My eFellow Inquiry presentation to the Cluster Principals

One thing that is being expected of you as an CORE Education eFellow is to share your learning, approaches, practices and inquiries with the wider teaching community.  

Thus, when asked by my Principal to present on my inquiry at the Cluster Principal meeting, I agreed (as I have had already presented my inquiry at uLearn14 and at #cenz14). 

Some of my presentation slides:

A short extract of my presentation:

• Where and how do I start to facilitate personalised learning was just one of my questions. Through my networks and discussions with other teachers, I found that many were asking the same questions (especially in the junior school area)
• I focused my inquiry on pedagogy and technologies (rather than the physical aspect of MLE) and although I was already using technology with great success in my classroom, I was driven by a desire to make learning even more rewarding and purposeful for my students
• Questions arise about how I could support my students to carry out learning in purposeful and meaningful ways
• I started working on supporting students to take more responsibility for their learning and how to make choices.  They have a choice of how they want to present their learning (iPads/Notebooks or via their Individual blogs).  When students know they have to share with peers, family or the teacher, it gives them accountability as well.  When they know they have to reflect on how that activity went, they have to have done it. With this I ensure no one is falling through the gaps under the guise of just "doing my own thing"
• Is this working in our learning environment? Definitely! I will now walk into class after lunch and students will be engaged in a learning activity without me telling them what to do. Where as earlier they were just sitting on the mat, waiting for me to direct them

I left them with these questions:

• What is your vision for your school, you learners?
• What changes need to happen at your school / classroom level?
• What would be the first thing you will be thinking of changing in your pedagogy?
• Do you think Personalised Learning has potential in your school environment and what would be your first step to support teachers to implement this?

Conclusion:
In the end it all came down to Student Agency and the "power to act" as Derek explained in Trend 1 of CORE's Ten Trends for 2014.

~ "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." - Benjamin Franklin ~

My #eFellow14 Reflection

For me, this year's eFellowship was an inspiring year of challenges, research, learning and laughing. I will always cherish the memories I was fortunate enough to build with Bec, Anne, Tim, Vicki, Rowan and Ben.

When I got THAT phone call from John, telling me that I was successful in my application, I did not know what I was really in for! However, I realised that I was going to be pushed [even further] out of my comfort zone. I felt a tad of fear, but at the same time I was filled with excitement as John's enthusiasm was really infectious!

With 80 eFellows to date, I feel extremely proud and privileged to be part of the influential eFellow community.

There were many days that I felt confused, not sure how to start/ where to begin.  And just when I thought I had it, Louise brought me back to earth with her endless "Why?"  We were reminded to maintain an objective perspective throughout and to question not only what we read, but also on our interpretations of responses.  Thank you for challenging my thinking all the way, Louise!

Together, we explored what 'transformation' means and I have enjoyed learning about it's relevance for my inquiry.  We unpacked what we learned during our 3 day Master classes - we worked hard, but we also had many laughs.

I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to be part of this incredible journey, thanks to CORE Education and our amazing mentors John and Louise, who guide us along in our inquiries.

We will definitely be #eFellows14 for life!

To conclude our journey, we also contributed to Connected Educator Month where each one of us presented a quick look into our inquiries.

~ It's not the end of the book, It's just the beginning of a new chapter - Unknown ~

"Normalization and Stereotyping" - Master Class #4 (#eFellows14)

When I woke up at the start of this week, I realised that this would be our last time together as eFellows14... I was in awe that our time had passed this quickly.

When everyone was settled in yet another beautiful location for our time together, Louise started with using the Russian nesting dolls to demonstrate how there is a tendency to try and know people. We put them in boxes and categorize them...

The complexity of human nature is huge, therefore categorizing people is one thing, or putting them in a box or even thinking you know them, could be really problematic. As soon as you peel back all those layers, you realise that those are just some of the descriptives that are attached to us.

This was a great session, discussing normalization & stereotyping. Yes, we need to look through the layers at the real person, don't make judgements.

We were also reminded that if we do transformative work without exploring identity, categorization etc. then we are not really doing transformational work.

After this, we had a session with Deanne Thomas on Cultural Responsive practice. It is about knowing the learner, making connections and involving everyone (not just priority learners). 

Manu Faaea-Semeatu talked to us about what the term Pasifika means to us and how to realise student potential.







eFellow Anniversary Dinner (8 October 2014):


 
We enjoyed a great evening, celebrating 10 years of the eFellowship.






In his speech, John congratulated us for what we had achieved and Louise talked about how the purpose of our times together was twofold. One to build our research skills and the other to develop our critical thinking skills.

During our sessions we learned how to bring a transformative lens to our research. Thank you John and Louise! You were awesome mentors!

We were also presented with our own Year Book.

eFellows14 and some past eFellows at the dinner

Our [last] Adventures as eFellows14:

uLearn 2014 - Memories:

~ "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." - Dr Seuss ~

uLearn14 Presentation

Today was indeed D-day for the CORE Education eFellows of 2014...

After embarking on our year long journey of inquiry and searching for answers, as well as trialing what we've learned, it was finally time to give feedback on our questions, answers and findings.

Presentation:




Feedback:

A warm Thank You to everyone who've had attended my session.  I really appreciated the time given to come and listen to what I had to share with you.

~ "We never know which lives we influence, or when or why" - Stephen King ~

"Traditional vs Transformational" - Master Class #3 (#eFellows14)

I was looking forward to catching up with everyone again for this Masterclass... and when we got a tweet from +Karen Melhuish Spencer that said: "Plotting some #eFellow #Wellington goodness for this week... ;)" I just knew that we would have an incredible time.

Together again [at last] at the CORE Education office in Thornden, we started with Louise discussing the analysis process of our inquiries.

With this visual Louise demonstrated that we need to trust our gut feeling, but that we also have to follow this up with careful interpretation of our data.







Our accommodation on the Kapiti Coast was a slice of heaven . Quiet, with just the sound of the ocean that can be heard at times, it was the perfect venue to work on sorting and analysing the data we've had collected for our inquiries.  Discussions also kept coming back to our uLearn14 presentations in the research strand.  

On Thursday morning, after Louise did a bit of revision with us about the process of organising our data, we continued to work on sorting our data.  This whole process has became clearer in my mind.

Afterwards, we went to lunch where we were so relaxed and social, that John had to put on a timer, which only gave us a couple of minutes to be finished and back in the van to be on time for our visit to Amesbury Primary School, where I've also had the opportunity to meet Matt, one of my 'Tweeps'

This school visit was quite interesting and raised as many questions as answers for us, while challenging us at the same time.

Discussing the themes that emerged from our visit back at CORE's office, we did realise that we have become more critical as we now know, how to dig a bit deeper and to look past the surface.  We were also reminded by Karen that we have to be prepared to be provoked by things that we see or read or even by people we talk/listen to.

We've also discussed how we could contribute to Connected Educator month by sharing our journeys.

As we noticed people arriving, we realised that it was time for the potluck dinner.  It was great to meet Nathaniel, another 'Tweep'

Although it was hard to end our conversations at times, eFellows do have time to relax and have a bit of fun, as this photo shows on how +Anne-Louise and I were photo bombed by +Tim, +Ben and +Rowan, while posing for a photo with CORE's stunning +Karen. What an amazing end to the day!

On our last day we woke up to a grey and rainy Kapiti Coast. 

At the CORE office +Chrissie Butler talked to us about Universal Design for Learning. I have heard about this before, but never actually got myself as far as looking into it.   

Chrissie used these images to illustrate that we have to rethink our approach to inclusivity as UDL is, after all, a framework that addresses learner diversity.

 

Universal Design for Learning:

Know the learners. Identify and remove barriers to learning. Provide multiple learning pathways. Offer a range of universal tools and supports to everyone at the outset. (Butler, 2014)

Further reading can be found on Chrissie's 'Passonable' blog

After lunch and a mind-boggling three days, we were really tired.  Louise did a great job in keeping us on track, while pulling together her last key message about analysing our data.

And then we were on our way home.

On my way to board the plane, I look out of the window to see the sun set on yet another fabulous eFellow14 Masterclass

See you all at uLearn14...

~ "Transformational leaders don't start by denying the world around them. Instead, they describe a future they'd like to create instead." - Seth Godin ~

#eFellow14 Storify - Wellington

As #eFellows14, we experienced another three amazing days in Wellington. Here is a quick snap shot of our Master Class #3 and a little bit on what we were up to.

A detailed blog post will follow soon.

Storify by Anne-Louise:

~ "Experience all that there is for you and discover who you truly are. Be all that you were meant to be, will help you follow your dreams and transform them into reality" - Anonymous ~

ULearn14 Abstract

One of the requirements of being a CORE Education eFellow, is that you have to present the outcome of your Inquiry at ULearn.  eFellows will be presenting under the 'Peer-reviewed Research Strand'.

Here is my submitted abstract:

Summary

Title:

Modern learning pedagogy & technologies in a NE/Yr 1 classroom

Short Abstract:

In this presentation I will challenge the traditional method of teaching that is organised around timetables, by sharing what I have learned through my inquiry on how to bring modern learning pedagogy and technologies into a junior school, stand alone classroom.  I believe this kind of teaching and learning enhances opportunities for students and teachers to learn and create together.

I became interested in the possibilities of a modern learning environment in a NE/Year 1 classroom after a conference I attended in 2013 which was on mapping a new landscape in learning.  I went away with my head spinning, but the question for me remained: “Where and how do I start?” Through my networks and discussions with other teachers I found that many were asking the same questions. We wanted to change our classrooms and practice, but didn't know where to begin. Early on in my inquiry I realised that I didn't want to focus on the physical aspect of a modern learning environment, but rather the pedagogy and technologies that facilitate personalised learning.  My inquiry then became about how I could support my NE/Yr 1 students to carry out their own learning in purposeful and meaningful ways, so that I can then share this with others. Some of my questions were:

a. What is important to my students and their learning?
b. How can I implement a more personalised learning approach?
c. How can I encourage students to be more responsible for their own learning?
d. What are others teachers and schools doing?

To explore these questions I visited schools and talked with junior school teachers, who are already using modern learning pedagogy & technologies in their practice. We talked about their journey, their ideas, how they got started, and how students are responding to this. In this presentation I will share some of my findings and discuss:

- The difference between individual learning and personalised learning;
- The foundations that are necessary for personalised learning;
- How being a teacher on your own is no barrier to creating a modern learning environment;
- Ideas for how to get started.

I am not an expert in this at all and [still] do not have all the answers, but I hope that with this presentation, I will be able to clarify some of the questions many junior school teachers might have.

You are also welcome to join in the conversation on the VLN page I've created around NE & Year 1 Modern Learning Environments.

Will I see or meet you at ULearn14?

~ A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." - Lou Holtz ~

MLE - Why, How, What?

As part of my eFellow14 Inquiry, I am constantly on the look out for more information around Modern Learning Pedagogy & Technologies in the junior school.

Therefore, I find it encouraging to have support for this on the Virtual Learning Network and also feel privileged to be mentioned by Tessa in her post "MLEs: That's just a classroom with a beanbag isn't it?"

This video from CORE education gives some insight into how modern learning environments work and why they are so important for improving our students' learning.

~ Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think - Albert Einstein ~

"The ability to affect change" - Master Class #2 (#eFellows14)

Before I knew it, it was time for our second eFellow master class.  This time we were off to Christchurch, where some well planned learning meetings by John and Louise awaited us!

It was lovely to meet up with everyone again, reconnecting and eating.  After all the gossip and laughs, we headed to our first school visit.

We arrived at Breens Intermediate and were welcomed by the principal, and we learned how it was decided to have some kind of a vehicle to tie their school together.  There was a need to have something to help them to talk to the students about achievement, behaviour and belonging.  They decided to have five concepts to meet the five Key Competencies and this was the beginning of the development of the Breens' values (Brilliant, Brave, Beautiful, Bold, Belonging).

Walking through the school and talking to some students, it was evident that students enjoyed what they are doing, they were engaged and 'flying' in this MLE model. Learning was transparent and students were able to talk about having choice, challenges and their independent learning.

Some things that I took away from Breens Intermediate is the Change management - Apollo 13 approach "We're not going to do our best, we're going to do whatever it takes" and the Servant leadership "This is our pod/team and we serve the students, we don't give up on them."

Our next school visit was to St Andrews Collegiate to hear what they were up to.  

They opted for Moodle as a Learning Management System and incorporate their Developing Positive Relationships (DPR) values (faith, hope, compassion, respect, honesty, generosity and responsibility) into this management system.  The front page of moodle is used to celebrate student success.

It was interesting to learn how they use Office 365 and OneNote for information gathering and multi-user collaboration.  A very informative discussion was also generated around the use of Moodle and OneNote.

Students create ePortfolios with OneNote and Office365

One of the many things I liked was that they did a reflection on how their 1:1 is going by the way of three-way interviews to collect staff, student and parent voice.

I have been thoroughly impressed by the enthusiasm of teachers and eLearning opportunities at this fine school.

'Hosting the CORE Education eFellows of 2014 at St Andrew's College' - A post by Sam McNeill, Director of ICT at St Andrews College.

Our 'Leading from the Middle' session with Pauline Scanlan lead to interesting discussions around leadership and with some interesting questions raised:

"To what degree can you motivate people to change? Do you as a leader really support teachers in what they do? Do you have the ability to talk it through? Why are people at where they're at? Do you think about it from another perspective?

Transforming education is CORE's mission. It's about constant change and improvement. If you want change, you have to transform and improve.  

We were left with the question: "Is your school a jazz group or an orchestra?"

We begin our 'Making a Difference' session with Derek Wenmoth, who provoked our thoughts around 21st Century Teaching and Learning. 

One message that came through was that it is important for a teacher to continue learning and be engaged in a professional learning way.  The consequence of not doing that is that within 3-5 years you would revert to teaching in ways you remembered being taught.

We have to rethink our values.  We see schools improve, but not change. Therefore we really need to understand the concept of transformation, which is about a paradigm shift - a complete major overhaul of our system.

What we have to do is to see ourselves raising the bar continually in a trans-formative way, with improvements.

Derek also discussed CORE's ten trends, which is one of our most powerful penetrating things in education.

We looked into the three markers for change in the 21st century - Ubiquity, Agency & Connectedness and the five dimensions of the eLPF with the focus on Empowering.

And last, but not least, our session with Louise Taylor on 'What does Transformation look like?"

We learned more about transformational data collection and the who and how.

A whole discussion was generated around Transformational Language Ideas in which Agency, Voice, Attitude & Knowledge came to forth.

Main take away -> Transformative work serves the human course.

It was inspiring to listen to everyone talking about their inquiries and a stimulating three days with fellow #eFellows14 Anne, Tim, Vicki, Bec, Ben and Rowan.

Another highlight was meeting past eFellows as well as Michael and Josephine Winter. Missed a huge photo opportunity here big time! :-(

~ The price of change is measured by our will and courage, our persistence, in the face of difficulty.'  - Peter Block Business Philosopher ~

An #eFellow14 Storify

This is a snapshot of our three day Master Class #2 in Christchurch.

A more detailed blog post will follow soon!

~ I'll look back on this and smile, because it was life and I decided to live it. - Anonymous ~

"Out of the Cave" - Master Class #1 (#eFellows14)

I was looking forward to our first eFellows 2014 Master Class in Auckland with great excitement.  This by the way, did not disappoint! Our programme was stunning, well planned and well organised by John and Louise from CORE.

Meeting the other #eFellow14 (Anne-Louise @robeanne; Tim @TimGanderNZ; Vicki @hagrnz; Bec @Bec_Power; Rowan @RowanTaigel and Ben @mrbenbritton) at the CORE office was fantastic.  Some of us were already interacting on Twitter and I relished the opportunity to meeting them f2f ! We chatted through our first morning, sharing our Mihimihi and learnt what the eFellows is about.  At the end of this session, we were given three questions to ponder for the next day.

Then we had our first lunch together, with the complements of CORE Education.

We were fortunate to visit Stonefields School and listened to Sarah Martin, sharing the schools educative purpose and explaining the learning philosophy which rest on their Four Vision Principles - Building learning Capacity, Collaborating, Making Meaning and Break Through, by using a very informative presentation. A highlight for me was seeing junior students in action in their Learning Hub.

Back at our accommodation the seven of us talked, shared and chatted until late at night around our camp fire.

On day two we had inspirational conversations about bringing a transformative lens to inquiry, led by Louise Taylor.  We discussed key points for our project, critical pedagogical theory, things we notice, how we make sense of the world and positive transformation.

                           

Lunch at Catalina Cafe

After lunch, we toured the new Hobsonville Point Secondary School with Claire Amos, who enlightened us with her presentation about what excellence look like at HPSS.  We learnt about their Vision and Shared Values and the Hobsonville Habits which covered their four areas of personal development required for optimum success - strategic, cognitive, innovative and relational.

Back at the CORE office, Mark Osborne's passion for Modern Learning Environments was evidence during his session in which he further discussed ways to "Innovate, Engage and Inspire."

John Fenaughty organised a yum potluck to enable us to meet some CORE whanau and where we could connect with past eFellows.  I had the privilege of meeting my mentor, Sonya van Schaijik for the first time f2f!

       

                       
On our last day, we had another great session with Louise and we were reminded to "seeing the possibilities within the impossibilities".  We talked about some key points to 'throw together' and continued our discussion on how to bring a trans-formative lens to our inquiries.  We started on our projects with reflective tasks and left with a clear sense of where we want to go and what to look at.

What an amazing three days (with an awesome and enthusiastic group of people), filled with laughs and inspiration!

Slide created by Louise Taylor

Off to great places!

I am very excited about next week's first eFellowship meeting, as I have been looking forward to this for some time now. 

According to the latest information, a stunning programme has been created for us by our eFellow co-ordinators at CORE. 

I am looking forward to my inquiry/ learning this year, so watch this space, as I will surely be writing some reflective blog posts of my journey. 

Exciting times ahead

Next year will see me with a year filled with new learning.

As part of my CORE eFellowship, I will be involved in my inquiry/research/learning/work about the Pedagogy and Learning in a NE/Year 1 classroom and I am looking forward to this exciting fellowship I've joined!

2014 will also see me training as a Reading Recovery Teacher, which will enable me to deliver intensive one to one instruction to 6 year old students having difficulty with literacy learning. 

I will also be involved in the Connected Rotorua Teachers group with our aim to start a professional learning network based in Rotorua.  

Exciting times ahead to building connections, inquire, learn, grow and inspire!

CORE eFellow 2014

I was overwhelmed, after hearing that my eFellowship application was successful! Personally, I consider this to be a great honor to be joining a community of over eighty eFellows.   

Thank you to CORE Education for giving me the opportunity and thank you to the people who supported me in my application.

I am looking forward to an exciting year!