing nothing over the past four weeks. The experience I’ve had would tell a different story.

So what have I noticed?

In no particular order:
Teachers who have said ‘bring it on!’ this is what I was born for.
Teachers who have freaked out, flapped around, and then got on with it, creating inviting spaces for their learners to engage with.
Teachers who have enhanced their collaboration with others in order to best serve their learners.
Teachers who have woken at 2am in their holidays to get an idea down
Teachers who have considered the parent’s roles in this strange new world and made things easy for them as the learner’s first teachers.
Teachers who want to celebrate the amazing things their learners are creating and their parents are doing.
Teachers who get that it is all about connections at the moment and who are fostering spaces that allow this to happen.
Teachers who spent most of their ‘holiday’ thinking, making, creating, learning in order to be ready for learning at home.
Teachers who are juggling their own children’s learning and their own class, and we all know teaching our own kids is never easy.
Teachers who said that this online thing was never for them but are now showing others how it is done.

I’m sure I’ve missed things on this list. What would you add?

I’m also in a very privileged position in being able to see how Principals have embraced this and led their staff. I know I’m still getting to know these schools, their cultures and the people that lead them but so far I’ve been impressed. All of these Principals care about their staff and students. This is their list:

Principals who were thinking and putting things into place long before it happened.
Principals who told vulnerable staff to go home and take care of themselves or their loved ones.
Principals who continue to tell staff to take care of themselves.
Principals who think about what their staff need and respond accordingly.
Principals who created ways of connecting with staff in a fun way; shared Jamboards, dress up staff drinks, game/quiz time …
Principals who are innovative and creative and inspire their staff to be.
Principals who are open to learning during this time and are sharing that learning with their staff.
Principals who share their learning and ideas with the wider community.
Principals who provide safe and consistent environments, where staff can express themselves.
Principals who know their context, understand it but won’t let it be a barrier to new things.
Principals who aren’t afraid to ask for help.
Principals who celebrate their staff and what they are doing.

I know that there will be facilitators, teachers, principals, support staff, friends, family … all who would say much the same thing. We have some pretty amazing people in Te Ara Tūhura. And some pretty amazing people around the country, working hard for their tamariki.

Tamariki are kinda the point though, aren’t they? They are often the reason we wake at 2am. The reason we turn up to work on those days we would rather stay in bed. The reason many of us decided to teach. (Not me though, I’m totally in it for the cash *wink*)

Which brings me to another question or three: What is it about how we are doing ‘school’ at the moment that is or isn’t engaging our tamariki? What are we noticing about our learners and their approach to the work? Am I as a teacher using these notices things I am noticing to make changes to my online practice? Will I take these things back into the classroom? Is there a shift happening in my practice?

One teacher I spoke to said that she is never going back to how she was teaching, that this way is far more engaging and she can’t wait to see how she is going to use it to turbocharge her face-to-face teaching. But another teacher said that while she has learnt a lot through this, she has no intention of it changing the way she does learning in a classroom.

Where are you sitting on this spectrum?

Someone asked me today if I’d noticed any teachers talking about their student’s voices? Had I noticed if teachers are asking their students how they are finding the lockdown learning? And, if the students had any thoughts about the future? I realised I didn’t know. This wasn’t a question I had thought to ask.

I’m going to start asking it though. Maybe you could join me.

What do you, the learner, want school to look like after Covid-19 is gone?

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

This year, 2020, started differently for me. I didn’t have a class to prepare for. I didn’t have staff days to attend. I didn’t have the noise in my head as my holiday began to creep towards its natural end. Sure, I still had the excitement of what was to come. The nerves of starting. But I had the added nerves of starting something new. A new journey, a new job.

Almost three months later I feel I am finding my feet. As Term 1 drew to an end I was feeling more comfortable in this new skin as an Education Programme Leader. I had spent time getting to know the people I am working with, getting to know their context and their students. Getting to understand how each school functions and how they relate to each other. I’ve watched for the unspoken culture and felt my way with different parts of the job.

This job is kind of like walking into a room blindfolded. You know there are walls and doors even though you can’t see them initially and while you trust that the people around you aren’t there to trip you up or push you over, you still feel very much in the dark.

I’ve been lucky though. I’ve had Mark with me, holding my hand as I feel my way forward. Guiding and supporting me, cheering me on and gently reminding me not to try and run just yet. I’ve also had Kesley to my side. I’ve watched her navigate this role for a few years now, so she has given me a blueprint with which I can follow. What an imprint too! Again, I feel so blessed.  To have an amazing whāhine around me, showing me what great humble leadership looks like.

I have been struck by what I’ve missed though. And what I haven’t missed.

I knew that I would miss my work-wife Angela. And I have. Badly. It is hard to know how much you become in tune with each other when working in a close environment. It is a pretty powerful thing, a good partnership in a classroom. We have weathered many a storm together, professionally and personally. I know that I am a better teacher because of this relationship. And a better person. Thankfully, we can still catch up, even in this weird bubble time, we meet and laugh and groan together.

I knew I’d miss my classroom and in particular, the students. There have been a few tears shed over what I haven’t been able to do with them. Over the end of the journey, especially for the Year 8’s. 3+ years is a long time to journey with students, you really get to know them well.

I know I’ve also grieved what we (Angela and I) could have done with them this year. We had that class humming by the end of 2019 and this year would have been a gift of exploring and extending with those amazing learners into things we hadn’t been able to do before.

I’ve missed the staff team too. There are great, passionate people that work at my former school. They love every kid that walks through the gate each morning, even when it is hard and challenging and they aren’t so lovable. It’s weird not walking through the same gate every day. (It’s also strange knowing that if I do get to walk through that gate again this year that I will be met with change and with people who won’t know me or care why I’m there.)

I haven’t missed the stress though. The drama. The frustrations. The difficult bits. The unending lists of stuff that you have to do but have no time for. And let’s not forget the behaviour management. I really don’t miss that. Mostly I don’t miss the feeling that it doesn’t matter what you do because it won’t make a bit of difference fo that kid or their situation because what it really needs is money and 1:1 support and … (insert list here), sigh.

I see that struggle though, in every school and class, I enter now. I see the strength, the determination, the tenacity and the beauty that exists in every teacher as they fight daily for the best space for each student to learn. Sure, it isn’t perfect all the time. It is messy and sometimes things go wrong, failure happens. But, it is as real as it gets.

So I feel glad and blessed, afraid and happy, excited and nervous. But I know that this new journey I’m on is the right one. I have a new team, a new set of people who I can engage in this journey of educating and the chance to grow in new ways. What a gift.

I started this blog thinking I would share some learnings but as I’ve written I realise that in this weird, bubble space we currently exist opens itself for reflection. So this is a reflection blog on what was. Tomorrow I might write about the learnings and the current things. But today I reflect and I remember. I wonder if you are taking some time for reflecting too?