Biggest accomplishment no one knows about...

Day 9 of our Reflective Teacher Blog Challenge!  I've been inspired and challenged by all the blog posts I've read to date - that's just what Beth and I wanted out of this challenge.  Creating a vibrant online community for +TeachThought is also my goal and role.  It feels like we're finally getting there!

I thought a very long time about this post.  There have been many things I've achieved in teaching that no one really knows about.  I could write about those or I could write about something that is happening at the moment and is probably my biggest challenge - and battle - to date.  It's also very personal and I've kept much of it to myself.  If I can achieve this then it could well be my biggest accomplishment yet.

Teaching and learning mean everything to me.  I hope that if I'm known or recognised for anything at all then it is for the way I've given everything I can for my students so that they can find their way, their passions and follow their dreams.  I hope that my passion for what I do is clear and evident in everything I do and say.

That's why the current challenge is so hard.

Last year I was diagnosed with a major brain tumour and the expected outcome following surgery was not altogether positive.  One day I was in the classroom - August 14 to be precise - and the next day I was in the Neuro ward at Auckland Hospital being told that I hadn't imagined the weird symptoms I'd experienced for 10 years, that I had a Vestibular Schwannoma - cool name aye.  It was a benign tumour but was starting to press on the brain stem and had made me almost completely deaf.  To add insult to injury, it was evident on a scan from 2011 but had been 'missed'.  To cut a long story short "Arthur" needed to come out but there was quite a large risk in the 8 hours of surgery and I would also be completely deaf, may have severe balance issues and one side of my face could most likely be paralysed.  Oh great - that's all??!!

Surgery was on September 20, 2013.  While I was now completely deaf, I stunned them all and had absolutely no other side effects apart from some balance issues and went home after only 3 days - instead of the expected 7.  I'm stubborn and determined.  From here the battle began.

I thought I could return to school within a few weeks but was very knocked about by the surgery and really struggled to adjust to being deaf in one ear - you'd think it would be simple.  Not quite like that I found.  I couldn't give my school a definite return date so I did the right thing and resigned.  I was so angry and frustrated that I couldn't just return.  This is a very hard thing to explain to people.  They really don't understand and I can fully understand why.  My brain is absolutely fine - in fact my almost photographic memory has returned, (very helpful!!).  I look and sound fine but...

It's now a year down the track.  I am fighting to return to what I am so passionate about and looking for a suitable position either in leadership or consultancy and I know I will get there.  In the meantime I have the TeachThought online community to develop and I continue to meet some fantastic people online and in person.

When I do, it will be my biggest accomplishment in teaching.  Just to return to what I love.

#reflectiveteacher

The Unexpected Value of What's In A Desk

Day 8 of the +TeachThought 30 Day Blogging Challenge for Reflective Teacher Month and I have to say that I'm feeling pretty humbled and privileged to be sharing this fantastic teaching journey with 80 passionate educators.  When Beth Leidolf and I started talking about a blog challenge a while ago on a Twitter Chat I was running for TeachThought I honestly didn't think we would have the response we've had.  Even if we had only had 2 other teachers join us it would have all been worthwhile.  80, currently, is fantastic and we know the connections made are going to be so important in creating a useful, motivating and trusting community through +TeachThought.

So, back to the question at hand - What lurks in my desk drawer?  For many years I didn't have a desk - we turned it into a writing hub for students to use.  This was one of the best things I ever did.  I was hardly ever sitting down anyway.  In my last school, while I did have a desk, (it was part of the environment and expectations), I still used it very little and it was generally taken over by groups of students - great workspace for them.

This post isn't so much about what was 'in' my desk as what was on students' desks at the beginning of each term and what it lead to...

At the start of every term I always wrote an personalised message to every student, always including something I was proud of them for and encouraging them to set goals in a particular area for the coming term.  (If we had student desks at that time, the notes were left on the desks for them before they moved the desks to where they wanted to sit).  It's something I've done since I started teaching in 1999 and I've done it for all age groups.  It takes such a long time and one term I decided that maybe I could put my time into another area for the students, that the students, while they liked the notes, wouldn't particularly worry if the notes weren't there.  This was the year I had a Year 8 class, (12 - 13 year-olds).  Well, I certainly got that wrong.  The first students arrived and started looking around the classroom and then started giving me odd looks.  I think it was the beginning of our third term together.  Very puzzled looks ensued and a certain amount of muttering to each other.  Of course I had to ask what was wrong - while I was welcoming them to Term 3.  They were not impressed.  "Where are our notes?  You always write us notes."  I replied that I didn't think they'd miss them that much and that I wanted to put energy into other areas for them.  The disappointed looks - and a few comments - said it all and the message really hit home when many of them opened up their desks and showed me all the previous notes, including the start of term ones, that I'd written that were now selloptaped to the inside of their desks.

Guess what I did that night...yes, I went home and wrote 32 notes - and also apologised for the lack of a 'welcome back' note.  Something else curious happened.  I started getting notes from the students put all over my laptop, in my desk, etc.

Sometimes we underestimate our wonderful students and we make assumptions about what is important to them.  It showed me just how important it is to our students to be treated and understood and  respected as individual human beings.



This is the most valuable item I've ever found in a desk.

#reflectiveteacher

Classroom Environments

Day 5 of the +TeachThought 30-Day logging challenge already!  I'm loving sharing ideas with everyone and reading thoughts on a range of topics.

This was at the beginning of the year and we were just creating our learning environment together

As I'm not in the classroom at the moment, I've included photos from over the past few years.  My favourite classroom environment was an MLE - Modern Learning Environment - created a few years ago at a primary / elementary school where I was the Deputy Principal.  We got rid of the desks and used flexible learning spaces, cushions, tables, ergonomic chairs, ottomans, etc. Students were able to store their personal property in tote trays and there were still a couple of desks for students who work better sitting at one, but it was completely free choice.  I've always had the philosophy that students, no matter what age, are able to choose where they want to sit - that they have the right to do this but that freedom of choice / right comes with responsibilities.  We created these responsibilities together - focusing on work, allowing others to work without being distracted etc.  If I was allowing / expecting this to happen, then I also had the right to move them if they were not respecting the guidelines we'd created as a team.

Start of year without all their learning on the walls yet

I've always had flexible learning spaces but they were somewhat limited by the use of desks.  I noticed when learning and teaching in this different environment that the students were far more focused on their learning. Initially I believed they would gravitate to their friends to work and, yes, they did in the beginning.  That soon changed and they were working with a far wider range of classmates than they would have if they had been sitting in desks.

Awesome learning on camp

Outside the classroom is just an extension of our learning environment and we often work and learn outdoors - and go on camps!  For some students this not only connects what they are learning but it also helps them to increase their concentration and focus.


One of the best things I ever did was to get rid of my teacher's desk.  I was hardly ever sitting at it anyway as I was always working with students so we turned that into a writer's corner.  We also had science areas, maths areas, art, etc.  I'm still looking for more of these photos and will edit the post when they come to light.

Solving maths and logic problems

#reflectiveteacher

What Do I Love Most About Teaching?

Day 4 of the +TeachThought 30-Day Blogging Challenge!

Learning and teaching are everything to me but at the heart of what I do is always my students.  That's the way it's been since I began in my very first classroom in 1999.

I love the 'aha!' moments, when all those puzzle pieces fall into place for a student who has struggled and persisted.

I love the so-called 'challenging students'.  For me, they've never been challenging; we just haven't found out what inspires them, what makes them passionate about learning.  That's my job - to help them find that and then run with it!

I've loved the moments on school camps, and there have been many!  (Including my Year 8 students dying my hair bright red one year - that's a story for another post!)

I love it when I see students who were previously disengaged and unmotivated want to learn and want to learn even more.  That's what I love the best.

I love seeing students succeed as they move through life.  I don't know how many times I have had to explain to people I talk to that when I talk about 'my kids' and their achievements, that I mean my students - I don't actually have that many children!  Yes, they're my students but they're more than that.  They're important individuals and human beings whom I respect and care for and am always so very proud of no matter how big or small their achievements, inside or outside the classroom.

My Year 5/6 students created a motto a few years ago and I've always held it close - "We are all teachers and we are all learners in our learning environment."  This is so true and so important.  I learn as much from and with them as I can teach them.  That's powerful.

So...what do I love best about teaching... my wonderful students of course.

#reflectiveteacher

Improvements and Feedback

Day 3 of our +TeachThought blogging challenge! (I had a computer meltdown so I'm a day late with this one!).

DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

I'm not in the classroom at the moment but that doesn't stop me learning and having a thirst for knowledge - (when do we ever stop learning?!) or from being heavily involved in education.  I'm always after feedback on what I can do better, what I can improve on.
This past year has been a little different for me in terms of what I usually do.  I'm using this 'time out' to finish my Masters and work with teachers to develop their eLearning programmes in their schools.  I've also been incredibly fortunate to become involved with the TeachThought group and am responsible for helping to build a strong online community of practice which is where the blogging challenge comes in, in part.

I need and expect feedback from the teachers I work with as this is how I can be a reflective practitioner and improve on what I do.

The one area I want to improve in and develop is in how I work to develop a community of practice that encourages ownership, motivates people to belong and creates a community of collaborative, reflective practitioners from around the globe.  For this to be successful I will need critical feedback about what is working and what improvements I need to do better to make this learning community work for every individual in it -not just for the majority...for everyone.

This diagram explains it well...

Professional learning for teachers is changing.  One and two-day courses do not, generally, provide professional learning that is sustainable once we're back in the classroom.  For professional learning to work it needs to be timely, relevant and challenge us to always strive for best practice so that our students can achieve to the highest possible level for them individually.  We learn best in a community where we can share our practice, our thinking and beliefs and challenge each other's thinking to be the best we can be.  Trust, mutual respect and collaboration to create new knowledge are key.  I firmly believe that communities of practice - particularly online communities which are limited to time and place and that can be accessed any time, any where, are the future of professional learning for us.  Instead of professional learning being 'done to us', we are in charge of creating and sharing our own learning as a powerful community.

Below is a video of Etienne Wenger, one of the developers of the communities of practice theory, explaining what it is.

#reflectiveteacher

Day 2 of the TeachThought Blogging Challenge - 1 Piece of Technology I Want to Incorporate This Year

There are so many tools out there but I always start with the question of why?  If I can't articulate that a tool will make a change to my students' learning, then I would have difficulty in justifying its use.  It is simply just a 'cool tool' or the latest new 'must have' tool, but if it doesn't impact student learning in a positive manner, I won't use it.

I start with the SAMR model of adapting technology for learning and teaching - to see how it fits and how it can be adapted through the levels.  If I'm using it to just replace something else, for example using Word to replace writing in a book, that's okay but it needs to do more, it needs to reach the 'Redefinition' stage - to create something new that may not have been possible previously to having this tool.  Kathy Schrock has fantastic resources on the SAMR model and all other things tech.  I've been folowing her since about 1998 and can't recommend her more highly.

One tool I really want to explore is actually a suite of tools - Google Apps for Education and Hapara and now Google Classroom!

Check out the presentations below and see why these tools can make such a powerful change in learning and teaching.

Google Apps for Education (GAFE): Giving Students an eLearning Space from Iain Doherty

Google Classroom - Set Up and Tips for Teachers from John Sowash

#reflectiveteacher 

Goals for the coming Year - Day 1 of the 30-Day Reflective Teacher Blog Challenge from Te@chThought

It's the first day of spring here in New Zealand.  The start of new beginnings and experiences and new goals.

I'm really excited about this challenge that Beth Leidolf and I are running in conjunction with TeachThought. We wanted to encourage teachers to reflect on their practice as that's how we can make a difference in the lives of our learners.

Although this is a 'beginning of the new school year' challenge for the first post, I'm thinking about my goals for the remainder of this year and looking towards the new school year here for 2015 here in New Zealand. If you've read my previous post then you'll know that I've had some 'interesting' challenges over the past year.

So, what are my goals for the rest of the year?

• I want to complete my final Masters' paper - coincidentally it involves online communities of practice so I may bug you with survey requests if that's ok.  All anonymous - designed so that I can be certain of what I need to be doing to help create motivating and engaging online communities - my passion and goal for teacher professional learning.
• 5 months after surgery I ran the Auckland Round the Bays run and in November will run my first official half-marathon - the Auckland one.  This is my next goal and I'm really nervous about it but I always tell my students to take a chance, to push themselves and try something outside their comfort zones so I wouldn't be much of a role model or mentor - or lead learner - if I didn't take my own advice.
• Returning to school - learning and teaching are my passions.  I need to be back in that environment.  I really want to get back into a leadership role so I'm applying for positions at the moment.  Fingers crossed.  My goal is to have a new position by the start of 2015.  I can't wait!
• My final goal - at the moment - is to help create a vibrant community of learners through the TeachThought organisation which I'm very lucky to be a part of.  It has to be an engaging and motivating community that is owned by everyone in it.  Where people feel confident to contribute, question and discuss all things education and share resources.

#reflectiveteacher