ULearn 2019

My time at ULearn was amazing. I picked exactly the right sessions to attend for my professional learning and I enjoyed EVERY single one.

I am excited to come away with some resources, and this post is just really a way for me to remember where I have saved these. 

First session: OJC Future Focussed Curriculum
Led by Luke Sumich with support from Viv Mallabar, Tracey Greenwood and Fred Strickson

This was a talk about the journey at Ormiston Junior College and the way they have designed their curriculum in a secondary school context. They teach years 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Here is the slideshow from this session.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YB_lR3GTQUvIq9RJo9EJUFtTt-lPtipGork5fjHlDR8/edit#slide=id.p1

The second session was about Huntly College (Decide 1 in Auckland).
It was led by Barbara Cavanagh (Principal) and Michaela Pinkerton (Deputy Principal)
They are doing amazing things for their students and have absolutely transformed their school as a result of their curriculum design. I found this talk extremely inspirational.
I have a printed version of the slide show. Need to photograph pages and upload, or see if I can get link to digital slideshow.

The third session was with Janelle Riki Waaka from Core Education. I shared a video of hers on a previous post of mine, so I felt like I was meeting a celebrity going to this session.
It was about Maori innovation/innovators. I was in awe of this lady. She was amazing. If it made me as a Maori feel proud, imagine how this kaupapa could enhance the feelings of self worth in Maori children and their belief in their own potential. Just WOW!
There are a whole lot of videos I am yet to watch sharing examples of Successful Maori Innovators.
Also she shared an amazing resource- the tech design process created from a Maori perspective. IT was based around the Maori creation story of Ranginui and Papatuaanuku.
I WILL be using this. Doc is featured in her slideshow.
Here is the link to the slideshow from her session.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eIzRL5IiXpUADI2OrPowtNBLS5SknxmxmfKLvVnuCWg/edit

Next I went to a workshop with Tracey Greenwood and Lesley Mansell from OJC. The focuse was on the project based learning aspect of their curriculum, which they call TAIP.
The provided and AMAZING resource here, which I will definitely be using.
Here is the link to the Google Site they shared.

https://sites.google.com/ojc.school.nz/taip-sprint/project-overview

Lastly I attended a super long  but awesome session on Game design from OMGTech.
I managed to take home some sweet resources and have a play on Scratch designing a game myself.
One of the key messages for me was how game design provides so many career options and there are currently not enough people to fill all the available positions. Jobs include game designers, programmers, artists and more.

Here is a link to their awesome site which includes lesson plans.
https://omgtech.co.nz/

Shay Wright Key Note Tweets ULearn 2019

STEM Portfolio (Mainly Maths)

I was nominated for a Prime Minister's Awards for teaching of STEM!' Since I went to the effort to make a portfolio, I figured I may as well share it here.

It summarises the Castle Project we have worked on and includes a few other things I have done.

Here is the link to the PDF file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XGlMkkUx6KuMIJOxZDQxBiRkWlwWlGk8/view?usp=sharing

Giving Mana to Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Staff Meeting: Maori 23rd July 2019

As a staff we watched this video from Janelle Riki-Waaka 
Giving Mana to Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Then we reflected on this question:
How would I know I am in a school in Aotearoa at Mount Biggs School? 

We discussed what someone might see, hear and feel in our kura. Recorded below are our ideas. 

Then we looked at this graphic

What are we doing? Not doing? How can we improve?

We also looked at this one:

After that, we talked about ways we can improve as school. How else can we give mana to te tiriti? 

Our staff have goals based on Tātai Ako so we had a look at these and reflected on our progress. We set goals at the start of the year and record our progress on them throughout the year. If we have achieved our original goals. We continue to create new goals.

Here is a blank example of the Tātai ako goal sheet for both registered teachers and leaders. 

If you would like an editable copy, email me rstrawbridge@mountbiggs.school.nz.

It is helpful to give direction for goals and decide what needs to be focused on by individuals. It is a way to reflect on our practice individually and continue to grow our capacity for teaching all students in a way that is best for Māori.

Reflect & Comment on Professional Standard 3: Professional Relationships

Reflect & Comment on Professional Standard 3: Professional Relationships/ Ngā hononga ngaio *

I have copied and pasted this from our termly Teacher Self-Check. It's a reflection against one of the professional standards.

How have you engaged in reciprocal, collaborative learning-focused relationships with:- 

learners, I offer students the opportunity to be involved in the process to design their own learning.

I assess them and share their learning data with them. They are able to see what they know and what they need to know. I support them to choose ways to meet those goals in ways that work for them.

family and whānau- I am very open about what my class is doing.

Here is a link to my newsletter that shares my intentions for the term with my whanau. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/my-drive

teaching colleagues, 

In our staff we regularly talk about what we are doing, why and how. I think we are all very close as a staff and we work closely together to support one another.

support staff and other professionals-  

I worked very closely this term with Haley my teacher aid. I trained her how to teach multiplication strategies and set her up with a group, resources etc so that she could be successful. As a result of this, many of my students made accelerated progress in maths last term with their number strategies.

Agencies, groups and individuals in the community.• 

I have worked closely with RTLB Pam on my spelling programme

I have liaised with CORE ed working about my teacher inquiry

I connected with our Enviro leader and the DOC Scientist to support learners in my class.

I also arranged many other members of the community to be interviewed by my students for their documentary project.

This question is also massive.

How do you communicate effectively 

I talk to people. ‘

I email. 

I text.

I listen.

I reflect and think.

Actively contribute, and work collegially, in the pursuit of improving my own and organisational practice, showing leadership, particularly in areas of responsibility.• 

I attend staff meetings

I attend COL meetings

I seek professional development eg anxiety workshop

I read the shared text to discuss at staff meetings

I read numerous other articles about teaching and learning

I organise things eg kapa haka trip, Matariki, kapa haka uniforms, school pantomime

Communicate clear and accurate assessment for learning and achievement information.

I communicate assessment on etap

I have quite a lot of assessment on my computer which is organised in ways that make sense to me. Much of this is not on etap.

I have written progress and achievement reports for my students 

I have had parent teacher interview to communicate achievement

Kahui Ako Term 2

The reason I have shared these pics is  because as I was given the role of WSL for our Kahui Ako and I have begun attending COL meetings in Term 2. I attended 3 meetings. The following documents are focused some of the things we are focusing on as part of our COL. 

There are 4 achievement challenges. There are 2 that our school will be focusing on specifically. 

1) Cultural Capacity linked to our desire to connect with our iwi to create culturally responsive programmes at Mount Biggs and 2) Pedagogy- linked to digital technologies and the work we are doing with Tessa Gray from CORE education.

Brief Reflection on Professional Standard 4 for Teacher Self Check Survey

Reflect & comment on Professional Standard 4: Develop a culture that is focused on learning, and is characterised by respect, inclusion, empathy, collaboration and safety. *

Here are some of the ways I did this….

1. First few weeks of school, you had to sit next to a minimum of 2 different people each day, to develop of culture where it is okay to sit next to anyone. It should be okay in the morning, put your stuff on any table and know it won’t matter who sits there because we are all one class and we can all work together.When you had sat next to every member of the class, you were allowed to choose to sit with whoever you like. I wanted people to all feel comfortable with each other and know that no matter who you were sitting with in the class, it would be safe, people would be kind and people would include you. It made it less awkward for those people that are afraid to sit with new people because they knew that you wouldn’t be rejected (unless you’d sat with all the people before) and that everyone was in the same boat.
2. STEAM challenges- We did many group STEAM challenges in the first few weeks of school. I chose the groups and changed them every day so everyone was forced to work with different people. Again I was trying to foster the idea that we are all one in the class and it should be safe for you to work with anyone in the class and know that they will be kind and they will include you. Obviously some children found this difficult but mostly it was the children who needed this that found it difficult because it took them out of their comfort zone. You can’t develop new relationships with new people if you are to afraid to leave the comfort of the relationships you have already established with people you consider safe and ok.
3. Collaborative Art- We did a collaborative piece of art with popsicles sticks. Again this was to get the message across that we are all one. We also started our 2nd collaborative piece which we will work on next term. It’s an outdoor piece of art to be made with recycled bottle caps.
4. Established a system of leadership and ownership over our class through the use of BANQER. Not only does this app cover key learning in the area of financial literacy but it provides other opportunities as well. It is linked to our values, behaviour management and roles within the class. Everyone contributes- everyone does their part-we all work together and respect each other and our environment.