All You Have Is Time - So How Are You Using It?

The title of this post is credited to the amazing Jase Te Patu, (Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāti Tūwharetoa), one of the Keynote Speakers at uLearn21. Jase is a leader in the field of Mindfulness for Children and wellbeing.

Jase helped us to explore Te Whare Tapa Whā and challenged us in such an honest and open way to really look deeply at what we are doing in our lives that stops us from having a balanced Whare. The meaning of Hauora is Hau-o-rā - the "vital essence of the sun." It is all about energy and balance. 

In 2019, Jase spoke at TEDxWellington. This is the recording from that conference.

A FOCUS ON TE WHARE TAPA WHĀ AT TE KURA

Wellbeing at Te Kura is central to everything we do - not only for our students, but also for ourselves. We have regular PLD around Wellbeing utilising the work of Lucy Hone and Denise Quinlan. Te Whare Tapa Whā is frequently explored at our Huinga Ako and forms an important part of My Korowai. If we don't focus on our wellbeing, learning and teaching can't happen successfully for anyone. 

APPLYING NEW LEARNING TO THE CLASSROOM

Each week at Te Kura we have our Huinga Ako. These are usually face-to-face, but are all online at the moment due to the Lockdown in Tāmaki Makaurau. I wanted to be able to take what I've been learning over the course of the year at Te Kura and combine what I had learned from Jase.

At today's Huinga Ako, we used the same activity that Jase did with us. I created the four pou (pillars) on a Jamboard and we discussed what each of the pou could mean for us in terms of our Hauora this Term. What are some of the things we can do to take care of our pou over the course of the Term? We related this to our Ngā Mātāpono. 

Here is what we've come up with so far. The most exciting thing for me? The fact that this was a group of students supporting each other's Te Whare Tapa Whā, and that they were still online tonight adding to their kete of tools to look after Te Whare Tapa Whā. We will continue to revisit this and develop our kete for each one. Jase challenged us to do this. Do we go back to our kete enough? Do we support others enough to revisit their kete? Wellbeing is a team effort. 

A final thought from Jase - and this one really hit home for me:

"We spend two minutes on our dental health but some of us no minutes on our mental health." 

What are you going to do this Term to balance the pou on your Te Whare Tapa Whā? 

"Make [your] wellbeing a MUST each day."

Citizen Science in an Online Learning Environment

During the uLearn21 Conference, I attended two sessions on Citizen Science. This is an area that has really piqued my interest - probably because I've held a long-time interest in flattening the classroom, connecting with mentors, and finding opportunities for learners to connect with the world around them.

I've had a long time connection with ePals in the past. This is an amazing platform where you can connect with people from all over the world, share learning and teaching and also experiences. We even had a shared Wikispace - remember those! - where everyone collaborated on their learning. It was about 2010 and exciting times.

Attending the two sessions on Citizen Science brought back a lot of the excitement I had for those days. The first session was a short taster session presented by Carol Briesman and Cathy Bunting. They provided a fantastic summary of what Citizen Science is:

"...scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration or under the direction of professional scientists and science institutions." (Eitzel, Cappadonna, Santos-Lang, Duerr, Virapangse, West, et al., 2017).

BENEFITS

  - Access to mentors

 - Access to larger data samples to work with

 - Being part of the scientific process

 - Grow science capabilities and connect to the Science community

 - Encourage students to 'think like Scientists'

 - Build student agency / whakamana

 - Exploring possibilities in terms of future careers and, most importantly,

 - The chance to make a difference in the world.

LINKS WITH DESIGN THINKING

I must own up to having a bit of an obsession with Design Thinking and the opportunities it offers our students to connect with the world around them and make a difference. Empathy is a key component of Design Thinking and this also kept coming through in the presentations on Citizen Science.

This is a nice summary of what Design Thinking is....

This is a great summary of what Design Thinking can DO - especially when learners run a project....

This was a Makerspace Project at a previous school. I supported students to learn the skills and we learned more about the Design Thinking Process by working together to create an awesome space - The Creator Ops STEAM (named by the project lead - one of my 13 year-old students). 

POSSIBILITIES AND WONDERINGS

We are currently in Level 3 in Tāmaki Makaurau - and we're not sure how long for. I teach at Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - The Correspondence School, where we are mostly an online school with face-to-face catchups once a week when we are at Level 1...so how can I make something as powerful as this work? What do I need to do as a teacher to make this work and how can I use my experience as a blended learner and teacher to make a difference in the learning of my students?  We also have a Citizen Science Module available for our students - how can I use this and extend the learning from this starting point?

The second person who presented was Matt Boucher from Thorndon School in Wellington. Matt shared what he has been working on for quite a while with a range of students and contexts. The more projects he shared and explained, the more ideas I had for how this could work in our context at Te Kura. Matt's passion for what he has created really gelled with my Teacher Inquiry and the questions I have around bringing more Science into an online learning environment and how that could possibly work well. 

RESOURCES AND WHERE I NEED TO HEAD NEXT

 My next steps will be to explore the resources at the links below, and watch the recording of the uLearn21 sessions again. From this, I will develop a plan that fits in with my Teacher Inquiry around bringing more Science into our learning environment at Te Kura and how that can happen no matter what the situation. My big question is around how we capture the real time excitement around experiments and thinking like scientists. I think Citizen Science could provide most of the answers for this question.

Exploration Links

Science Learning Hub - Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao

                                              Science Learning Hub - Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao

National Geographic - Citizen Science

                                            National Geographic - Citizen Science

National Geographic - Citizen Science Projects

                                                     National Geographic - Citizen Science Projects

Citizen Science New Zealand - Facebook Group

                                                      Citizen Science New Zealand FB Group

These will be enough to kick off the exploration and thinking as well as ideas for how we can make this work in our particular learning environment. Stay tuned! 

                                                                           

Aotearoa e tōnui nei | Thriving Aotearoa uLearn21

The theme of uLearn21 was Aotearoa e tōnui nei - Thriving Aotearoa. I am always excited about uLearn and have been attending for many years. Due to our current situation in Aotearoa, this year's conference was online. My excitement was tempered a little bit by Tāmaki Makaurau heading into Week 8 - or is it 9? - of our current lockdown. We've had four so far and this has been the longest. I'm always a bit of a Pollyanna, but this one is even getting on my nerves, so I wondered if I could be as enthusiastic as I have been in the past about the incredible learning that is uLearn. I needn't have worried. You know that saying about 'something you didn't know you needed?'  I always know that this is a conference I need, but this year's one had something extra special. It came along at the right time and has given so many of us an incredible boost, along with awesome tools that we can incorporate into our practice. 

Most importantly, it made us think, question, reflect, and have a driving need to take action. The four keynote speakers, alone, created so much energy that the ever-present focus on lockdown just disappeared.  There was so much incredible food for thought over the two days that there will need to be many blog posts to not only reflect on what I heard but importantly, to reflect on what action I will take in my life and teaching practice to make and support changes needed - not only personally, but also in terms of Education in Aotearoa. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to learn and teach in a kura that is already so well on the way in this journey of thriving. 

As a bit of a taster, here is one of the Keynote Speakers presenting at a recent TEDxWelington. Jase Te Patu has a very special way of connecting with his audience and challenging us to be more and do more. 

                                             Jase Te Patu (Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Tūwharetoa)

                                             TEDxWellington 2019

Having an online conference has many benefits including:

 - People who dislike crowds can participate more confidently;

 - If you have hearing loss, you are more than ably catered for - the sign language interpreters often stole the show!

 - As all sessions are recorded, there is plenty of time to be able to go back and revisit those that really got you thinking and, importantly, to be able to watch the sessions you weren't able to attend because you were at another incredible session.

As a conference that is inclusive, this is a fantastic example. 

Although the theme was #ThrivingAotearoa, I noticed another theme that seemed to run through nearly every session I attended - and also the ones I've watched since - the theme of space. Space to think, space to dream, space to be listened to (and heard), space to be individual and unique self, space to just be.  This theme, particularly in the current challenging climate seems to me to be just as important as the main theme. 

Perhaps it is this 'space' for what we need individually that leads to us thriving? What space do you need this Term to be able to thrive?