Changing Spaces 2017

This year I decided to take a risk and present at Changing Spaces - I attended the day last year and supported but watched all my colleagues speak about their practice and how we operate in an ILE and thought that this would be a great goal for my second year.

I was fortunate to attend the keynote by Chrissie Butler where she challenged us to take a mental walk around our schools and their environments as she spoke.  She spoke of us as educators as developing an acute sensitivity to individual differences in order to drive design decisions.  This means that we should be looking for a framework to support the deliberate design for variability.  As a teacher, I should be providing options for recruiting interest, optimising individual choice and selecting options to help minimise distractions.

She really challenged me in my thinking of how am I using our environment to do so and as I was frantically tidying up tables and chairs after our presentation, I stopped and thought about some of the following points in her presentation:

• What defines the bicultural space?  How are the learners' individual stories being represented?  Are there spaces for everyone to make connections?  Does it feel like a safe environment to meet the needs of the whole person?
• This safety extends to both gender and sexualities - Chrissie challenged us to stop speaking in the binary and more as a 'we'.  This also links with being a community.
• Equitable access for all - she shared a great quote from Timoti Harris: 'Steps will naturally exclude some, a ramp allows all to enter'.  Again I have started to look at our space with a new lens and will continue to observe throughout the first few weeks of this term.
• Sensitivity to sensory needs - it was great to be reminded of this as I feel that I have become accustomed to the background noise in the hubs.  For some learners, this is a major distraction so how can we use the space more effectively to support them with their learning?  It also made me more mindful of the learners that use the noise to slip into the background.  Are there ways that I can connect with these learners in a way that enables them to feel comfortable but also makes me more aware of their needs when teaching?

This final quote from the presentation really stuck out for me - 'Nothing for me without me.'  I do centre my practice around using student voice however as I was putting the tables and chairs back into the spaces that they sat for Term One, I had to walk away.  This notion is key as I am not the only individual in the space and our learners needs to feel that they have a voice in the design of their space.  So instead of finishing the task, I just made sure things were back in an orderly fashion where we could use some time next week to look at the design and see if we can improve on anything for Term Two.  I am looking forward to the learners' input and feedback as I know they will have some great insight into how they want this to look like!

After the keynote, Latai and I were able to share with a group about our journeys so far as beginning teachers in an ILE.  This was the 2.0 version of a presentation we gave last year at the University of Auckland We asked the group to share with us the reasons why they chose to attend our session and it was a mix of those who were also new to teaching or those who had or were transitioning into an ILE setting.  Feedback from the previous year was that people appreciated the stories that teachers told about real life situations so one of the main activities we ran was giving groups scenarios that they discussed and brought back to the wider group to share.  These scenarios were examples from our first year and after everyone shared, we gave our insights based on our experiences.

I was grateful for the opportunity to present as I do need the practice of public speaking however co presenting takes a bit of the nerves away and this was a good example of how hub teams work together to complement each others' abilities as well as the generating and sharing of collective insights.  

My Own Class On Air - Mr Lewzey and the Champions

Following on from a blog post earlier, I filmed myself teaching.  This was very daunting as I did not want to "see" myself teaching but reflecting on the process, I am glad that I got the experience to do so.

This task was a taste of what the Google Class on Air teachers do in their roles and I can see how hard they work at producing at least 20 lessons a year to share with the wider community.  Click on the image below to see a weekly reading session with one of my groups.

This was a project that I was hesitant to take part in as it is putting you out there.  I realise that I work in an ILE and my peers see my practice everyday however to film and share your teaching online takes a lot of courage.

I realise from this process that I have a lot more to learn in my practice however what stood out for me was my rapport with the kids and how they were really keen to learn.  They were extremely brave to agree to take part and are keen to see the finished product so we will watch towards the end of this term.

I experimented with the shots and where I should position myself in relation to the camera - I was glad that I decided to sit in front of the camera with the kids as it gave me insight into how I am giving instructions and allowed me some steps to work on for the remainder of the term and next year.  One thing I will try for next time is making sure I have adequate recording for both myself and the learners as I feel a lot of some learning was missed due to this not being up to standard.

Look forward to any feedback you have on this lesson.

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

In lieu of a PLG session today, I did some reflection on a busy week.

On Tuesday, Latai and I presented at a session at the University of Auckland run by the team of 23teaching that focused on the shift to Innovative Learning Environments (ILE's).  We spoke about the power of collaboration and co-teaching in an ILE space and it was fitting that we co-presented this!  We spoke about the importance of knowing both yourself and your practice so you can be confident to communicate effectively with your colleagues and you have the self-awareness of how your behaviour may be perceived and the impact on your learners.  A great insight that we came up with was that we are the role models for our learners for the skills of collaboration so how can we ensure that we are being consistent with our behaviours.

On Thursday, we repeated our team effort and ran a toolkit on the use of Stop Motion Animation.  A toolkit is a workshop that teachers in our schools can run to help build our knowledge and capacity in the various tools we use in our learning spaces.  We chose to run this workshop as we thought it may help empower some teachers with the confidence to use these techniques for the upcoming Manaiakalani Film Festival.  Really cool to have the support of some of our hub mates who came along for the session!

Add to this week both our school cross country yesterday and me attempting to get all my raw footage for my entry in the film festival today and I may have been dead on my feet by 3pm.  However the power of the collective really got me through this week and it is great to have a critical friend at school who is willing to not only lend a hand, but also critique and offer alternative suggestions.  Both sessions to have present to colleagues and the public would have been daunting enough but knowing you have someone that has your back really helped boost the confidence and allowed me to take risks.

I will look forward to giving you an update in the later weeks on how my film festival entry is going!

PLG - Social Media and PLNs

This diagram from James Hopkin's presentation resonated with me.

In my response to James after his presentation to this morning, I called myself #currentlyincuriousity as a reflection of my status of a Twitter user.  I follow people, I read posts, however, I have not found the courage to engage with others in this forum.  Discussing it with the members of the MDTA cohort, I put it down to where I am in my teaching career and how I feel that I do not have a voice yet to engage with others.

Upon reflection, this feeling does not sit right with my teaching philosophy where I value the power of conversation.  Twitter is a powerful connector and I need to start engaging with others to develop my own Professional Learning Network (PLN).

Why is it important to have a PLN?  This infographic from Sylvia Duckworth gives some strong context.

To help build all our confidence in how to connect and discuss with others, Dorothy and Anne set up a provocation where we were answering a series of questions and using the hashtag #MDTAchat.  We were able to gain the technical expertise of responding to others from this exercise.

While doing this, I found myself in the "zone" - I was reading, responding and formulating ideas at a quick pace and it gave me the insight into the personal philosophies of my cohort.  I was able to see the connections that others made as well as challenge both others and my own thinking.  I found my Twitter voice!

So what next?  You tell me, I want to talk!

PLG - Google Hangouts and Manaiakalani Google Class On Air

Today we were fortunate to have Matt Goodwin come along to share what he and four other teachers have been achieving through the Manaiakalani Google Class on Air.  This initiative is where these teachers are recording their lessons while they teach and making not only snippets of the video available online but the lesson plans and reflections.  You also get access to select learners blogs and work to see how the learning is transferred and absorbed.  The great thing to see is that four of these teachers are graduates of the first MDTA cohort and have really taken the share part of our pedagogy to the next level.

I applaud these guys for being so confident to put themselves out there as I still find it daunting being observed, however, this will be an assignment task that myself and the MDTA cohort will be undertaking later this year.

In preparation for this, Matt showed the tools of the trade and the process he undertakes when preparing and filming these lessons.  Each teacher has been tasked with recording 20 lessons in a school year and Matt showed us how he used the recording function of Google Hangouts to achieve this.  A cool and efficient aspect of the record function is that it can upload directly to Youtube and then you can use the Youtube Editor to make adjustments.

I can see this tool being used for rewindable learning however I would need to ensure that I am comfortable with the tools firsthand before bringing them into the learning space.  We got a chance to experiment with Google Hangouts later that day and it is quite an adjustment to recording yourself and then editing it in iMovies however I can see the benefit of being upload to Youtube instantly and being able to use that footage while learning.

Once again, I count myself fortunate working in a learning community who are willing to put themselves out there and I look forward to having some of the tenacity transferred to me as I grow more confident in this space - bring on Heath's Class on Air!

Google Certified Educator - Level 1

Armed with plenty of water and snacks, I undertook a three hour exam today in order to become a Google Certified Educator (Level 1) and passed.

Such a great way to finish this week - this test took all the information that I had learned in the Google Apps for Education and presented itself in a practical assessment where I had to demonstrate confidence in all the applications.

This has given me the confidence to be brave with lesson planning and utilise these to help complement my teaching.  Onwards to the next challenge!

Casey the Caterpillar and Handwriting

As a Hub team, we have decided to have phonics for all learners in the morning.  As I have not had much exposure to phonics on placements, I have been observing for the majority of this week but noticed how well one of my colleagues incorporated the use of handwriting into these lessons.

Listening to the language, I was fortunate enough to go to a PD session run by another colleague where she was able to share some resources and training in Casey the Caterpillar.  This resource is used as a story to help learners understand the structure of their letters and has a great story to go with each letter of the alphabet.

I have included a photo of my attempt below by using the technique - I think this is a great resource for me as a beginning teacher as I need to improve my own writing skills for my learners as well as continuing building the skills they are developing when they enter the school.

Connecting with the Community

Tonight was "Meet The Teacher" night so I was feeling a bit nervous as I would be presenting to parents at two sessions.  Luckily I was presenting as part of a group and the team were awesome at setting me up for success with the information that I was presenting.

We had a pretty impressive turn out, especially in the second session and it was great to have dialogues with individual families as they moved around the hub.  I think part of my nervousness was down to my perception that I am a beginning teacher and I may have not the appropriate experience to answer queries at this stage.  However the majority of the questions that came my way was more about who I am as an individual, my background and how am I connecting with the learners and the school.

Our families have a huge amount of pride in the school and it was evident to see when they spoke of their child's achievements so far.  It was also beneficial for me to listen to some of the questions that came from families in relation to the use of devices in the learning spaces.  There is some natural concern that the devices will be the focus while the students are in the classroom so I need to be conscious to remind myself that it is another tool in the space and how it complements my pedagogy.

It was really awesome to see that families stayed afterwards to enjoy a picnic as well as the waterslide (very popular and the kids were so patient while waiting in line!) and other games and activities we had put out for everyone.

While it was a long day, I was glad that I was able to make these connections with the community and look forward to growing them during my time at the school.

Introduction and Orientation 2016

A year to the day on which I began my step into teaching allowed me to get an appreciation for the community which I am now fortunate to call myself a part of.

Picture this, a group of 9 enthusiastic beginning teachers (BT's) raring to jump into their careers, armed with their backpacks full of knowledge and experience.  The first day had the focus of connecting with both our community and each other as we explored the geography and demographics of our cluster as a team.  This enthusiasm was infectious as we set off and it was awesome to see that this energy kept going throughout the day.

Day two had us explore the expectations and guidelines of the Manaiakalani Digital Teaching Academy (MDTA) and while it may have seemed like information overload at times, it was very evident that the supportive nature of our cohort has already begun to develop and we have the support of our leaders and mentors.  We were fortunate to meet with our academic partners from the University of Auckland this day.

The final day, the MDTA cohort joined with the other new teachers for the cluster at Tamaki College for the official Orientation Day.  I found this day very beneficial as it was a great refresher of where the cluster had come from, but also allowed me to appreciate more the direction in which they were moving towards and how I could be a part of this development.

Looking back, there were times where I said "what have I signed up for?" but the focus on both communication and collaboration is so natural that by talking with others or asking questions, all the current questions have been answered.  Don't worry, I know that there will more questions to come!