I've written before about Communities of Practice and how powerful they are in all spaces, whether the community is one involving ākonga(students), or adults - or even better, ALL ages and stages. See here, here, and here for a few previous posts.
The power of a well-designed CoP means that it is a space for all voices to be heard, they have a place and space to contribute and it is not reliant on a certain level of experience. Everyone has something important to offer.
Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu
At Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - The Correspondence School, we are spread across the whole of Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond, so it can be challenging to find ways to create a sense of community. From the time I began teaching at Te Kura, I quickly became focused on how I could help create this sense of community through something like a Community of Practice as I had in many previous spaces I had worked in as well as during my Masters' study.
The perfect opportunity arose this year when I took on a new role as a Kaiarahi-a-motu - National Leader of Learning in the Curriculum Wāhanga (team). Another kaiako (teacher) was also interested in creating an online group of some type - a book group or club - to focus on professional learning and development as well as personal growth and development, and so the plan began.
We are a term into the group now. Akoako@TeKura has become our online community of practice where we can share and collaborate in a safe space. Currently, there is one session in Weeks 3, 6, and 9 of the Term. The sessions are a 'Breakfast Club' and run from 8.00am - 8.45am.
Our format is the same each time:
Pre-reading or viewing - never longer than 15-20 minutes at the most (often a TEDTalk or TEDxTalk)
Focus questions to prompt thought and discussion for our sessions
We also have other rauemi/resources available if our people want to delve deeper into the topics. These are released on the day of the sessions so that we don't overwhelm people beforehand.
The sessions are never recorded - even though we've been asked many times to do this. We have been firm in our thinking on this as we wanted to create a safe and open space where people don't feel constrained in what they can share by the fact of it being recorded. This has meant that we have had some incredibly personal stories shared and we've been really humbled by this. A well-designed CoP relies on being underpinned by a sense of respect and trust and I think we have worked hard to develop this.
During the sessions, the focus is on discussion and creating new learning together - another important aspect of a CoP. We start with an icebreaker - often just a quick thought-provoking or funny video. We then open a Jamboard - we have one for each session and they are consistent in format so that people know what to expect:
3 Important Points (from what we've read, watched, etc)
Something that Squares with Your Beliefs or Practice
Something Still Circling Around Your Head (thoughts, wonderings)
A Call to Action
Moving Forward - Ideas for Future Sessions (to give a voice and choice/agency in what we share and learn about)
One of our other main goals was to create opportunities for leadership in the CoP - another important part of a well-designed CoP. We are gradually widening the group of leaders in the space and this is something that we will always have as a goal and focus.
Everyone has something to offer and contribute in a CoP
Some of the topics for discussion in Terms 1 have included:
My Identity: Mana: The Power in Knowing Who You Are - Tame Iti
Where to Next?
Heading into Term 2, we are focusing on leadership and knowing our 'why' or purpose in what we do at Te Kura. One of our main goals is to increase participation and ownership of the community. It is already strong but we know we can do so much more to create this sense of belonging and ownership. We've already increased the number of people who are keen to develop sessions and lead with us supporting. Our goal is still to create a CoP where people know they belong and are keen to take leadership of discussions with us in support roles.
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?
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.
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!
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?
2020 has been a year of many things to many people. For many of us, it has changed our focus and we are reevaluating what is important to us.
After many years of not being able to work full-time and of thinking that my career and love for teaching was in the past due to various health issues, a corner was turned and 2020 has turned out to contain so many more positives that any other year to date.
This year, I was hired to work at a very special school - Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - The Correspondence School. This is Aotearoa New Zealand’s Correspondence School, but it is not the Correspondence School of old. This is a truly innovative and ākonga-centred learning and teaching environment that has our ākonga firmly at its heart. Our philosophy is as far away from a ‘one size fits all’ philosophy as you can get. We have a ‘one size fits one’ philosophy. You hear it in the daily conversations with colleagues, ākonga and their whānau. You see it in our actions.
Instead of report-writing twice a year which, in actual fact, causes a lot of disruption to learning and teaching and with a finished report that is generally out of date by the time it reaches our ākonga and their whānau, we have ongoing learning and teaching where feedback and feedforward is ongoing and seamless. (ADD MORE and link to articles, research and Te Kura website)
NGĀ MĀTĀPONO
Ngā Mātāpono are the principles we follow. They guide us in everything we do.
and it is at the heart of everything we do.
The five Guiding Principles also include two Capabilities and Dispositions each that we want to support our ākonga to develop. Together, these are:
Kotahitanga - Care / Resilience
Whaitake - Curiosity / Contribution
Whakamana - Agency / Optimism
Māramatonutanga - Sense Making / Creative Thinking / Innovation
Whakawhanaungatanga - Collaboration / Connection
MY KOROWAI
My Korowai is our cloak which links past to present and to the future. It is never finished as new learning, experiences and connections help to grow and strengthen it as it envelopes our ākonga. It is our ‘connector’ if you like. It tells the story of all the different parts of the learning journey our ākonga are on.
TE KURA BIG PICTURE LEARNING
Big Picture Learning is all about personalising learning and keeping our ākonga (learners) at the heart of everything we do. It's about connecting learning to the real world and finding opportunities to support our ākonga to find their way in the world. It is Inquiry Learning or Problem Based Learning at its best.
This form of learning and pedagogy is my passion and I am incredibly excited about the coming year and how I can incorporate these changes into learning from and with my ākonga.
We are constantly evolving and it is an exciting ara to be on.
This week is Gifted Awareness Week and the theme is all about Mythbusting.
There are so many myths about giftedness, gifted learners and gifted education in general that it's sometimes hard to know where to start, so I'm going to start with a very personal post which is all about my journey in gifted education - and it may just surprise some people.
WHAT I BELIEVED
When I was training to be a teacher in the late 1990s, we received very little in the way of learning about any aspect of gifted education. In fact, the common mantra seemed to be in line with the image below and we were taught to believe that we could meet all of our learners' varying needs in our own classrooms and learning environments. Honestly, do a search of this message and it's everywhere - even on coffee mugs! And it still persists today. Did I also believe this? Absolutely I did!
The word 'differentiation' became the catch-cry through which we could ensure that all learners' needs were met. This is great and does work to a certain extent, as long as there has been extensive professional learning and development (PLD) around it. How many of us can honestly say that we have received that?
I spent a lot of time learning about differentiation in my own time. My learners and I always planned our learning together - at the beginning using the old separate curriculum documents and later on when the revised New Zealand Curriculum came out in 2007. My learners were engaged, owned their learning and, according to the data and my observations, they were all progressing very well and thriving in the learning environment. Something was still bugging me though about the learners I could see who were standing out for so many different and unique reasons. Something wasn't gelling with me in my observations.
Yes, I was extending those students who stood out in a traditional academic way, but this was always enrichment at the same level - it wasn't acceleration which is still a bone of contention in education circles. (For more information on this, click here). I started to question whether this was actually extending them at all - or challenging them enough. I also started to notice as a new teacher that there were students who amazed me with their thinking and their creativity who didn't really fit the mould of being academically talented - we didn't use the word gifted because, as in the photo above, this was not really something that existed according to the powers that be. The belief that you always took all learners horizontally across the curriculum level, never to the next level, was so strongly entrenched that you didn't really question it - until you could see that learners were switching off. And what of the learners who were not in the so-called academically talented group - how were they being extended and was it really all about how successful you were in what was valued the most?
WHAT CHANGED?
Habits of Mind was always a foundation of learning in my classrooms from Day 1 and I started to question what I was doing the more we engaged with the concepts in this philosophy. The more discussions we had, the more certain learners outside the traditional realm of what was judged to be talented, stood out. I needed to make sure that I was meeting their needs. I continued to question my practice and my beliefs around the word and concept of 'gifted'.
In the early 2000s I was fortunate enough to teach in an intermediate school that had a withdrawal programme for learners identified as gifted. This was really the start of me questioning my practice - why did we need a withdrawal programme when my classroom environment should be enough? What was I not able to do in the classroom? The more I experienced what was happening in this programme and the more open I was to learning, and the more I could see how much this programme meant to the learners involved, how it was changing their attitude to school and learning. The most important knowledge - I could see how powerful this programme was, how powerful and important it was for learners to be able to connect with like minds. You can read about this in the Aotearoa New Zealand context here. I began to learn from the learners about what worked for them. I also learned so much from the teachers who were leading the programme. My practice and thinking started to change dramatically and I wanted to know and learn more.
In the mid-2000s I was lucky enough to attend a session on gifted education with one of the authors of the paper in the previous link. This was run by the now New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education. While I had started to read and learn about gifted education, I still had the residual of the mindset that "I'm a qualified teacher and I should be able to meet all learners' needs in my classroom." These sessions opened my eyes even further and raised my awareness to the point where there was no way I wasn't going to start questioning what we were doing to meet the needs of our gifted learners - and gifted learners absolutely do exist and they are often not your academic stand-outs. If you want to read more on this, check out "Gifted Children Do Exist - Here's What Happens When We Deny It."
It was also about this time that the concept of Student Voice was gaining traction. I had always planned with my learners but how much voice did they actually have and were they just being compliant or were they really engaged and owning their learning? There were so many questions I had around this, especially as I began to question my beliefs around giftedness.
I read Clarity in the Classroom and this was a real turning point, particularly in using the power of student voice to change my practice.
So What?
Being honest and reflective in our practice and acknowledging that we can't meet all of our learners' individual needs in our learning environments without adaptation and flexibility is not a sign of weakness or failure as a teacher - it's a sign of strength and reflection and it shows strong advocacy for our learners, particularly as we find the best way to meet their needs. It shows that we understand their individual needs and will do whatever it takes to meet those needs. It is always, always about our learners.
WHAT NEXT?
Challenge your thinking around giftedness and gifted education - it's a matter of equity for our learners. Gifted learners matter as much as those who have learning difficulties - in fact some of our gifted learners can be found in these groups - they are our twice- or multi-exceptional learners.
Join in discussions and join groups focused on gifted education and be open to ideas and conversations. You could join Gifted and Talented Teachers (NZ) which is the group I started.
Be aware of the research and other publications out there. Giftedness is backed by evidence. It is not elitist or the domain of 'pushy parents.'
Have a look at some of the ways you can celebrate your gifted students - not just this week but throughout the year. Some ideas can be found here, and here.
Know what to look for - identification is key to their success and engagement as learners.
Above all... be open to the ideas and evidence that gifted learners exist and it's a matter of equity that their needs are met. Don't be afraid to be a Lone Nut or First Follower...
You will have heard the arguments for and against. So should our young people be protesting and should we support them in this protest against climate change - a global movement?
The short answer is yes, they absolutely should and we should absolutely support them.
We keep saying that our students don't care, don't have empathy, aren't interested in current events and issues and yet, the minute that they do show an interest or a passion for change, we want to shut them down and we belittle their efforts with comments in the vein of the students just wanting time off school. So some are saying to mark them as truant. This is just plain wrong and smacks of someone throwing a tantrum. Why not mark it as an unjustified absence? Why choose truant? Or could we perhaps do the right thing, in my opinion, and mark them as a justified absence?
Are we really listening to - and understanding - what they're saying - and do we really believe that this is just about a day off? Yes, that may be the case for some but we're really doing our young people a huge disservice if we continue to minimise their beliefs and opinions. To be honest, it's insulting to our younger generation.
The New Zealand Curriculum is held up to be a world-leading document. Perhaps it's time for some of our educators to carefully revisit its content and intent. It is full of examples of requiring our learners to be "...lifelong learners who are confident and creative, connected, and actively involved" (NZC, 2007, p.4). This statement, by the then Secretary for Education, Karen Sewell, appears in the Foreword of the document and underpins everything else. This is the "...starting point..." (ibid). The Values, Vision, Principles and Key Competencies sections all go on to discuss participation and contribution as essential aspects of learning and teaching programmes (see for example pp.7-10). According to our document from which all learning and teaching is derived, our goals are to help our learners become individuals who can contribute locally and globally and stand up for what they believe in. We want them to connect to their wider communities - again both local and global. We want and need them to be critical, creative thinkers who problem solve and problem create - that's how change happens. Isn't the current local and global protest the perfect opportunity to connect our learners to the real world context - to apply learning and teaching in a meaningful and connected way. It's making learning real and flattening the classroom walls. In 2012 I blogged about this in a post It's About Authentic Learning - Dancing with Change. My thoughts have not changed on this. Students will lead the way and are encouraged to do so in the NZC - if we facilitate this for them - and trust them.
At every level of the Social Sciences section of the NZC, the Achievement Objectives include those designed to encourage this independence - with our support and guidance - the goal is to help them become confident and connected individuals who can think locally and act globally. Again, the current protest is the perfect opportunity for this. What better way to connect the current situation and learning to the events of the past, to economic and social issues, to place and environment. If we fail to support them in this, we are missing a valuable learning and teaching opportunity and, even more importantly, our students are also missing out on this valuable opportunity.
This is agentic learning at its best - it's what we as teachers strive for in our students. They're taking responsibility for their learning and applying it in an authentic context.
We say that they're too young to make a difference, that what they're doing will not change anything but then we turn around and want to stop them from even trying. History is full of people who were told that they couldn't make a difference because they were too young. We only have to think back to the protests of the 1960s and 1970s against the Vietnam War and to protest Treaty of Waitangi issues, and what about the 1981 Springbok Tour? As a very young student I attended some of these marches and was proud to do so. Was it because I wanted time off school or to follow the crowd - no, it was because I strongly believed that this was the right thing to do and I wanted to be part of a collective voice. Why should it be any different for today's young people. For so many, this is also about having their voices heard - locally and globally, also one of the goals of the New Zealand Curriculum (see for example pages 8, 12, 13, 30, 39).
The upcoming protest on March 15 is a global one. Instead of shutting down our students who want to have a voice in this issue, should we not be supporting the fact that they want to take action so that there is a brighter future for our planet. Have they struck a nerve with some of us...because we know we should have done more...should have done what they are doing now? It's time for the adults to support them - not shut them down.
