Balance in the Week - Great Professional Learning

Balance in the Week - Great Professional Learning

I've heard it said that Lockdown can be a bit of a rollercoaster.  The weeks are up and down with juggling - work, family commitments and the inevitable tedium of being in the same space 24/7.  This week has been great!  Why...

I've had two amazing days of professional learning and I'm feeling very inspired and full of new ideas that I'd love to implement at New Windsor.  

Wednesday was a Corporate Health and Wellbeing Summit.  

Insights...

• What does wellbeing mean at NWS for staff and students?
• I'm sure nobody would argue that focusing on the health & wellbeing of our staff can have a ripple effect in boosting productivity, engagement and a positive impact on the wider school community.
• One of the presenters talked about the morning routine and I'm going to make some tweaks to how I start the day.  I usually wake up fairly early and tackle some of the emails that come in during the evening/night.  I've decided this needs addressing and I am going to put a boundary on starting work before 7am and leaving the morning 'ritual' free of email.  I am anticipating this will be a more mindful and gentle start to the day.  I'm going to have to monitor this one really closely, as I found myself reaching for my phone this morning and slipping back into 'bad habits'. I might have to hide the phone in the kitchen :-)
• How do I turn up as a Leader - how my relational energy can impact on the people around me. Relational energy refers to the positive feeling and sense of increased resourcefulness experienced as a direct result of an interaction with someone else. Some people seem to increase our energy, positivity and sense of resourcefulness whilst others either have no impact or drain our energy.

Although my preference is for Face-to-Face learning I thought the presenters did an amazing job of delivering their content in a really engaging way.  

Of course the conversation and connection hasn't ended on the day, and I have signed up for the social media comms channels to keep myself connected with this mahi:  

Check out:  Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages if you'd like to find out more. 

I heard this one the other day and I loved it... I've drunk the Ako Hiko Cool Aid. I'm a total convert and our relationship with Ako Hiko and the Manaiakalani Trust continues to be a source of amazing collaboration and powerful professional learning.

Today's professional learning opportunity was a Wananga with approximately 140 other educators from across New Zealand. From the opening address I was captivated and completely engaged in the messaging around: High Leverage Teaching Practices, Data Analysis, Device selection for Chromebooks for 2022, feedback on Teacher Inquiries - I loved it all.

I caught up with Maria at lunchtime today and we were bubbling with enthusiasm for New Windsor Schools next steps.

I close the week - feeling grateful!

How did that happen.... it's Term 4

 How did that happen.... it's Term 4

Week One of Term 4 is done and dusted - how did that happen?  

As I write, Tamaki Makaurau is still in Lockdown - Alert Level 3 and I'm not convinced we will be returning to school this term.   Chris Hipkins (Minister of Education) provided the nation with an update on schooling on Tuesday and I have to confess to being a little underwhelmed... it felt like the Primary Schools had been forgotten.   We wait another week for further certainty on what the road ahead looks like, but realistically, maybe they can't provide this as 'Delta' seems to be a beast that is hard to contain and predict.  Yesterday, we hit triple digits in the new cases of infection so it seems entirely possible that they won't lift the alert level anytime soon.  I've decided to look at this cautionary approach as a glass half full situation, as I am also concerned about student and staff welfare and so I am happy to admit my reluctance to return to face-to-face teaching until the vaccination rates are higher!  I guess we are in a wait and see situation.  

The wins of the week in review

Kahui Ako Leader:  This week I started as the Co-Leader of the Lynfield Kahui Ako and Michael Malins (Blockhouse Bay Intermediate) and I have hit the ground running.  I am very thankful for the outgoing Leaders continued support (Neil Robinson) as he continues to transition/support us with systems and processes.  I can see that this mahi will be everything I was hoping it would be... challenging, building relationships, supporting the ongoing development of the New Windsor School strategic plan.  It's exciting and I am looking forward to working with the team.  

Distance Learning Review Tool development:  At our weekly Team Leader and Senior Leader Team Meeting we discussed the development of bespoke review tool to track and measure our progress with our Distance Learning programmes.  Maria has made a cracking start with this tool, combining our school pedagogy with support materials from the Ministry of Education.  I looked at this rubric last night and was delighted with how much progress we have made in this space over the past twelve months and the support we have received from Ako Hiko.  

On the home front:  I am really grateful that with the slower pace of life we have been able to take the time to engage in activities together as a family that we would ordinarily not do/have time for.  These are included Sean (my partner) teaching the girls how to play the guitar, a crazy family fitness event each night - press ups, sit ups, lunges.  Challenging but I am pleased to report progress.  Sunshine (our puppy) is also loving the time we have for two walks a day!

A great first week back at school, and whatever the term brings - we have this!  

Week 8 - Wins of the Week

 Week 8 - Wins of the Week

I've just finished off my contributions to the Principal's Report in anticipation of our next meeting on Monday 20/9 and upon reflection I am really delighted with how much we have achieved in Lockdown.  We haven't missed a beat!  

I participated in an International Forum last night on Coaching and Wellbeing and one of the topics was what are we grateful for in Lockdown.  I love crossing off outstanding tasks from my 'To Do Lists' and I've been fortunate to be able to attend to a number of tasks - Professional Growth Cycle Review, Induction/Onboarding, Local Curriculum Development (to name just a few).  Super important tasks, that in the business of a normal working week often get pushed aside attending to the here and now!  

On a personal front this family time is amazing and it's a considerably slower pace for my busy household.  We've changed around our routines over the past two weeks and have incorporated a family fitness challenge (squats, press ups, sit ups etc...).  I could barely get off the couch for a week! In addition I am stoked that Sean has taken the time to start guitar lessons for my girls (Jaime and Lily).  Lily initially didn't engage with much enthusiasm but we had a conversation about the process of learning and what it means to be teachable!  As is often the way Lily is coming around to the idea and is enjoying the one on one time with her dad.  

My wins of the week 

1#  The Disconnect-Ed Day we have implemented to support staff and student wellbeing is going down a treat with everyone.  Me included! It gives me an opportunity in the week to slow down the pace of all the Google Meets and to have some catch up time - for things like blog posts :-)

2#  I really enjoyed the Six60 Pepeha Singing we did yesterday with Paulette.  I always love Te Wiki o te Reo Māori week and any opportunity to improve my Reo. I really enjoy that this time of year brings about a whole lot of new video, music, apps and games in te reo. Yesterday Ms Paulette Corbett supported our staff with learning Six60’s newest single, Pepeha, which has taken off this week! It’s attracted major radio play and is now sitting at 17th in the top 40 singles chart. The bi-lingual track is a great way to learn both about pepeha, (the connections Māori use to introduce themselves) and it also repeats the chorus in both English and Māori – so is easy to follow.Check out Jeira, who created and shared this video of her engaged in the whakarongo Wero.

3# Stay Interviews. For the last 6 or 7 years I have engaged annually in Stay Interviews with staff at each of the schools I have been Principal at. These are a fairly time intensive process as I meet with the staff in a one on one situation. I use a really simple framework that I read about in a Harvard article one day. It's called the SKS model - suggestions for things we should STOP (S) at NWS, things we should KEEP (K), and ideas/projects/initiatives we could consider STARTING (S). It's always a super rewarding and fascinating process as you get insights into individual teachers perspectives and the schools next steps.

Roll on Week 9 and hopefully our last week of Lockdown!

Day... whatever of Lockdown - Father's Day/Te Whare Tapa Wha

 Day... whatever of Lockdown

I'm not sure what day of Alert Level 4 that is for Tamaki Makaurau but I'm confident we are well into our second week now.  Yesterday was Father's Day and it was a change of pace and also approach as ordinarily we would have had a big family celebration, some kind of event out and then a lunch or dinner at a restaurant.  With the realisation that this couldn't happen, I committed to cooking a dinner.  Now this doesn't sound like an incredible event (or maybe it shouldn't be), but I am a terrible cook so this declaration of love and commitment to our Dad was going to be quite the extravaganza.  We settled on Lasagna for the main course and some Lemon Friands for the dessert with Haagen Daas Blueberry Ice-cream.  Everyone in the house agreed that this was an acceptable approach given that we also have the world's worst oven (while we wait for the kitchen renovation to happen).  

Now you might be wondering why our Father's Day dinner is appearing on my professional blog.  Here comes the connection... I have been looking at the wellbeing model te whare tapa wha.  I think the dinner with my family was a good example of something I did over the weekend that supported both my own and my whanau's wellbeing.  

Here is the overview below of the model....

The Maori holistic model of health, te whare tapa wha, reminds us all to take care of all of the different aspects of our lives to support our wellbeing. 

What is te whare tapa whā?

Te whare tapa whā is a model of the 4 dimensions of wellbeing developed by Sir Mason Durie in 1984 to provide a Māori perspective on health. The 4 dimensions are:

• taha tinana (physical wellbeing)
• taha hinengaro (mental wellbeing)
• taha wairua (spiritual wellbeing)
• taha whānau (family wellbeing).

With 4 walls, the wharenui (meeting house) is a symbol of these 4 dimensions. The wharenui’s connection with the whenua (land) forms the foundation for the other 4 dimensions.

Image credit: Mental Health Foundation, NZ

By nurturing and strengthening all 5 dimensions, you support your health and wellbeing, as well as the health and wellbeing of your whānau.

How I see the Father's Day dinner...

As I was cooking the dinner, my eldest daughter Jaime joked that she'd never seen me cook a Lasagna before.  Given that she's 14 years old the joke was that I cook as often as we seen Haley's Comet.  So I felt quite proud that I was giving this a go, and also that I was doing this with Jaime.  We joked a lot in the kitchen about the mess (I should really have taken photos), how long it took - over 3 hours, and also the fact it would have been loadsssss easier to buy a lasagna from Countdown.  Oh well... it was the gift of giving and love that's also important in this experience.  

Amazingly, the lasagna was delicious and everyone enjoyed the jokes at my expense.  Maybe... (just maybe) we give something new a go next week on the kitchen front.  

I think my wellbeing focus today needs to be less food.  

I ate through the pain last night.   

Time and Place - Maori Achievement Collaborative

 Time and Place

I love that feeling of finishing up a meeting and walking away thinking... that was such a good use of time!  In a word - buoyant!  

Earlier in the year three of our Board were fortunate enough to attend the New Zealand Schools Trustees Association Conference in Rotorua.  In the last session of the day I meet the Principal from Mangere East and we started chatting about our Bilingual classes and different suggestions for:  professional development, networking,  support agencies.  Stephanie suggested I reach out to "MAC - The Maori Achievement Collaborative.  This is a non-profit organisation, a professional learning and development pathway by principals for principals focussed on changing education outcomes for Maori students.   In all:  "Leaders helping leaders to become better leaders!".  Tini, Maria and I meet with Phil Gordon for our initial 'getting started' meeting and I felt really inspired.  

Phil, Maria, Tini and I shared our hopes and aspirations for Te Whanau Puawaitanga, and Maori (all the students) at NWS.  We had some really positive korero across a range of topics and I reflected on Tini's comment as we finished up the Google Meet:  NWS is in the right space, right time for the next part of the journey. I had a real sense of it all coming together!  

Thank you Maria and Tini for your passion and commitment... the following feels appropriate. 

 Celebrating - Innovation and Learn, Create, Share

Day 6 of Alert Level 4 Lockdown and I'm finding a rhythm in my day.  My little bubble has settled in a routine - exercise, work/learning, lots of eating, and games in the evening.  Tonight my people are playing Connect Sports and I feel a little lack lustre after getting my first vaccination.  I've headed off to my bedroom to scroll through our class sites, blogs, and to check out what everyone has been up to in Distance Learning land.  

I am delighted and incredibly proud of all the amazing - Class Sites,Blogging, Learn/Create/Share, Innovation, and great learning that's been implemented.  

A shout out to:  

• Helen and the Room 7 class site.  The graphics are fabulous and it's really easy to navigate the site.   
• Flo is literally the Google guru, and I've just joked to Maria that it won't be long until Manaiakalani is offering our Flo a job!  Very cool to see what you have done with Padlet and also Google Data Studio Flo.  In fact, I can't wait to see what you come up with tomorrow!  
  
  
  
• Robin so clever to use Fale points to celebrate, reward and create a sense of fun and competition in your programme.  Let's hope Kowhai step up their Blogging game!  
  
  
  
• Our wonderful Learning Assistants are all underway with commenting on the students blogs (Room 11, 12, 13, 21 and 22)  and they are enjoying the opportunity to connect with our students via this platform.  

So much to celebrate today.  Well done to an amazing team.  

 Learn, Create, Share

I missed yesterday's Lockdown post, but in my defence I've been feeling a bit poorly as I've had a head cold.  I spent most of yesterday working my way through a Neon (TV) series I've had my eye on.  But here I am today... back into it!  

I've just been in commenting on our Senior/Matamua class blogs, and I'm super impressed with Room 21's - Learn, Create, Share.  I was also really inspired by Chloe and her bravery to give the Toolkit on Minecraft a go (Learn) and to share it on her blog.  So here I am sharing the story on what, I've been giving a go! 

Second confession.  I'm a terrible cook. I also have a woeful oven (does that sound like an excuse) at the moment while we are waiting to move and renovate our cottage... but that's another story, for another blog post.  I digress...  What I was going to say was that I have been inspired to try and learn a new skill a day over Lockdown.  Now I decided baking isn't my 'thang' and in fact, my family would thank me for not trying out any new recipes (mean aren't they).  I did however decide that I wanted to learn how to 'braid'.  As in hair braiding.  I love watching Youtube videos of amazing hairstyles... and I often think, I'd love to do that on my girls.  

I'm quite late on arriving at hair braiding (and fancy stylz), as my girls are 11 and 14 and I'm not sure the 14 year old will actually agree to me doing it any longer.  But hey, as the saying goes... never too late!  

So for the last two days, I've committed time each day to find some new YouTube clips and to practise new hair braiding techniques.  Rewindable learning is the best.  The ability to stop and watch something over and again is super helpful - I LOVE it.  

So I'm going to be as brave as Chloe is and I've posted a pic of my 'Dutch Braid' - first night attempt, on my model (Lily).  

Thanks Chloe.  Learn, Create, Share!  

Here is a link to Chloe's Minecraft post

Feedback welcome on techniques to make the braid tighter?  Or any Youtubers that you think I have to check out!

* I also think that if I do this everyday for the entire Lockdown that I'm bound to get better :-)

 Lockdown - Alert Level 4.  Here We Go (Again)

So much can change in the blink of an eye!   Today marks the third day of Alert Level 4 Lockdown for Auckland.  

I am going to use this "opportunity" to get up to date with my blogging and to commit to a daily blog.  Let's see how I go with that! 

Reflections... What a week! In the words of Ron Burgundy, "That escalated quickly." But there is a #winoftheweek to be found everywhere.

My wins of the week are:

* Family time - you can't beat it.

* Sunshine (18 month old puppy) is enjoying having us at home, and over the past two days we've been out for 2x, 2 hour walks.   * Photo credit to Lily, who took this picture of Sunshine for one of her Distance Learning tasks.  

* The amazing responsiveness from our school community to adapt to the sudden changes.  

* Our teaching team has have 'pivoted' so quickly to move to online connection and learning.  

* The NWS Senior Leadership Team - who get on and do their thing.  Everyone doing their bit for the collective good

* Catching up on some admin that I've been remiss with over the past few weeks.  

* Sean is back into the swing of yummy lockdown dinners.  Tacos tonight.  

Look after yourselves,  I special thought to our Lynfield College Community at the moment who are right in the middle of the COVID-19 hotspot!

Be kind, be strong, be you.  

Google Accreditation - Week 9 DFI.... survived....

 

Google Accreditation - Week 9 DFI... Survived...

Completely fried! That's how I feel as I sit to complete my final blog post for D.F.I.  Today was 'External Recognition' day and this was an opportunity for the participants of the 9 week Digital Fluency Initiative to complete the Google Level 1 Education Accreditation certificate.   

... I passed!

...Relief

The exam is a mixture of multichoice and scenario (using the Google Suite) based questions. The test was as intense as the course for me (not helped by having a head cold and feeling a bit flat at the end of a long term)!  It starts with the multichoice questions and I had to be careful not to overthink those and to follow good exam technique...

1) Which are the two obvious choices you can rule out

2) Read the question carefully - consider how many choices it is asking you for...

3) Select the 'review question' button and take the opporting to go back and check the answers (if time allows).  

Tip - Ignore the countdown timer for each question.  You have enough time to complete the exam with plenty of time to check and recheck your answers... if you aren't over it by then :-)

Once you are through the multichoice questions you are into the scenario or practical application questions

• Google Docs
• Spreadsheets
• Classroom
• Calendar 
• Sites
• Bookmarks
• Forms 

There were ten scenario questions with a number of requirements to complete in each question.  I felt I made a solid start in the google docs/forms and calendar sections but I did need to take some time in the Bookmark section. I haven't previously set up a bookmark folder and added pages in, so I needed to take my time in this part of the test and step myself through this process logically.  

The trickiest part for me was the spreadsheet and initially I got myself all confused and in a tizzy.  It was the to the point where I had to stop, have a biscuit, a quick break and some very firm self talk that I needed to calm myself down and go slowly.  Once I had my 'head' under control, it was fairly easy to step myself through the requirements. 

I thought there was some interesting 'language' choices in what the questions asked you to do, which I felt could be a bit of a trip up if you weren't reading the questions properly.  Jeremey described the test as a 'logical' exam... and upon reflection I think that's also a good way to describe what it is asking you to demonstrate.

My exam technique clearly is a little rusty and it was good (if painful) to put myself back in a 3 hour test space.  It was a reminder to me about what my own children are going through weekly at College.  I am going to be a lot more supportive and sympathetic when they are complaining about testing week at school!

D.F.I has been an incredible experience for me and I've thoroughly enjoyed the past 9 weeks.  It's certainly taken me outside of my comfort zone as all good PLD does, and I've learnt so much.  A big thank you to Jeremy, Dorothy, Vicki and Jakub for their support along the way.  NWS gave Jeremy/Dorothy a box of chocolates each and explained that each chocolate was for a question asked.  Jeremy cheekily suggested that each chocolate was for one of my tabs that is open!

...maybe when I am feeling brave, I'll give Level 2 Accreditation a whirl :-)  not today though...  

   

Week 8 - Digital Technologies Curriculum

 

Week 8 - Digital Technologies Curriculum

Computational Thinking sounds like a very high falutin title doesn't it!   Week 8 for the Digital Fluency Initiative (D.F.I) was a deep dive into the 'new' Digital Technologies curriculum.  Which brings me to my first point... when is this not 'new'?  How many years do we say this is 'new' before we consider this to be an expectation for 'normal practice'.  Secondly, when you go through many of the achievement objectives of the 'new' curriculum, many of us 'old timers' would say... oh -  it's just that with a new title :-)  Not so scary after all. 

Dorothy, always gives us plenty of food for thought in her sessions.  Today's Connecting with Manaiakalani Pedagogy" was a look into 'Empowerment'. Increasingly, I understand and appreciate the power of language with not only the New Windsor staff but also across a community.  Language gives us the words and ways to share our thoughts and ideas, desires and wishes.  Language becomes more powerful when understood by a wider community that those just closest to you.  Power grows when you can communicate for more reasons to more people.  Simple ideas ar ethe best - always.  The more powerful your language, the more independent you become, and the more you contribute to the community.  It was good to discuss the language choice of 'Empowerment' over 'Agency'.  I've used 'agency' many times in my vernacular over the last couple of years and it gave me pause to think about educational jargon and also the rationale on why Manaiakalani had opted for the later. 

I also had some deep reflection on the statistic of the average income in a Decile 1 community - $19,000 per annum.  When you take a second to really think of what that looks like for a family and the choices (sacrifices) that a whanau would need to make to survive on that you get a real sense of the daily struggle.  Dorothy was so correct when she said - how clever are those families to live on that!  Absolutely - making that dollar stretch across all the needs of a family would involve incredible creativity, resilience, and fortitude.   In addition, I have a renewed passion for the importance of equity and removing barriers!

I loved the Future of Tech session - I am a total Sci Fi geek and I get excited at the prospect of the future.  I remember being completely blown away by the film the Minority Report when it first hits our screens and I consider myself to be one of the early adopters to any new tech going!  I love the latest gadget and I'm usually at the front of the line for any new releases.  Driverless cars can't come fast enough for me.  I do understand the displacement of jobs and industry but I am aspirational  and optimistic that humans are clever and we MUST evolve and adapt.  I for one am not scared of change.  

Arghhh the angst of the Moral Machine activity.  Can I just let you know Dorothy, Jeremy/Jacob this raised some very contentious dinner conversation on Saturday night.  Choosing between whether the dog or cat would live....  wow - the volume got loud :-) No spoilers on the rest of my decisions!  By the way....I would choose the dog! I also realised I'm one of those annoying people that simply can't make a straightforward decision. I was looking for loopholes in every scenario, so that I would not need to commit to a decision and how I could give everyone a chance to survive (face palm).  

Check it out and see what I mean... link

Thank you for your ongoing patience with supporting us towards the Google Accreditation process in Week 9.  On Friday night I started one of the tutorials and I am going to dedicate some time over the next couple of days to prepare for both the 'Classroom' and 'Sheets' component of the exam.  

So... I'm wondering did Austin go back to Pt England talk about the teachers that he taught Scratch to?  After a short demo and trial using Scratch I had an appreciation of how invested Austin was in the games he had developed and the level of sophistication in his coding - mind blown!

Roll on Week 9... I'll be sad when D.F.I is over!  I'm also well into the flow of my weekly Blog post now and like everything it's a discipline that you work on with practice!  Now to keep it up.    

    

DFI - Looking at Devices

 

DFI - Looking at Devices

I am well and truly into the Digital Fluency Initiative (DFI) 'swing of it' now.  We are 7 weeks into the programme and I'm picking up skills left right and centre. I've been chatting with people who have finished this programme and it's been great sharing our learning(s) and take-aways - fantastic learning in itself.  For example Sheree, the Tumuaki from Hay Park showed me her toolbar at our Kahui Ako meeting and that was another lightbulb of how I can not only have individual pages across this toolbar but also folders.  A no brainer... and one of those examples, where you think - of course! 

The focus of today's session was an opportunity to learn about Chromebooks and iPads and the devices that our young people are using everyday.   Jeremy's Digital Dig showcased some keyboard shortcuts for Chrome.   It took me a second to realise that these shortcuts were for Chrome (while you are using that browser) and in which case i could still use them on my Macbook (facepalm).  Picking up and using a few new shortcuts each week will positively impact on my workflow and I'm keen to incorporate these into my practice.  

Being on the Chromebook in itself was interesting.  Although I'm not face to face with learners I took the point of Dorothy's suggestion about encouraging teachers to put their laptops away over the Christmas break and to spend some time on the device.  It took me a while to adjust to the keyboard size and the mousepad (good to feel that frustration, I think) but I think it's important to practice in this space when you will need to support learners with troubleshooting issues etc...

Thinking about Workspaces, Explain Everything and Screencastify(the apps that were showcased this week) I'll definitely be looking for opportunities to use Screencastify to support navigating our school sites e.g Staff Intranet, Local Curriculum site.  Fiona demonstrated that it's really powerful for teachers to have the students showcasing their classroom sites using this tool in their own voices. 

Back to the prompts for today's reflection process and a think back to Distance Learning 2020/beginning of 2021, I am keen to look for opportunities to make the learning rewindable.  For example an action we can take immediately is to start recording our staff meetings.  Dorothy explained that at Pt England School this is a delegated staff members task.  I think we could look at getting a team set up around this for our PLD on DMIC, Spiral of Inquiry etc... Great for a variety of different purposes

• Inducting new staff members
• Making the learning rewindable - checking understanding 
• A good support for people who are absent from the PLD session

I think we could trial a few different platforms for this recording, but I am thinking we try Google Meet in the first instance, and potentially record this on an iPad with a tripod.  

I am also pondering the concept of asking the Team Leaders to record their team meetings and to reflect on - engagement, contribution, collaboration, their ability to support an evaluation and monitoring process with staff.  Great for personal insight in to developing Leadership Capability.  

Focus in the coming weeks:

• Looking at the ICT budgets for the ICT expenditure of iPads.  Our digital strategy to get more devices into the hands of our Year 1 - 3 students
• Explain everything - PLD support with Phil, using this App in our Junior School
• How can we make the learning rewindable for our teachers

I am also going to commit to repeating DFI in another couple of years because one thing we know is that technology moves on and keeping up is a personal responsibility.  

Enabling Access - Topic of the day

 

Enabling Access

Super timely for me was the publishing of the Puaotanga Review report (in my inbox) with my participation in Week 6's Digital Fluency (DFI).  - Enabling Access was the topic of the day.  Lot's of thinking and reflecting as I engaged in my sixth DFI day and also read the 78 page independent review of staffing in our Kura's!  

What we do know....Schools, teachers and principals know that in the 21st century (and let's face it, we've been in this century for 21 years now) that every learner must acquire the knowledge, skills and dispositions they will need for life-long learning in a rapidly changing knowledge-based society. In order for that to happen, schools must be fit for purpose.   Questions:  So what is fit for purpose, what does this look like in OUR context....

You can probably smell the brain cells burning...

The connecting session with Dorothy was another deep dive into the Manaiakalani pedagogy and an opportunity to link/make connections back to New Windsor Schools Local Curriculum development and emerging curriculum.  I love the metaphor of the 'house' - the roof, the joists, the foundations as different components of the whare and components of the kaupapa and their importance and how they all work in together. 

So how do we enable our learners... How do we look for our akonga to be connected - within the school, community, nation and world.  Action:  Looking at this with our staff will be an excellent 'work on' as we continue to develop our curriculum.  

I can't remember what part of the day this was mentioned, but I am keen to plan for regular whole school sharing of Learn, Create, Share examples.   The professional discourse amongst teachers and collaboration of this sharing will be an excellent way to make the learning visible, connect, empower our teachers!  I LOVE this!

As the staffing review has demonstrated. Teachers are time poor (increasingly everyone is time poor).  We need to be strategic, we need to think how we will get the most bang for the buck with our high leverage practices.  I am relating this across the professional learning I have engaged with recently.... Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC), Relationships First - Teaching to the North-East, I am making connections to the key themes in what effective practice is and the strategies that have the most significant impact on teaching and learning.  

All educators love the time to work on a project they are personally engaged in.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to make a start on New Windsor Schools Local Curriculum google site.  I am planning for this site to be:  Connection to the story of New Zealand/History,  learning about New Windsor Schools story/history, connection to our local Iwi.  I valued the time to look at examples of other teachers google site, and the chance to ask questions and be supported in my digital bubble.  Thanks team - I LOVED the day!

My big commitment over the next couple of months is to keep looping back to grow this site with our team as we walk our Local Curriculum project together.  

Thank you Vicki for accomodating our team back into the online cohort for another Thursday. We are back to our Friday Face to Face group next week and finishing off the last couple of sessions of this amazing PLD.  

Week 5 Digital Fluency Initiative - Collaboration/Google Sites

 

Week 5 Digital Fluency Initiative - Collaboration/Google Sites

A return to the online format for DFI for Maria and I yesterday.  This saw a change of cohort and day to make up the lesson that we were going to miss through our Accord Day, Kahui Ako professional learning.  I don't know what it was, but yesterday, was considerably easier for me. Wendy (the Assistant Principal at New Windsor) has given me a good name for this - I'm developing 'match fitness'.   I felt more confident in the online space and am finding it easier to attend throughout the days as my skills develop, and I get used to the speed of the facilitation. 

I was a fairly early adopter to google sites and have operated both personal sites (for a variety of reasons) and professional school sites (staff intranets) at three of schools.  I even remember the original google sites - classic, which I think makes me sound a little long in the tooth.  I think the refresh has been incredible and it's links seamlessly to google drive, the full suite and as always it's ease of use making it incredible for collaboration.  I often use the metaphor of a 'filing cabinet' for google sites, but yesterday's professional learning gave me some great insights into the power of the 'look and feel'.  "Multi-modal" was probably my buzz word from yesterday and it's given me a fresh perspective on the power of the hook for engaging the audience.  

The notion and importance of the landing or home page as the window or hook into the content for the learner made me think that I need to spend some time looking at the NWS site and planning for:

• Refresh/tidy up
• Hook/engagement
• SiSoMO - Sight, Sound, Motion
• Ease of use

I love to come away and think of an opportunity to use my new found skills and tips in an authentic task/opportunity and I have decided to commit to moving one of my google slide presentations on the school Local Curriculum development/school history into a 'site'.  I think there is more opportunity in this app to share the resources using the SiSoMo philosophy of * Sight * Sound * Motion.  With some time over the long weekend, I'm going to make a start!  

I really enjoyed the opportunity to have a look at the T-shaped Literacy database created by one of the wonderful contributors to the Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers.  I'm going to follow up with Paulette, Maria and Phil next week on how we plan to introduce this into our teaching and learning programmes.  I am mindful of the number of initiatives we have on the go and how full everyone's plate is, but I think it is worthwhile putting this pedagogy on the table for discussion and seeing where it fits in the 'grand plan'.  

Insights

* The Hapara Hot tips are always a really interesting and valuable 15 minutes in the programme and as New Windsor School gets up and running with our individual student blogs this will be very helpful in being able to contribute and make the learning 'visible'.  

* Some new tips and reminders in Google Site and considerably more understanding on the importance of layout

* In the busyness of a working week it's not very often that I get an opportunity to check out teacher websites and it was great to see some high quality examples of multi-modal sites, and also T-Shaped Literacy.  I really appreciated this opportunity.  

* The importance of the notion of visibility in the learning and removing barriers - e.g locking parents/whanau out through passwords!  Visibility is essentially set as the default mindset.

A big thank you to Vicki, Phil and the wider team for being so welcoming and accomodating in facilitating our request to move days. 

Note to myself that I need to go back and ensure I can 'present' with the new update to Google Meet.... I think I need to set up a system preference in my Mac to enable this....  

Dealing with Data - Session 4 "Hump Week"

Dealing with Data - Session 4 "Hump Week"

I had to laugh when Dorothy opened the session with an explanation that we had hit 'hump week' of the Digital Fluency Initiative PLD. I think I breathed an outward sigh of relief that the sessions weren't going to get trickier.  I am surviving and I'm quietly chuffed each week with how many new tips I pick up and implement.  I can confirm that Phil's earlier claim in 2020 was indeed correct... this is the best PLD! (Big statement... I know... you have to do it, I guess to believe it). 

Today's session was about the 'Share' component of the Manaiakalani kaupapa and I love it when the team uses the metaphor of the 'hook from heaven'.  In addition to 'Share' we were also tackling spreadsheets and I think the word 'tackling' works in nicely with spreadsheets because they can be tricky - conditional formatting, formulas (are your eyes glazing over at the mere thought) etc...

First of all, I'd like to start my Blog with a revelation from one of the last sessions of the day.  I think (?) it was Mele's blog (student blog) that we looked at, and I was staggered to see that she'd had over 130,000 hits since 2014.  The reach and impact  is phenomenal on so many levels and you really get a sense of the importance of audience and the power of Blogger as a tool.  I had a quick catch up with Maria about our students blogs today and my understanding is we are ready to deploy, so I am keen to discuss - audience engagement, cybersafety, blog commenting etc... with the team at our next catch up.  

I'm not sure it's very politically correct to admit to not being the biggest 'Blogger' fan when you are actually using the platform.  That's probably not the best look.  However, I had a shift in perspective today and Dorothy's explanation/metaphor of Blogger as the car/vehicle that the children learn to 'drive' on (the Granny car if you like), rather than the Ferrari that they all wish for.  Made a lot of sense to me.  Blogger is absolutely, 'meat and potatoes' but if it does what we want it to (and it does) then let's not jump to the fade.

I think it would be fair to say that opinions on the humble spreadsheet often diverge - some of us are traumatised by complex formulas and others celebrated as spreadsheet ninja's.  The facilitators did well to cater for the range of abilities in the group and I picked up some great tips from Jeremy on conditional formatting, data validation etc... I felt quite proud that I managed to keep up in this session and I picked up some excellent tips.  I made a solid start on a simple 'Fale' (House Points) table for our New Windsor Way competition and Jeremy showed us a great example of how we can expand this tool across classes/school.  

I have another list of LOVES from today 

• Access and tips on Hapara dashboard - I also signed up to the Hapara forum on a recommendation from Dorothy.  
• Google Forms and a reminder that I can break up my survey's into sections.
• Google Maps and a good overview of how I can use this tool for tasks such as mapping out the school Cross Country

As an aside, I also really enjoyed the opportunity to have a walk around Papakura Central School and could make a number of connections to New Windsor - same decile, similar size, similar demographic, they even had the same Auditorium as us.  Realisation #2 we desperately need heat pumps in our space.   I'm all over that!

DFI goes online again for us next week and because we can't make the Friday session because of our Kahui Ako CoLference we are online.  

Another great day.  Thank you team. 

Week 3 and DFI goes online

Week 3 and DFI goes online. Friday saw a change to the Digital Fluency Initiative with a move from the Face to Face format to Online via Google Meet.  Seven hours of online concentration was certainly intense and it's interesting to reflect on the pro's and con's for my learning style preference.  

Pro's for online learning

• It was WONDERFUL to have an extra 45 minutes in bed, and given Auckland's traffic it was great to not have to battle my way from the West (Onehunga) to East Auckland (Point England).  
• Great to practice my Google Meet skills.  Our initial platform of choice for Online Learning last year was Zoom, and we came across Google Meet at the beginning of this year in response to our commitment to Ako Hiko. So I'm fairly new to Google Meet and it's great to be able to pick up some tricks and tips on maximising the potential in this app.  
• Sunshine (my puppy) loved having me at home.  I sorta rued the decision to not her take her to doggy daycare, which is our usual routine for Friday's but after her initial over excitement she did settle down to being good company. 
• I had to really concentrate the whole time and not try and multi-task, answer emails etc... as I couldn't rely on Maria and Paulette to repeat what I'd missed. 

Con's for online learning 

• I missed my buddies (Paulette and Maria) and I find I consolidate my thinking and processing by making connections to my own and others thoughts.  I really enjoy the in between chat with colleagues and I find this really suits my learning style - I'M A TALKER :-)

All in all I think it was great to try a change of format for the day, but on balance I'm happy that I elected to participate in the Face to Face programme.  

So back to the reflections on the kaupapa from Friday - CREATE.  

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge what a talented facilitator Dorothy is. The team is all very engaging in their own rights and styles :-)  Our weekly Connecting with Manaiakalani sessions are fast becoming my fave part of the day. Dorothy oozes passion and speaks with real conviction and expertise on the pedagogy behind "Learn, Create, Share'.  I, too am a big fan of 'Create' and we can make real connections to our school values - where 'Creativity' is front and centre.  My take-away from this session was that the 'Learn' can be embedded in the 'Create' experiences and that also simply making a slideshow - isn't Create!  It's what are doing with this....good food for thought as we support our teachers with this mahi.  

I really love any professional learning where you have something that you can take away and use immediately.  I have made a good start on my digital pepeha and I picked up some great time saving tips in this session with google slides.  

I saw some excellent potential in Google Drawing and the chalk and talk session with Jeremy in our digital bubble was a great way to get ourselves familiar with this app.  I've decided my portrait won't be featuring on here, but I have the gist of how I can use this for creating flow charts, using it for art lessons with the children.  Times like this I wish I had my own class!

Here is the link to my digital pepeha  I wasn't going to post this until I had finished and then I realised that was silly and I it's ok to show it as a work in progress.  

 

Week 2, DFI - Workflow

 

DFI Week 2 and the word of the day was TAMING! - 'Ways to efficiently manage and keep track of our lives'.  It was like the whole day was designed just for me!   As the last blog post will testify to (check out Jeremy's face in the photo) 'taming' is definitely what my google apps needed * specifically my tabs.  

Maybe it was the lollies.... but I coped better with the pace in DFI this week. It could also be that my brain was back in work mode!  The agenda kept a similar format to Week 1, and this week's programme was all about 'workflow'. I am now cued into concentrating to the facilitator -  "Learn", then afterwards we have an opportunity to have a 'play' in our own space/making meaning.  Maria/Paulette and I then have some time to discuss and "Share" how we might use this individually or with the wider school.  

Certainly another week of 'I LOVE THIS' moments, with so many tips that I can integrate back into my workflow.  

I am going to scale my 'takeaways' into a bullet point list again with my most important 'a-ha's' at the top

• Google Meet:  I really enjoyed the opportunity to practice some new skills in Google Meet.  NWS was late to this app as we originally started our Digital Learning in Zoom in 2020 and transitioned across to 'Meet' this year as part of our commitment to Ako Hiko.  Sophia (my new DFI friend from May Road) was very patient with me as I learnt how to use my new headphones that Paulette bought me (notice the pink).  Note to self - it helps when you turn the mic on (face palm).  So key tips for me in this session were 'recording' and 'presenting mode' which I am going to make sure I use in my consulting role over the next few weeks.  Check out my nifty video from my practice session with Sophia.  

• Learn - connecting with the kaupapa. This workshop was a Google Meet session with Dorothy (who was in Christchurch) and I made lots of connections to our local curriculum development that is underway. Great question - 'What does 'Learn' look like at NWS and what are our 'go to' high leverage practices. I immediately scheduled a meeting with our Senior Team to discuss our T-shaped literacy and to explore this further with the team.

• Google Keep - I LOVED Fiona's suggestion to add in an email (as a reference) to a To Do list, such a sensible idea for helping to support workflow.
• My Gmail and Calendars are relatively under control (ish) but there were more great tips on - shortcuts, scheduled send and I will take some time over the next week or so to go back to the helpful presentations to follow up on the teaching points.

After looking at Jeremy's Blog - I am also going to commit to adding in a Bio and picture of me across in the gadgets, and look at trying to add in a New Windsor Picture/logo at the top of my blog.... let's see how I get on with those tasks.

Question for Jeremy?   Did the team get a pass mark today?  

Realisation - DFI is online next week!  So no lollies and Maria and Paulette, holding my hand.  

Note - Maybe moving to the front of the room did help... 

Friends - It was lovely to make a new connection on Friday.  A shout out to Sophia from May Road.

Digital Fluency Initiative - Mind Blown...

You know you really enjoy the PLD when you find yourself doing your homework on a Friday night at 9.00pm!

Today was our first session of 'DFI'  professional learning and as purported it was INTENSE.  In fact, there were times in the session that I was having some real 'learning pit' moments. 

* see that sweaty face... that was me!

The amazing Phil (Ako Hiko Trust) had really sold this PLD to Maria, Paulette and I, last year, as the 'best PLD, that he'd ever been on'!  Although we were a teeny bit skeptical of such a bold claim, I am already thinking that I can see why he would say this!

 

I'm going to start with the statement that Dorothy, Jacob and Jeremy are probably the most patient people in the world!  I asked a lot of questions (underline and bold) - much to Paulette and Maria's delight.  On  consideration, I think I'm going to move myself to one of the front tables next week!  This will help with my eye sight (I am new to glasses) but also, so that I don't miss anything.  It's a whirlwind pace!  

So, what is 'DFI' - it stands for:  Digital Fluency Intensive, and as the name suggests (and is explained) it is an intensive (more bold, underlining) nine week professional learning group focussed on the following goals:  

1. Our teachers/leaders are supported to acquire fluency using the basic tools our young people use for learning.  
2. Our teachers/leaders are supported to acquire fluency using the basic tools required for effective teaching, planning, assessment and professional learning.  
3. Our teachers/leaders are supported to understand how digital technologies used effectively can have a significant impact on accelerating achievement outcomes.
4. Our teachers/leaders are supported to understand how the Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa has been co-constructed over more than a decade to maximise the impact of effective teaching and learning in a digital learning environment.  

Learnings from Day 1

Well, where to start!  By 9.30am I had learnt more 'tips' in an hour and a half than I had in probably years!  By lunchtime my brain was full and by 1.30pm I was thinking it would be nice to lay my head down on the table for a quick rest.

I love the format of the sessions and the agenda for the day is perfectly balanced and the timetable strictly adhered to.  I can see the commitment to this scheduling by the team is critical in ensuring that the material planned for is covered and that the pace in the sessions remains snappy.  A tricky balance, which I acknowledge is hard in a room with learners that are up and down the continuum of abilities in each of the topics.  * I hope that this paragraph doesn't sound like a yelp review of a restaurant visit... 

I really want to list out all of my learnings in a stream of consciousness because there were literally so many take-aways.  

It was GREAT for Dorothy to begin the day with an overview of the background of the journey, context on the Manaiakalani kaupapa.  What an incredible and truly inspirational journey it has been.  I am relatively new to the Ako Hiko Trust (17 months into the job) and I have missed much of this backstory.  

Learn, Create, Share is fundamental pedagogy and this is kept at the forefront of the programme.  I loved that this was modelled throughout the agenda and this was a very authentic way to reinforce this model.  

If you'd asked me yesterday, I wouldn't have described myself as a 'slouch' in google land.  I've been operating in the 'cloud' for around 15 years now when I reflect back to my early days at Reremoana.  We were fairly early adopters in this space - BYOD, Hapara etc..., and I can attribute (and thank) a trip out to Point England kura way back then, for setting us on the right track! However, doing PLD like this gives you a perspective on how much there is to know and the importance of committing to ongoing training and workshops.  One of the key reasons for engaging in this PLD is that I am self taught with many of my I.T skills, and I am cognisant and have now had that confirmed that there are many ways I could streamline my workflow and make my (and others) lives easier!  

Commitments, I am making: 

• Tidy up my blog, I have LOTS of homework to do in this space.  Thank you Jeremy for your patience with my questions.  
• Reorganise my google drive, with some nifty new tricks
• Find a new profile picture for my google profile
• Links to 'alias' folders - between the staff and board folders
• Streamlining comms and workflow
• Use my new google docs tips for my board reporting - headings, Table of Contents, explore and text to type
• Removebg - do you know about this little gem?  Wonderful for tidying up images and removing backgrounds. Easy peesy to use.  
• Follow up with Maria and Paulette about the Running Record Voice to Type function/activity
• Look at google groups for the Kahui Ako Principals, SLT at New Windsor
• The commitment from Maria, Paulette and I on sharing this new learning with our NWS staff. 

The list really goes on and on... OH!  I'd also better commit to tidying up my tabs, desktop and open folders.  I thought Jeremy was going to have a conniption when he saw my desktop.  I am worried, I am going to become the cautionary tale of what NOT to do, in the next couple of sessions. I guess we wait for the next instalment in that space.   

I can't wait for next week and I'm gushing about how FABULOUS today was.... well after I'd had a little nap.  

A big thank you to the team for their mahi today.  I am incredibly appreciative. 

Lisa