The pathway and The Learning Pit

Thinking Dispositions

During Teacher Only Day, taking every moment of downtime to trawl through the Live Twitter Feed, These caught my eye.

We spent the day hashing out Learning Dispositions in our school and their visibility in practice.

I can't help but continue to draw the parallels between what we endeavour to instil in our students and what we equally must endeavour to instil in ourselves. No one is perfect... if they were, what learning would need to take place? What a boring life that would be!

I'm drawn to my defects within this graphic:

Managing Impulsivity is something I've grappled with forever! The irony is that, with an ADHD son, I'm finding more and more of my own quirks that align with his behaviour... Managing Impulsivity being one! How many times has hindsight given me a reminder that I need to work on this?

Thinking and Communicating with clarity and precision: Now you'd think that in my profession this would be a given... With age I've found this harder to control when I'm communicating 'on my feet' so to speak. With time to process... even a few moments... I'm good. I can even articulate thoughts and ideas quite well. However, in the moment... 

My thinking tends to go on tangents. Often. There's no rhyme or reason for ti and sometimes it can go out of control, however there is often an epiphany in there that works in my own head, but may be extremely difficult to articulate to others. Sometimes the Thinking and communicating gets a little jumbled. 

I'm setting myself a goal, as of now, ('on my feet' - I haven't really thought this out!) of Keeping my mouth shut. I need to develop my own Communication by ensuring I treat my thoughts like weeds, by considering them before choosing to communicate them. In order to develop the clarity and precision of my communications, I need to ensure that they are a great deal more considered! (And yes, again I can draw a parallel to my sons tendencies!)

Leading Innovation: The 3 Carriage Train

I found this a while ago, saving it as a draft so I could come back to it and give it the attention it deserved. I didn't watch it properly, but was inspired by the blurb that went with it.

I went through a period, during term three and early term four, where I was becoming disillusioned with my ability to drive eLearning being hindered and held back by my ideas and input being squashed.

This has changed my way of thinking in that it puts my context into perspective. I am often frustrated at my ideas, thoughts and input being thwarted or overlooked, often due to my lack of years and experience in the classroom. 

I've changed my outlook on this, mainly due to the perspective this clip has brought about in my own understanding and thought process. The wall that has often come up is probably not even about me... but about the fears and need for change within the other party.

I am eternally grateful to be working collaboratively alongside someone who, despite self describing themselves as being in the twilight of their teaching career, is open to making the shift. He constantly wants to learn, change and develop his own abilities. He's embracing the mind shift and stepping out of his comfort zone. He would place himself in the second carriage, but is definitely eager to be with those in the first. 

I thrive on learning from others in the first carriage. Manaiakalani Outreach and our Cluster eLeader Meetings keep the thirst for more ideas and knowledge burning. I'm lucky to have a peer, within the school, who is eager to drive change too... however is held back by the lack of availability of devices.

Mindshift explained via a pencil

This popped up on the #ulearn15 Live Twitter Feed today. It resonated with me on many levels, particularly embracing the mindshift. I love the analogy and think it would be a great challenge in the context of a staff meeting, where individuals were prompted to honestly consider exactly which region of the pencil they aligned to.

The parallel can be drawn to our student dispositions and the amount of support they require to fulfil their learning potential.

The Wood need The Sharp Ones to be patient and on hand to step in on a frequent basis. Without The Leaders, The Sharp Ones (and The Wood) could not exist. 

I can't help but fell aligned to The Sharp Ones. While we are early at jumping on the digital train... and that jump often feels as though it was a leap, from the side of the tracks, as the train sped by... There are The Leaders who have paved the way before. I can't imagine where I'd be on my current journey, were it not for the amazing groundwork undertaken within the Manaiakalani Cluster. There willingness to share their tried and true methods... pot holes to avoid... and be on hand to answer any queries has been a Godsend.

Back to The Sharp Ones...

It can still be a tough place to be. The Sharp Ones are often interrupted, in their everyday teaching, to solve problems. While they may only take a few moments at a time, these can add up throughout the course of an ordinary day. It can be a tedious job. A thankless job. It can be exceedingly frustrating... Often the Sharp Ones don't get positive reinforcement for their efforts, but forge ahead in the knowledge that they are doing the best they can to prepare their learners for their own future in an unknown world. This is what gets The Sharp Ones through... Negativity will always exist where change is afoot... and sometimes it may be exceedingly difficult not to take offence or feel personally affronted... Change is afoot in education and it is exciting to be among The Sharp Ones.

The Golden Circle

A productive day of discussing and hashing out the "What" aspect of what learning will/should/could be visible in our classrooms. We focused primarily on the 'We value Learning' component today, after a lot of ground work around student dispositions. We are looking to support our learners in moving along a learning spectrum comprised of four prescribed levels. From Monitored Learners... Supported Learners... Self Managed Learners... to the end goal of developing Self Directed Learners.

During the day I managed to keep track of the Live Twitter feed for #ulearn15 and was inspired by many tweets and threads running along these lines. There appears to be a direct correlation between this student disposition model and the Learning Pit. 

Learned helplessness

What does this video tell you about learned helplessness?

TAI Maths target group

For my TAI, the following benchmarks were set, to form targets to work towards:

Benchmarks

Children will reach the following benchmarks on their journey.

Term 2

Operational Domain Focus- Add/Sub

Strategies with multi-digit numbers involve using tens and hundreds as abstract units that can be partitioned.

-Using part-whole strategies to solve problems e.g

*Making to ten

*Subtracting in tens

*Place value partitioning

*Addition in parts (with reversibility)

*Don’t Subtract Add

I have been using Level 3 unit plans when teaching my math groups. I have found that this has been a grest way for students to learn a variety of strategies at once, making critical decisions about which to use. One thing I have found, with my target group, is that they struggle to articulate what the strategies are.

I have been trying to optimise the digital devices available. One of the challenges with this has been the discrepancy in ability to use the devices when working with students that I am less familiar with from the other half of our syndicate. To overcome this, I have utilised the students from our 'Wing' to be 'teachers' or 'go to people' when akonga are struggling with something digital.

Reaping the Rewards of my very own Learn Create Share moment

Exciting moment! I can relate to the excitement of my learners as my very own version of Learn Create Share gets an audience!

The dreaded Influenza has hit the youngest of the Raisin clan, so Husband & I resorted to playing tag-team, taking 'sick days' to look after her. I had put my hand up to share how we use the Learn Create Share model in our syndicate. Panic mode!

I'd LEARNed:

I knew what we did... It was easy to explain, in person, with the use of Hapara to show what it looks like in practise...

I needed to CREATE something to explain it in my absence. I decided on Powtoon, as I was in the process of trying to get the learners to use it. Afterall, part of the fun of being a teacher is being able to play Guinea Pig first (That's my excuse for all the time I whittle away coding and exploring online... and dragging my children around museum exhibitions and such, in the holidays!) My first Powtoon prototype is in an older post. I didn't dabble with the voice recording... so it's like watching a silent film! (Not particularly exciting) However, it is a prototype... as everything is these days!

My short Powtoon ended up taking a particularly long time to come into fruition... (Aren't we finding that this is a huge issue we are running into with our learners at the moment...?)Voice recordings were rerecorded due to: the three year old's shriek for water or tissues in the background; the overzealous paper turning that became too audible when played back... (Again, a problem faced with any recording task in the classroom, although I only had the one other child in the house to contend with!)

The end of the school day was looming, my little pixie sleeping, me frantically trying to export my Powtoon to Youtube to roll it out! (That panic we induce in our learners when we remind them a task is required to be completed before the looming bell... or they are eager to complete it in one sitting, while it's fresh in their mind.) I emailed it to our facilitator and four different people at school. I placed an emergency call to the staff member I thought was most likely to take a call in staff meeting... The eagle was in the air... I had SHARED!

The only conundrum... as staff meeting are often want to do... a slight tangent was taken and time allocated toward a few important points that cropped up. My SHARE had become rather stilted... (like the child who wants to share something with the class, but once again "we've run out of time".) I sought feedback from peers that I had sent it too... I published it on this blog... which probably has an audience of 1(myself) ...

My exciting moment came when I happened upon an email I'd missed at the end of a thread. My SHARE moment was appreciated... it was commented upon... and had been shared in a closed community group (I'm fairly certain this doesn't involve a peculiar sect, but at this point my excitement will take that even!) I'm reminded of what it's like as the learner to feel empowered by the comments of strangers, out in the big wide world! 

The power of Feedback

I hope that any one the Individuals who commented don't mind my taking a screenshot their comments, but I couldn't resist! I've had an epiphany of the kind that I believe every educator needs once in a while. We ask our learners to try new things and step out of their comfort zone, yet it is only when we, ourselves, do this... that we are able to become grounded again and walk in our learners shoes once more. It enables us to reevaluate our practice, our expectations. When we step out of our comfort zone, we find it all too easy to revert back to former practise... By embracing the mindshift, we are able to better support our learners as we are more empathetic to their uncomfortable feelings of being "In the Pit".

Modifying practice to meet the needs of digital technology and the Learn Create Share Model

Presentation to Parents on Blogging

A meeting was held for parents to keep them up to date and aware of whats going on within the classroom, as we move more and more digital.

Room 78 at South Hornby: A Winning Idea!

Room 78 at South Hornby: A Winning Idea!: Canterbury DigiAwards

Nadia @ South Hornby School: Our special place

Nadia @ South Hornby School: Our special place: This is a photo of our new learning space "The dining room" this space used to be called the cave because it was a place where...

How to: Mindshift towards MLE

I'm a huge believer in the embracing of the Mindshift. I love this blog post regarding Modern Learning Environments vs Modern Learning Mindsets. Four Seasons in One Kiwi Blog Our journey, while it is part of a road towards a new build in post-earthquake Christchurch, is encapsulated by this idea. We have created flexible learning spaces within our old single cell classes. Yes, we now have holes in the walls... however we began the mindshift towards creating flexible spaces long before we left our single cells!

At the beginning of last year, just four terms ago, I too had name labels on desks. I had painstaking trawled over positioning of students. I over thought combinations and configurations. I spent hours perusing templates, inserting the perfect font, laminating and utilising the guillotine...

The initial process went a little something like this (insert background music here):

Step 1: Remove labels from tables.

Step 2: Rethink furniture. I hauled in a coffee table I'd made when I was about 17. As other classes were clearing out surplus furniture, I grabbed group tables as they were being moved out in order to replace my older flip top desks. A table with wheels that had previously been used to store art supplies on, was now a table for learners to work at.

Step 3: Justify. Every item  in the room had to justify it's place. I calculated how many spaces I had for learners (coffee tables could house two comfortably) I initially didn't count the mat as a learning space... I only counted table surfaces. Remove surplus desks - I'd always had a couple of independent desks people could opt to work at. Now these were incorporated within the 'seat-count'. The sudden realisation of space was invigorating! Yes, I encountered reluctance. With the move to tables and choice of seat, as opposed to the individualised desks, came the sudden problem of where to put all the stuff that was in their desks. Now, this seems like a really obvious thing to have had to consider... but I was in the throws of excitement in wanting to get cracking with this.

• I'd planned for books - I went back to using nail boxes like I had in a new entrant room! 
• Pencil cases proved a nightmare - I ended up putting them on a shelf at the back of the room.
• Library books - we tried a shelf with individual bookmarks; keeping them in their school bags... The perfect solution proved evasive...
• What to do with work that was in progress... - This was kept in their assessment clearfiles.

These were just a few of the things that initially cropped up. The biggest change was certainly within my own mindset. Every management strategy that was highlighted in Teachers College had to be reevaluated. 

Shift to Term 4...

Suddenly, I was fresh off the plane from ULearn... about to get 15 chromebooks in my classroom (meaning 1:1 devices); Hapara Teacher Dashboard; and straight into a three week syndicate stint in a newly created learning environment with three classes and three very different teachers. 

It was huge... It was mind-blowing... but it was incredible! (Why didn't I blog about it then! - probably because I was too busy!)

Hapara Teacher Dashboard got me through a few 

It was a fantastic taster towards moving towards co-teaching. We worked out the foibles that could make things fall over... and they generally had nothing to do with the actual teaching. Relationships, Assumptions, Fears/Insecurities... they appear to be the biggest hurdles.

Fixed versus Growth Mindset

So, I took the test... I was brutally honest! It made my think about some of the questions we had the students answer today, in a survey created for our GCSN... there were definite similarities. Obvious reminder: The work ethic and resiliance we demonstrate and model to our students impacts imensely on the habits they themselves develop and emulate.

Here's the summary, based on the results of my survey:

You understand that your intelligence is something that you can increase. You care about learning and you’re willing to work hard. You do want to do well, but you think it’s more important to learn than to always score well. This is what we call the “growth mindset.”

Even though you have a good foundation, there are some areas where you could benefit from learning how to cultivate your growth mindset practices. For example, you may seek challenges and perform at a high level, but sometimes feel uncomfortable with criticism even if well-intended, or be rather hard on yourself for mistakes. You may have more potential than you are using! People who believe that they can increase their intelligence through effort and challenge actually get smarter and do better in school, work, and life over time. They know that mental exercise makes their brains grow smarter—the same way that exercise makes an athlete stronger and faster. And they are always learning new ways to work smart and build their brains.

A growth mindset is something that you can continue to develop throughout life. Would you like to find out how you can strengthen your growth mindset and reach your full potential? Visit www.mindsetworks.com to learn more.

The Evolution of our Learning Environment

Term one has seen a constant evolution of our learning space. Our overarching focus for this term has been "Our Place Our Space". With the new 'holes in the walls' and having 43 learners and two teachers within one space, we felt it was important that the kids had an understanding of how each space should be used and how learning should occur in that space. 

The angle we approached this from was to have the learning spaces designed by the learners, for the learners.

When a space wasn't working particularly well, or wasn't being used in the way it was designed to be used, we challenged the students to evaluate it and use critical thinking in regard to whether the space needed to be modified or the learning behaviours modified within that space.

One of the spaces that has been a constant 'problem' has been our cave. It had previously been used an an office/withdrawal space. Before the school year started, a window was created in order for this to be used as a learning space. It began with tables for people to collaborate, but it was being used as an escape room. 'Escape' as in 'escape from learning' (lets hide away and chat about anything BUT learning).

Inside 'The Cave'

Individual desks in the Quiet Space - known as The Cave (through the glass)

We had booth-like individual desks in one of the classrooms, with boards between them to minimise distraction. The learners chose to move these into this cave, creating a silent space to work in. With such an emphasis on collaboration, we've found that learners are hesitant to use the space in case they want to talk about their learning, as they'd need to leave the room!

Today, some of our learners utilised this space for their reading tasks. One of these students had headphones on, in order to listen to music while they worked on task... They don't tend to be able to maintain focus in a silent space.

The Creative Space

What was the old cloakroom... has been turned into a Creative Space. With lino on the floors, it lends itself to being a wet area when required. It also makes clean up easy. A large table, which is half painted in blackboard paint, is often used by a group who are collaborating on a task or who want to work individually on a group task, with the ability to discuss the tasks/learning as they go. This is a space that always has people in it.

Mrs Raisin's Teaching Space

I don't have a jelly bean table for group instruction and I have struggled to find a way to configure tables to get a practical group teaching station. I have found it easier to get groups together on the floor, usually in a circle. The kids turned one of our couches around so that it backs onto my teaching space. This has worked really well in that it minimises distraction for learners in both spaces, while creating a sound buffer. These boys knew I wasn't going to be pulling out a group so took advantage of using the space. In 'the old days', the sight of a group of boys sitting like this would automatically arouse suspicion! I've found that boys in particular, often line themselves against a wall like this. They work on their own learning, or a collaborative document, but are able to confer with each other, in a way that they can easily see the person's screen next to them. They can learn tricks and tips off each other and get feedback immediately, rather than having to move to see/show each others work.

Pair Space

This is a space is used by individuals or pairs. The table has a writable surface (whiteboard paint on a standard table).

Wonder Wall; Group Space; Stationary

TAI - Initial Presentation

This is my first attempt at using PowToon...

For my next effort, I'll attempt to include a voice over!

Class Collaborative Presentations

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First week down...

The first week is under our belt! Oh okay, so the first week consisted of only two actual teaching days... but we all appeared to be fairly shattered by the end of it!

It was fascinating to explore the acoustics of the new space, which the "holes in the wall's" created. We adapted our teaching methods to utilise the 'space around the corner' to limit the sound travelling the length of the building. We are constantly aware of the wider repercussions. It's not just that we are now team teaching... due to the openings in the wall, we are conscious of how what we are doing might impact on the other teaching spaces in the building.

We set ourselves some targets of what we hoped to get through in the first two days... we got through half of them! We introduced our kids to their google accounts and passwords, which a number had problems with! Some of our kids used them last year, whether it was with my pilot class or the younger pilot class coming through. For some of the kids it was their first time! One student had inadvertently be given a teacher aides login detail (same initial and surname!) - Minor glitches that we worked through! Let's just say that the page with the "reset password" button was kept on my screen... and used quite a few times!

Overall, the kids are responding fantastically to the change in environment and collaborative approach to teaching!
Next week, my partner in crime and I are getting GAFE training, which is super exciting!
My goals for the week are:

• to get the Passports sorted for the syndicate.
• Set up the template for individual student blogs.
• Undertake the EAsstle test in reading and mathematics.

Carpe dium

The end of the Summer holiday is nigh...

As with all 'best laid plans', this years preparation for the new school year has gone somewhat to custard! Hubby had booked 4 days leave to take control of our midget terrorists so I could dedicate those days to setting up my new collaborative classroom space without the distraction our cherubs provide. Alas, the builders on sight were somewhat waylaid and nought could be done but wait... and wait...
This year brings a few changes. I've moved into a new block, while my partner in crime for the year has remained in the same classroom. There is now a sizeable hole in each of the internal walls, to provide for collaborative teaching spaces and lending the older building to a more modern learning environment approach to teaching.
At the end of the year, my 'stuff' was piled into a corner to await my return post-construction. It wasn't easy to look at it without feeling the overwhelming urge to run in the other direction. This is what I was met with:

The pile!

 Each internal wall has had a hole created, with a support beam maintained in the middle. These photo's were taken when we were yet to gain full access:

Hole through to Room 6

Hole through to room 8

 Our old cloak rooms have had the hooks removed in order to utilise the space as a learning area. We are going to use the space as a creative space. We feel it lends itself to that as the lino on the floor enables a wet area (or clean up!). We are also intending to put instruments out there as the doors can be closed to minimise the noise levels. A large work table will be placed out here for collaboration or art etc.

View to old cloakbay

It wasn't just my room that had a pile! Somehow our task was to combine these two classes into one wider learning space.

Towards Rm8