Week Five Already?!

Wow!  Week five is upon us already.

It has been a whirlwind action packed four weeks so far as Hub Whenua has been getting to know each other and we build relationships with all 71 learners.  We are fortunate to have such an enthusiastic group of learners this year and with this comes the challenge of designing learning in a way that they can both identify with and apply their understanding.

I am currently crafting both my inquiry focus as well as my research for my dissertation this year. After reviewing our assessment data and using these first five weeks to really get the opportunity to observe our learners in action, the focus for both will be around the area of how I can boost confidence in writing.  I am excited for this opportunity as I have a passion for writing so hope to pass on some of this excitement and enthusiasm to the learners.

However this did have me reflect on how I will plan and design for these learning experiences.  I have put my hand up to present at this year's 'Changing Spaces' forum as a way to practise my presenting skills as well as build more pedagogical knowledge in how we can use the learning spaces to meet the needs of our learners.  At an information evening this week, we watched the following video that likened the design of learning to that of bowling.

The 7 - 10 split analogy has challenged my thinking around how I should be approaching my planning this year.  Last year I did plan for the majority of the group and found that sometimes I was missing the mark with learners on the outliers.  I feel by having this perspective change, I will further hone both my observational and analytic skills in with my design and instructional ability while in class.

I would love to hear you take from this video as the main messages or if it has a similar effect on your thinking around the design of learning?

Know Thyself Before Know Thy Learner.

Working in a hub means that you need to get to know your colleagues pretty quickly in order to establish team norms to get the systems and processes running for the design of learning.

A focus of our teacher only days this year was that of collaboration as all the hub teams this year are new, therefore it is imperative for us to get to know each other both professionally and personally before we enter the hubs and begin interacting with our learners.  Part of the collaboration activity was to determine our current personality type and we had to answer a range of questions to establish this.  I came out with the ISFJ or "The Defender" personality type as did both the other members of my hub team.

After determining our personality types, we shared with each other and had to do a SWOT Analysis for our team and think about how this might impact on both our relationships with each other and the learners as well as our design of learning.  This was a pretty powerful activity as it got me thinking about some of my personal goals for the year and how I may accomplish these.

One of the opportunities for development of the ISFJ is that we can be reluctant to change and reflecting on last year, I think that this is something I should remain mindful of as I begin to plan for 2017.  Just because something has worked in the past does not guarantee repeated success and as I get to know my learners' needs, I will have to differentiate activities based on their skill levels.  Continuing to take risks with my planning and trying new things is a key focus of this year, especially as I am no longer in a full time team teaching position in the hub.

With teaching and my dissertation, I do have to realise that it will be another busy year meaning that I need to continue with the disciplined thought and disciplined action.  I will be at school five days a week now (no more MDTA Fridays) and am more involved with extracurricular activities throughout the year so remembering to be open with how I am communicating and my workload commitments will be paramount to my success.  A key trait of the ISFJ personality trait is ensuring that others needs are met, however, as my colleague Latai tells me: "You can't pour from an empty cup" so I also will be mindful of my own wellbeing.

I will share these goals in a later post, however, thought the concept of knowing yourself first is key to how you plan to set up your classroom, relationships and routines for the school year.  I imagine that I will be reflecting on this post more as I get into the year so will look forward to seeing how I am tracking further in the term.

Here is a brief snapshot of what the ISFJ personality trait means.