tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53354849247700613472024-03-13T09:46:58.818-07:00Learning and LeadingDaniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-11503644753741517322017-05-04T13:19:00.000-07:002017-05-04T13:19:35.660-07:00What did I learn today? Part fourToday, <a href="http://justanotherbrickinthewallnz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lisa</a> and I visited <a href="http://www.nuevaschool.org/" target="_blank">Nueva School</a> in Hillsborough. We spent time at the pre-K to Middle school.<br />
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The Pre-K and grades one and two are housed in an old summer house that used to belong to the Crocker Family (not baking but banking). They have utilised Reggio thinking as well as play based, discovery and design thinking to create learning that is really student focused. Mess is everywhere in a play-centre type set up, with staff allowing creativity and ownership at the expense of pretty!<br />
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The old family home.</div>
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The view from the front door.</div>
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The skills they set out to achieve are embedded from an early age, growing in complexity as they move through the school. Some areas of learning are not explored until certain ages, but they have thought a great deal about the why sitting behind it.</div>
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The Nueva School's learning goals include:</div>
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<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To inspire a passion for lifelong learning</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To foster social and emotional acuity</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To develop a child's imaginative mind</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To enable children to learn how to make choices that will benefit the world</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To establish foundational skills in all subject areas</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To encourage strong habits of learning</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To learn research and design thinking skills</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To help students reflect on their particular learning styles, strengths, and weaknesses</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To give students myriad opportunities to learn through hands-on exploration</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To support students as they develop resilience and intrinsic motivation</li>
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They have used the spaces in the old house well to create indoor outdoor flow with a real sense of the student being at the heart.<br />
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The 8th graders have the opportunity to dig really deeply into an area of interest through a recital project. The goals for this are<br />
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<a href="http://www.nuevaschool.org/academics/middle-school/8th-grade-recital-projects" target="_blank">Eighth Grade Recital Projects</a> require students to:</div>
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<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">choose a project area and make a plan.</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">recruit and meet with a mentor (an adult who is not a parent) in the field of study.</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">write a research paper (1,000 words or more) that builds knowledge of an aspect of the project and/or gives greater context for the project.</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">draft a comprehensive project plan with monthly updates to help students learn project-management techniques for long-term projects.</li>
<li style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">design and implement a "Bettering the World" component for the project. Generally, this falls into three categories: 1) Raise funds or using a skill to help a nonprofit organization, 2) educate others about some aspect of their project, and 3) demonstrate that the project itself somehow benefits the world.</li>
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As you move through the school the spaces are newer and more purpose built to allow subject specialisation, for more design thinking and the building of empathy that goes with it. The school still has a very graded approach and we didn't see differentiation going on, but understand that there is opportunities at both ends for support.<br />
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So what did I learn today?<br />
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I learned that we give schools exceptional tours and go deeply into the why.<br />
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I learned that the importance of experiential learning along with contextual academic links can be powerful at any age.<br />
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I learned that deliberate acts of teaching at the point of need are more effective than a random planned piece of learning.<br />
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I learned that to have some headspace and time to talk really does re-ignite the passion for the challenges we face. I know I need to temper this with the needs of the staff who are at school at the coal face, so I thank Lisa who has been listening to me ramble on about idea after idea.<br />
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We have a couple of days left before we head back. I am very grateful to all those who helped make this happen, the Board at school, my wonderful staff, thanks Erin and team for holding the fort. Maurie for inviting me to gatecrash his sabbatical, lisa for putting up with me and of course Sarah and the kids for helping me escape for a week.<br />
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It's been an amazing week and I will return.Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-17968022074904784832017-05-03T22:08:00.001-07:002017-05-03T22:08:05.556-07:00What did I learn today? Part threeToday Lisa and I travelled an hour and a half south to <a href="http://www.mvcs.org/" target="_blank">Monte Vista Christian School</a> in Watsonville 10-18 year olds). We were driven there by Steve Sharp a very charismatic leader who has been transforming the school for the last thirteen years.<br />
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Steve had a vision of using space (all 5 senses) and tools to create change in practice. He has done this by being the first in many ways. Steve was the first in the world to put iPads in students hands. He has made sure technology is at the forefront of everything that he does and allows students to manage their learning with the right tools. He worked with local and overseas furniture manufacturers to design items that would empower change. he had little he could do with the structural design apart from working on the inside, knocking out walls etc.<br />
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This approach has worked to a point, the next step is to add the language and why's to help with the next steps. As Steve retires soon, his leadership team have the task of continuing the strong vision they have.<br />
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One of the great things we saw was the decoration of the spaces to match the subject.<br />
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This is an example of their french learning space<br />
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This is an example of their American History space.</div>
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The spaces were furnished with items collected from garage sales and Op Shops to match the student and staff thinking about how the spaces could look.</div>
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The whole campus was spectacular in terms of facilities, from the sports fields to the fleet of buses.</div>
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Got to stop in at Apple HQ on the way home too</div>
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What did I learn today?</div>
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I learned that the use of the 5 senses in spaces can enhance learning.</div>
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That students respond differently to spaces designed to work in conjunction with a subject.</div>
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I learned that what we are doing is really powerful learning, that the staff at Monte Vista were blown away by.</div>
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I learned that the staff at this school are well looked after and give all of themselves to the students.</div>
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I learned that a large group of teenagers (800 of them) when treated as adults will respond like them, we were very impressed with the way they interacted with each other and us as visitors, heads up speaking clearly to us and each other, not a grunt in sight.</div>
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Tomorrow we head to Nueva School.</div>
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Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-27040927170110462952017-05-02T16:57:00.000-07:002017-05-02T16:57:34.409-07:00What did I learn today? Part Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Today I had the pleasure of visiting <a href="http://www.designtechhighschool.org/" target="_blank">Designtech High School</a> with <a href="http://justanotherbrickinthewallnz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lisa</a> and <a href="http://principalpossum.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Maurie</a>. This school has been open about as long as us and are in an old warehouse space, moving into a brand new school in January. They have been lucky enough to have Oracle founder Larry Ellison build the school for them, the plans look amazing. </div>
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The school creates a mix of academic, dispositional and project work to help students navigate through high school. They use <a href="https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources-collections/a-virtual-crash-course-in-design-thinking" target="_blank">design thinking</a> from Stanford University as the main form of learning design. Julie, a passionate educator, who showed us around, believes that through the process of design, the students develop the skills to be successful in real life, especially the dispositional skills involved in creativity, problem solving, collaboration, risk taking, sharing, service and dealing with failure.<br />
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Students learn in a cycle of comprehending, performance tasks and assessing their learning. below are some of the results of the performance tasks that demonstrate their growing skills and understandings.<br />
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The space they have, they have used well, and engaged with the students and staff to make it work. Specialist areas have been designed by students to meet their needs, all the while being mindful of how it will impact of others learning. This image of their maker space is an example of an area that students created so they could be noisy without disrupting others learning.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJIdXPDWvNB_IdHZOVS-zEnuHNbdA9zAI3WYOBN-OciNUnQI4kdMJIT1uckZa_ve-mBSxQzDl92vGrsFYfYXhI2DDqf21ID856J_PH-0dVUNZxux3tFatsNb6XJD-AQS1OQ2hx1RfqHk/s1600/IMG_2214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJIdXPDWvNB_IdHZOVS-zEnuHNbdA9zAI3WYOBN-OciNUnQI4kdMJIT1uckZa_ve-mBSxQzDl92vGrsFYfYXhI2DDqf21ID856J_PH-0dVUNZxux3tFatsNb6XJD-AQS1OQ2hx1RfqHk/s320/IMG_2214.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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What did I learn today?</div>
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I learned that having time to talk with Lisa and Maurie is always inspirational and challenging.</div>
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I learned that Hobsonville Point Secondary are leading the way with secondary education, the challenge they face, which is different to Designtech, is what Universities are looking for. </div>
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I have learned that over here, places like Harvard, Stanford and Berkeley have alternative pathways, rather than just the SAT's, as a way of getting into higher education. The universities are aware of the drop out rates of those first year students as they arrive with them being totally stressed by <a href="http://principalpossum.blogspot.com/search/label/assessment" target="_blank">assessment anxiety.</a> They see those students who learn differently as being crucial to the ever changing landscape we live in.</div>
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I learned that asking students what they now know is crucial to understand if your teaching has been effective (I knew this already, but it was good to be reminded)</div>
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I learned that all students find it hard to plan and stick to a plan, this doesn't mean we will stop, it means we will keep looking for more and more effective ways for students to own their learning journey.</div>
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I learned that going to a diner in San Francisco means you get massive meals, none of us finished them.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRI7FxvJozEGfBbvOvwMXbtR9QlbfWBy0Znp6NBtwyINb3wkMS52LrFX6NNgfzpBDdEDBUTsCdSeaXQsdF4OTVp91jmWAmgjZAn485Wjkf_eSBNrqFOttE5SkigxhkzuBPqdtYkGekgI/s1600/IMG_2220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRI7FxvJozEGfBbvOvwMXbtR9QlbfWBy0Znp6NBtwyINb3wkMS52LrFX6NNgfzpBDdEDBUTsCdSeaXQsdF4OTVp91jmWAmgjZAn485Wjkf_eSBNrqFOttE5SkigxhkzuBPqdtYkGekgI/s320/IMG_2220.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Tomorrow we head to Monte Vista School, more on that tomorrow.</div>
<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-76879471184582549292017-05-01T16:08:00.000-07:002017-05-01T16:08:24.653-07:00What did I learn today?After 5 and a bit years of everything being solely focused on <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/hpps/" target="_blank">Hobsonville Point Primary</a> (HPPS) and the team, I felt it was time to fill my cup a little from different sources and find some interesting inspiration.<br />
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I have a great relationship with Maurie Abraham who runs <a href="https://sites.google.com/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/hpss" target="_blank">Hobsonville Point Secondary</a>. After a conversation around what next, <a href="http://principalpossum.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Maurie</a> shared a little of his plan to go on sabbatical, he asked "why don't I join him?" So here I am with <a href="http://justanotherbrickinthewallnz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lisa</a>, my amazing DP and Maurie, for a week, as we look for some innovation and inspiration in San Francisco.<br />
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We left Auckland on Friday night and arrived Friday afternoon, we have had a few days acclimatising to the time difference , the craft beer and awesome food. Not to mention the 40km on a bike that was supposed to be half that!<br />
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Today was our first school visit and we had the pleasure of visiting <a href="http://www.sfbrightworks.org/" target="_blank">Brightworks Academy</a>.<br />
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We had time with Karen and <a href="https://www.ted.com/speakers/gever_tulley" target="_blank">Gever</a> who shared their passion for student led learning and allowing risk within what they do.<br />
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Karen started the tour by sharing an important metaphor around one of their founding principles of trust.<br />
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This drop saw is the first experience all five year olds have when they arrive at school. They learn how to use it, they learn the danger, the precision, the planning, the possibilities and the rules around it. They use this as a scaffold for all learning, "we trust you to learn!"<br />
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Tools are everywhere! From the ones in the image to the adults, they call them collaborators, who are always around to support and challenge learning.<br />
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The workshop is available for the students to access and utilise the skills of making, thereby making meaning of their learning through doing so. Staff support the planning of the project with a natural integration of the learning areas, however as we see at HPPS, there can be a tension between the contextual and curriculum.<br />
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It reminded me a lot of Discovery 1 in the ways students could speak about their learning, the passion with which they dived into self selected projects (at Brightworks they have contexts within which these projects live).<br />
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The sense of student ownership was strong and staff truely knew their learners and pushed the rigour behind the learning at all stages.<br />
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So what did I learn?<br />
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I learned that I am very lucky to have an amazing group of educators and community to work with. I believe we were show casing many of the attributes that made Brightworks so amazing.<br />
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I learned that while we believe we are engaging in true student voice, we could challenge ourselves further.<br />
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I learned that knowing your learner is still the most influential factor in student growth.<br />
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I learned that my cup can get filled by talking with passionate educators.<br />
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Tomorrow we go to D-School at Stanford University. More to learn tomorrow.<br />
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<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-55852523357949557422015-06-18T17:49:00.000-07:002015-06-18T17:49:57.481-07:00Would you want to be in your classroom?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This was a question I posed to a group of educators recently. It was interesting to see their responses, as for many, it was negative or a look of horror at the thought. The idea that we do, what we have always done without questioning, following up from what we learned in teachers college then imposing that on our students, is a problematic notion.<br />
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So, why would we do this? How do we impact on todays learners by thinking only of yesterdays practice? It's not about throwing away practice of the past, it's about re-imagining what is possible to impact on our learners. For example, when educational newspaper articles, like the recent one on maths teaching come out, we often get fearful of the consequences and reactions by our parent community. This is when we need to be brave and work for and with the students. We need to reference research done by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQUezn-XAYk" target="_blank">educators</a>, not the Business Round Table.<br />
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If we are constantly doing the same thing, how are we reflecting on our practice? Are we putting ourselves in the shoes of the student and looking at active engagement?<br />
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I believe that reflective practice as a staff is crucial in growing capacity to impact on learners. How do we encourage this? We practice it ourselves. As leaders we need to think - would I want to be lead like this? and work from there. We need to foster a growth mindset around being a learner.<br />
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One of the comments from Carol Dweck that hit home for me was around growing reflective practice with staff. She said to me, "if staff know that you have their back, they will take more risks."<br />
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There is so much truth in this statement. I talked with my staff about this and those that were very comfortable taking risks and reflective were quite clear that they knew I had their back. This was not so clear for those who were more formative in taking risks. My job - make it clear!<br />
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As a leader, it is our job to grow our staff from being a novice to expert. We provide the scaffold (Rule Governed Behaviour) for them to grow on this journey, we are warm and demanding with them. </div>
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It is staffs' job to '<a href="http://learningandleadingchange.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/how-important-is-knowing-learner.html" target="_blank">know their learner</a>,' to know when they are a novice and when to shift them towards expert, as well as developing an understanding of expected milestones of the journey.</div>
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I also like the notion of the ZPD thinking, not just for our students but also for staff- what are you capable of with support?</div>
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How do we know they want to be in your class? If you know them as a learner, if you impact on their learning at a personal level, if you develop a relationship with them, then you have them. Don't always do what you have done.... think differently about learning and what impacts most on students, not what makes it work for you as a teacher - practice not systems!</div>
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My son is a good example of a school looking at the importance of knowing the learner. He has just completed his first 6 hour adventure race. He did this with his principal and two of his teachers. They know more about him, he knows more about them, will this improve his learning? Of course it will.</div>
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<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-39453432766989185732015-05-07T17:51:00.001-07:002015-05-07T17:51:58.480-07:00MLE, MLP is it just learning?In the two and a bit years we have been open we have hosted over 1500 visitors. These visitors come for a range of reasons, looking at space, looking at student agency, looking at how we integrate ICT, looking at collaborative teaching and so on...<br />
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The new term of MLP keeps coming up, modern learning practice. So what is this, how does it work, or simply put, is it just learning?<br />
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Consider this from John Holt<br />
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This is a statement that makes total sense. It's about engaging our learners in a world that makes sense to them. Not a world prescribed by a long term plan without the responsive nature of teaching attached. Surely, this is common sense.</div>
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When you sit back as a teacher, do you ever reflect on what you are teaching? Do you reflect on it's importance or relevance? Would what you teach be important in the child's life? We are blessed with very future focused open curriculum, do subject areas get in the way of this? Do they end up driving learning? Are we just keeping kids busy? The freedoms within the NZC are huge, have tests and compliance got in the way of creating learning that is purposeful and engaging?</div>
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To me MLP is the process of re-designing learning based on sound research and thinking. There is an abundance of research in place now around effective learning. Online courses from universities, like Stanford, around learning theory, are everywhere. A google search today reveals many possibilities around pedagogy, 10 years ago this would have been very different.</div>
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When you look at the effect size of teaching practice from Hattie, or the research Nuthall has undertaken it evidences what we should be engaging in. Edger Dale refers to it a lot, this was back in the late 60's.</div>
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The work and thinking is there: engage students in the process of learning, make learning purposeful and relevant, don't hold the power as a educator-share it, make learning about next steps, share assessment and make that assessment work for the student not for compliance, embrace a dispositional curriculum to grow the whole child.</div>
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To me it all starts with learning <a href="http://learningandleadingchange.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/values-are-they-for-learning-or.html" target="_blank">values</a> and the deep thinking around why we do what we do.</div>
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MLP is a change in the traditional mental model of control and outcomes in schools, based on an industrial model of years ago. David Warlick summed it up well with this quote</div>
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<span class="s1"><i>No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the </i></span></div>
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<i><span class="s1">“Industrial Age” </span>as the current generation.</i></div>
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What does this say about our practice? Change is hard, change is challenging, change is necessary. MLP is just learning in a natural, curious and child centred way.</div>
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Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-506238230674819222015-01-26T09:50:00.002-08:002015-01-26T09:50:31.979-08:00We begin again.So in less than a week we kick off year 3 of Hobsonville Point Primary. Big thanks to Lisa and Sharyn for all their work and support. Big thanks to the establishment BOT who have just finished their term as governers of the schools. <a href="http://principalpossum.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/on-cusp.html?spref=fb" target="_blank">Maurie</a> who supports challenges etc (very warm and demanding) and to those on the front lines (the amazing teaching staff).<br />
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What makes the start of the year special is that for me, holidays, elicit thinking, wondering and endless possibilities.<br />
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We will be working collaboratively over the next few days and I am looking forward to seeking out the why behind learning decisions. Making sure nothing has been planned to far ahead (they don't know all their learners as yet). Getting them to the point of engaging, inspiring and innovating to help grow amazing learners.<br />
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Collectively our roles in the school is to look at ways of creating the most positive impact on our students. In recent workshops around the future of both our schools, Maurie and I have driven lots of our thinking through the starter of <i>"How might we....." </i><br />
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On our staff retreat this is the focus we have, for example our first "how might we" on the list is<br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-d288af80-2751-c6d6-7753-1aaea77f3384"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How might we foster ownership of the "why" in our learning values so we can have a shared understanding of the practice?</span></span><br />
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The question allows us to dig deep without any preconceived answers and our hope is full collaboration into the conversations we have together.<br />
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It allows for the generating of ideas, it means we can go blue/yellow (Hermanns stuff) to start and to dig deep. We can follow with the green/red once we have been generative.<br />
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Like many, my goals of holiday reading have been not as robust as I would have hoped, my excitement lies with the conversations ahead. It lies with leading these through the lens of the learning values, it lies with growing the new staff we have (see <a href="http://teachingyoume.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/interview-process-professional.html" target="_blank">Reid's</a> blog for info on what they went through). It mostly lies with action, lets get doing this.<br />
<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-43753043529344030982015-01-26T09:25:00.001-08:002015-01-26T09:25:34.850-08:00Reflecting on what mattersWhile in the process of starting a new learning community, reflection has been key.<br />
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But, how do you develop this practice in teachers, parents and students?<br />
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Why should we reflect and through what lens?<br />
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What part do the key stakeholders in this play? i.e the students<br />
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How does it impact on practice and outcomes? Does it?<br />
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When thinking about developing a learning community based on solid purposeful reflection, I was determined to make it impact on practice the most. I often think the practice link is the one missing from the equation, pedagogy can get in the way! People talk MLE/MLP etc but not at the grassroots level of learning and teaching. For me the movement needs to become about practice and the more reflective and sharing of it we are, the more powerful it becomes.<br />
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At a recent GPC we discussed "the art of teaching" and how this needs to be a focus. In <a href="http://principalpossum.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/on-cusp.html?spref=fb" target="_blank">Maurie's</a> latest blog he references it as well with the strong push of just do it! I fully agree, but what do you "Just Do?"<br />
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You need a lens to think reflectively through. In a recent post I wrote about the importance of learning values, this to me is a good lens to look through when reflecting.<br />
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It works because you can target your reflection to an area, that as a team you have co-constructed the meaning of. There is a common understanding of the <b>why, how, what.</b> It means you can reflect, celebrate and question through a shared understanding.<br />
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We reflect using this lens around everything we do, whether it's questioning student engagement, asking students for feedback around our practice, reflecting on the learning design process, everything!<br />
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The framework allows staff to feel safe and ok about being challenged as it's through a lens we all own. They are now open to more critical conversations and challenge and can share celebrations in a concise way.<br />
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Another area that we have begun to reflect on is our essence of learning statements. We have asked ourselves is this the essence of learning are we living it out. Great conversations around the "why are we doing things" have continued because of this. Is the practice we are using actually getting us to the essence of learning and the outcomes we expect.<br />
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Honesty, courage, questions, growth mindset are keys to this reflective equation. Building staff capacity to see how it can increase student learning and engagement, as well as growing the staff as a learner.<br />
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An interesting aside is that we are seeing more and more that unless you engage with all of the learning values and link them, learning/reflection/design isn't as powerful.<br />
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<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-24983803838078122682014-09-11T17:34:00.002-07:002014-09-11T17:34:55.319-07:00How important is knowing the learner?Last Thursday I had the privilege of heading to Samoa with a combined group of students from Hobsonville Point Primary and Secondary.<br />
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Sharyn and Sarah had done a huge amount of work with the 19 students raising funds for both the school we were visiting and working with, as well as with for the students expenses. The amount of planning and support for the trip from these two was amazing.<br />
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My role in the process was not very big at all, so heading to the airport on Thursday I was interested to see what would be happening.<br />
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19 students greeted me in matching self designed shirts excited and nervous at the same time. I knew the students by name at least, some a little more, I looked forward to getting to know them over the next 5 days.<br />
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What happened over the next 5 days was not a surprise but reinforced the idea of authentic learning. These students travelling away without devices, without make-up to home stay with strangers showed massive amounts of resilience and self management. The dispositional curriculums within both schools were being lived out in ways we could never recreate at school. They learnt a lot about themselves through the actions of their hosts and the way they lived. The students were moved that their teaching inspired these amazing kids from the school we worked with. The developed an understanding of what their life is really like compared to others.<br />
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The students showed collaborative skills, caring and support for one and other and were very warm and demanding of each other and themselves.<br />
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This trip made me incredibly proud to be involved with these schools. The students were amazing, the learning they were getting was something I wish all students could get. The experiences both challenging and exciting were embraced with open arms, even to the the point of not squealing at giant cockroaches.<br />
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When I think about our learning values at HPPS all were present in this journey for the students. The only downside was only staying half the time. I am sure Maurie will also get as much out of it as I did.<br />
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I came away knowing more than their names, I came away knowing them as learners!<br />
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Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-49639388274879325762014-08-13T17:52:00.002-07:002014-08-13T18:01:28.796-07:00Values, are they for learning or behaviour?Often values at schools are talked about in relation to how we want our kids to be. We use words like "trust" and "respect". These values are incredibly important, especially when thinking restoratively. However, they are behavioural values and are of course an important feature of growing the whole child, especially when they link to a dispositional curriculum. What about learning though, what do we value here?<br />
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I have been doing a lot of thinking around what we value around learning. Having a clear understanding of what these values are and why we need them is important. Reflecting through the 'lens' of these learning values is one way of living out what we believe.<br />
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We started by asking the questions "what is powerful to learn and what is powerful learning?"<br />
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This has led us to thinking about our values around learning. We spent a lot of time looking at the 'why' for a lot of values, in the end we came up the following five, Relationships, Innovative Practice, Collaboration, Personalised Learning, Authentic Learning. They link and one can't really happen without the other.<br />
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Each staff meeting we "Walk the Walls"of each learning space and celebrate and critique and question the collaborative staff on what is happening in their learning space, again through the lens of the learning values. Making sure that we see clear connections in their practice and identifying the links between the values, acknowledging it's most powerful when all are present.<br />
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Relationships is the first value we all co-constructed together. This I believe is key to all we do. Relationships are at the heart of powerful learning. Relationships lead to a clearer pathway to personalising learning at all levels, for staff and students. Without relationships, how do we <b>know the learner. </b>It also helps with our second value...<br />
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Collaboration! This value is mentioned throughout a range of research around 21stC learning as an important skill/understanding of the future. It also is a crucial aspect of growing our staff. Many staff who are working here have never truly collaborated, they may have team taught, or shared responsibility, but never got to the essence of collaborating. This is a great value to grow with the staff. The students take to this far more efficiently as it's a natural part of their make-up.<br />
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Authentic learning is a real "no brainer" creating connections for students is vital. What is authentic to one, may not be to another, so again, knowing your learner is key. Co-constructing the authentic aspect for each students learning is the fun part of the learning journey.<br />
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Innovative Practice is another area we value. We get questioned on this a lot. For us, this is not about being trendy, having a device in every students hand, doing the latest fad. Innovative practice is how we reflect on the practice we are using. Asking- "Is it working for all of our students?" "Is it differentiating to meet needs?" "Are we asking ourselves why we are doing this?" These questions and reflections lead us onto our last learning value.</div>
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Personalising learning. This value is here not to look at individuals and create plans for each and everyone of them, this value is here because it links relationships, collaboration, authentic learning and innovative practice together to meet the needs of our students. Valuing them as an individual as part of a group. Valuing that they may need a different conversation than the student beside them, valuing the relationship they have with their family, valuing the needs they have. Again knowing the learner so we can positively impact on them.</div>
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This journey of living these values is an ongoing one for us as a learning community. The real power behind them, we have found, is how we use them as a reflective tool to see that what we are co-constructing is impacting on student outcomes. </div>
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Using the learning values as a lens for reflecting has empowered staff to own their practice and think deeply about learning and have challenging conversations.</div>
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<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-11303278125061662512014-07-28T19:46:00.001-07:002014-07-28T19:46:07.716-07:00The Why and the PracticeLearning and teaching is often a balancing act. How do you continue to grow a students world and also honour their voice? Taking students into the 'world they don't know, they don't know,' (John Holt has great stuff on this) is an important part of our job.<br />
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This then comes down to the importance of, 'WHY.' Why do we do what we do? Have we ever sat back and reflected on this? Do we constantly question ourselves?<br />
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Having never been a big researcher, the question of why has led me to read a lot more. Jane Gilbert's work around skills for the 21st C (we are after all, 14 years into it) as well as revisiting the NZC and honouring the Key Competencies. Recently, a great read on the development of the KCs was posted<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/c-m-rubin/the-global-search-for-edu_b_5623601.html" target="_blank"> here</a>.<br />
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The 'Why' I find easy however when I was involved in the start up of Discovery 1 School in Christchurch it was far more problematic. At that time, the research wasn't there to back up open spaces so we focused a lot on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-Search-Understanding-Constructivist-Classrooms/dp/0871203588" target="_blank">constructivism</a>. Now, we have plenty to support the notion of student negotiated learning.<br />
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So, with the pedagogy in place the focus shifts to the question 'What is the andragogy?' More importantly, what is the practice? I believe now we can all access all the 'why' for both students and teachers however the practice is more challenging.<br />
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The conversations around practice are key. How do we honour the negotiation of a learning pathway and also honour the NZC? How do we impact on learning as an educator without putting out the fire? How do we look for progress in our students in a differentiated model? What is powerful to learn?<br />
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Asking these questions are the key in growing understanding around how practice can be challenged and changed. However, if you haven't looked at what you value about learning, it may all be in vain. My next post will be around "Learning Values" and how they drive change.Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-64235392342453178282014-07-20T01:30:00.000-07:002014-07-20T01:30:42.321-07:00Students or Systems?A constant battle going on with my thinking is what do we start with? Systems or students?<br />
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Students are important?<br />
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Do systems support students or make life easier for staff?<br />
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It always comes back to "what will impact more positively for students?" How is this using a growth mindset? What are we thinking?<br />
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Over the last few weeks we have been doing a lot of self review. This has included reviewing our induction for staff, induction for students, reporting to parents, SENCO and pastoral care.<br />
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The challenge for us has been around the systems that usually dictate how these areas function. From our first conversations as a team, we were determined to challenge everything we would usually do, and not start with teacher or management driven systems.<br />
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The rational behind this was that generally systems are in place to support staff. Often they have no impact on students learning or growth. With this in mind, everything we have developed has come from a student centred approach.<br />
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This approach has caused some angst, however, starting with the students and forgetting about how it will impact on staff often leads to great conversations. It leads to co-constructing the systems or strategies together as a team. Looking for ways of impacting on the students the most with our practice.<br />
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An area we have just realised we need a stronger system around is tracking those students who aren't "at" the SENCO level but need challenge or support. We co-constructed a way of identifying the students and created a clear pathway for the practice of the staff to impact on these students. The system fell out of a need rather than driving it without a clear purpose. With a clear purpose, the buy in from staff improves and the use, fits the need.<br />
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Creating systems to meet the needs of students has been challenging, but, so rewarding, to still see the students being the key focus. The work around this is not more, it's just different.<br />
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ERO this week, maybe that will clarify some of the thinking?<br />
<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-3218179011502685462014-06-24T20:06:00.000-07:002014-06-24T20:06:15.431-07:00Are we being responsive?One of the challenges to the "mental model" teachers and leaders have is that staff should be very well planned. My question to this is, "how is this possible?"<br />
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If we are to be truly responsive to the needs of our students we cannot be over planned.<br />
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When designing immersion, I believe you can be strategic in what you design for students to help them develop a deeper understanding of the learning, eg if you have a science based immersion, the teach the students what a good procedure is, and why they need to know.<br />
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The link between the why and the how needs to be strong for students to retain that knowledge.<br />
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The real purpose for learning needs to be at the heart of what you are sharing with students.<br />
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Learning being linked/blended is important. Jane Gilbert talks of the fact that, "learning cannot be codified into disciplines." And yet, schools often run timetables that say maths, reading, writing. Isn't it all learning?<br />
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At Hobsonville Point, I ask staff firstly to design learning, not plan. I ask them to think about the natural links between a big concept, the dispositions we want our students to grow and then create clear connections to the NZC learning areas.<br />
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The result is a responsive learning design with a mix of just in time learning and learning designed for the immediate future needs of the students based around a real purpose.<br />
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Understanding, from a position of leadership, that staff will be on this journey at different rates is important. Knowing that the journey from novice to expert will be a challenge. Knowing the importance of 'rule governed behaviour' (scaffolding) in terms of providing support for staff on that journey. Leading staff to have PPK (Personal Practical Knowledge) means that you can watch the magic happen.<br />
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For me, it is a huge amount of fun watching staff challenge their mental model of planning and think responsive design instead.<br />
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<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-82891720252191619592014-06-19T20:56:00.000-07:002014-06-19T20:56:16.079-07:00High Support and High Challenge or Warm and Demanding<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of the joys of working at Hobsonville Point Schools is the ability to sit back and watch. The PPP model (not a charter model) means that we have no property to manage. This allows me to be one of those annoying principals who hangs about, watching learning occur. I can ask questions, I can have learning conversations, I can make assumptions and I can engage with the learning.</div>
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This leads me to the title of the blog. One of the great benefits of two schools, with one board is the ability for us to learn collaboratively with staff from the secondary school. I am in the privileged position of having a weekly learning conversation with <a href="http://principalpossum.blogspot.co.nz/" target="_blank">Maurie Abraham</a>. Maurie often talks about the need for warm and demanding situations. I have always called them "high challenge and high support." I think I like Maurie's term better.</div>
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The freedoms I have mean I can create warm and demanding conversations with staff. The mindset needed is a growth one of course, and that is not always present at the start of their journey here, however it does shift with the more conversations we have. Kristyn, Lisa and Sharyn are working on a walk through and coaching model that will enable us to continue these warm and demanding conversations as we grow in numbers. It is a very exciting place to be in our journey.</div>
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As a leadership team we went to EduTECH a couple of weeks ago. For me this was a warm and demanding event. From the amazing Keynote speakers we had many warm moments of affirmation of what we are growing at HPPS for our learners. Creating an innovative, engaging and inspirational setting for learning to occur. The demanding part came when we thought collectively about how do we grow this with the sector. The advent of more MLE's, the need for more MLP, means we have to support other schools in developing new ways of learning. Change is needed and it's needed now.This is reinforced by this quote from the conference.</div>
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No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the Industrial Age as the current generation.</div>
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</span></span>Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-29936957813562308192014-06-08T22:59:00.000-07:002014-06-08T22:59:05.665-07:00Planning Learning or Designing LearningWhen we look at "what is powerful learning?" and "what is powerful to learn?" it is important to think about what are we trying to achieve.<br />
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As teachers, we often plan for our students, creating learning we think they need. By doing this you have to ask are we missing out on an opportunity? That opportunity been one of being responsive? By being over planned we can be drawn into being the teacher who has full control over the learning journey of each child. We miss student voice, we miss student choice, we miss the opportunity to respond to the needs of our students. The Best Evidence Synthesis talks of, "teaching being responsive to student learning processes." If we just plan learning can we do this?<br />
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Designing learning has a different spin. Designing learning allows you to manage the learning process to both meet the needs imposed on you as well, and more importantly, meet the personalised needs of the students.<br />
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In designing learning our job is to provoke wonderings and questions through engaging immersion. This immersion should start the day and link carefully with the NZC learning areas and the essence of those (I talked about the essence of learning in another post). When you design learning you allow for links to be created between experiences and ideas. It allows us to engage with the curriculum at a more purposeful level, creating links to deepen understandings. Designing learning creates clarity around responsibilities and shows the importance of relationships.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3oryKuZ9kRZDNWk-JC9f5zi6p7sOs_aEyrm5OCxCgHCzZK4x6OWk21KApjr0JY_eEUZPZzua9lOr4BhnoM96rJ_gNYrrEWAX-S4887u25pxSzO97VfYQQfMyRoMumBcWjiSkWDCXc0Bk/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3oryKuZ9kRZDNWk-JC9f5zi6p7sOs_aEyrm5OCxCgHCzZK4x6OWk21KApjr0JY_eEUZPZzua9lOr4BhnoM96rJ_gNYrrEWAX-S4887u25pxSzO97VfYQQfMyRoMumBcWjiSkWDCXc0Bk/s1600/photo.JPG" height="316" width="320" /></a></div>
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Designing learning means that application is happening all of the time. Dr Jane Gilbert talks of knowledge happening in real world problem based contexts. This happens naturally because of how you manage this.<br />
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Staff at HPPS are in the process of designing the next learning process for the students in their cohort (mixed age for a number of reasons). This designing is based around the deep reflection from the last design, the use of space as the third teacher, mixing values and dispositions into the design and having deliberate acts of teaching to allow for deeper understanding and application of the experiences. Staff are also designing the key learning outcomes and assessment tools needed to move the students forward as learners and ensure that they maintain the understandings they have been immersed in.<br />
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It is really exciting to be sitting back and watching the level of design happening now compared with this time last year. The movement in thinking, practice and learning design is still developing and long may that last.Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-22669727405511918352014-06-03T21:11:00.002-07:002014-06-03T21:14:55.979-07:00The Essence of LearningThe Oxford Dictionary says the essence is....<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As a staff, we have been exploring the essence of learning through the NZC. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Some questions that we asked were:</span></span><br />
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;">What the learning areas really are? </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;">What is powerful to learn within these areas? </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;">What should we teach?, and </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;">How do we capture the true essence of these learning areas to enable strong engagement with them?</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So, what did we do?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">First, we identified the areas within the NZC that we were passionate about. It was interesting to see the strong feelings towards some learning areas over others. We broke into small teams attached to a learning area, that those people were passionate about, and this allowed us to create a brief statement that captured feelings so as to sell it to others.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sharing these statements allowed us to place ourselves in the shoes of the learner and imagine learning through the essence statement. This created a lot of dialogue for us, we challenged, celebrated and re-designed these statements to fully connect with our values, dispositions and thinking about learning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The result was draft statements for all the learning areas, these statements were then used as a reflection tool for us to look at our practice and make changes to live out what we believe about learning. Great actions took place!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It has been a start for us in developing our localised curriculum to meet the needs of our learners.</span></span><br />
<br />Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335484924770061347.post-12764809714184068202014-05-25T19:03:00.002-07:002014-05-25T19:26:58.129-07:00Reflecting Reflection, why do we do it?<br />
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We do it so we can change.<br />
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Last week we had Dr Julia Atkin work with us as a staff for three days. The focus was on curriculum development, specifically looking at designing learning through building essence statements. As with any work you do with Julia, you are challenged to think from the head and the heart.<br />
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We began the day by celebrating and sharing new learning, this quickly moved into sharing why we valued learning areas. It was interesting to notice those staff whose negative learning experiences at school had shaped their inner feelings towards certain subjects like maths. ( for more on maths read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Elephant-Classroom-Helping-Children/dp/0285638475">this</a>)<br />
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Those who had a passion for a learning area then needed to sell, through a one liner, the essence of that subject to make the rest of the team want to learn that.<br />
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Over two days we worked on all the learning areas and co-constructed essence statements for them. Probably the best learning that fell out of the work was when we reflected on the essence statements and what actual practice was happening in the learning spaces.<br />
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I was in the privileged position of listening to the teams reflect on how much they were impacting on students. The change in thinking from that reflection was amazing as staff without prompting started to design learning in a different way that lived out what we value and believe about learning.<br />
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So how do I reflect on my learning? If my staff have to do this, then I should too.<br />
I had a meeting with Julia and my leadership team. Julia led a discussion challenging the team to critique my work. It is always challenging to hear what you are not doing or doing that isn't working, but what better way to make sure you are impacting learning in a co-constructed way that allows for growth for all. I was very proud of the team as they spoke with clear examples about my practice, it again shows how special they are.<br />
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While a little battered and bruised, it also made me think carefully about how I designed the next meeting. Without trying to drive it, we started again from a reflective point of view, we reflected on 4 aspects of learning we believe in and did that against our values/immersion/dispositions/spaces. This was a powerful way to start re-designing learning for our next block. It was great to see how staff chose to reflect. Some saw it as an opportunity to re-imagine what was possible through the lens of immersion and values, while others took a more dispositional view. The results of this reflection won't be known until next meeting, however watching the learning happen this week, it has impacted already.<br />
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Reflection, it does lead to change.<br />
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Daniel Birchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10118468094773022055noreply@blogger.com4