TeachMeetNZ - Celebration

I have been involved in #TeachMeetNZ since 2013, either by presenting or as part of the support team... and I am still in awe of the host, Sonya.  Her ability to bring this all together with fabulous educators to share their learning by way of this PL&D platform is just mind blowing.  I feel so honoured to be part of it.  Thank you Sonya! 

The best part [for me] is that there is always something new to learn at each and everyone one of these sessions!

Today I've learnt about itunesU, through Nick's presentation. This is something I would really like to explore. James talked about student voice in the wider world. With his presentation he confirmed my view on the importance of blogging with students, to make learning visible and connect beyond the classroom. Then the wonderful 'App smashing' by Steve , which I have used with my Year 1 students before.
Thanks Caroline for sharing with us about the effectiveness of Daily 5. It reminded me that I really need to get this up and running in my class environment again, now that the 5 year old's are more settled at school! Ben, it was great to hear how you are still as passionate about 3D printing as during our #eFellows14 master classes! I still wear my eFellow14 charm (you made for all of us, using the 3D printer) with pride. I really enjoyed listening to Ritu sharing her personal learning journey over the bridge for boys engagement and achievement. I agree that we have to have high expectations for our boys, but so do [I think] we need to have for ourselves and all of our learners. There was also a strong message about independent learning coming through from Ritu, which I really liked.

By just listening to all the presenters, I realize that there is so much more for me to accomplish... and there are many more ways to assist my students to reflect on and think critically about their learning! I can and have to select other technologies and resources that will be effective and address the needs of individual students. My journey is ongoing...

What a privilege to have been part of today's #TeachMeetNZ - who is [by the way] approximately two years old! It was great catching up with Kathy and Monika again too!

The presentation of the stunning line up of educators:

My Storify:

A little memento from Sonya:

~ "The only impossible journey is the one you never begin." - Anthony Robbins ~

Reflection on Term 1, 2015

This has been an extremely busy and exciting term, in which I was involved in three great PL&D sessions at school, making valuable connections with students and parents, setting up my teaching inquiry on writing, being involved in the organising of Educamp Rotorua and the two termly Connected Rotorua events. I have also been heavily involved in discussions about the setting up of our new school website and established our school's Facebook page.

However, something that I missed was my regular participation in twitter chats. Things were just too busy [for me] many days and I felt exhausted by the time I got home. I really do need to get this work-life balance sorted...!

One of the highlights was when I was able to be part of our school's 80th Reunion on Saturday, 21 March. People came from afar and relived many memories, which many of them shared with me during short, mingled chats. Needless to say, that I am extremely proud to be associated with our school.

This term our staff took part in the yearly indoor bowls and as a rookie I really enjoyed this experience. It was also about building relationships with some teachers from other schools and one time I was able to caught up with a tutor from the 'Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Training Series' that I attended back in 2011!

Some feedback from a parent... 

This is why I teach, to make a difference in student's lives, to try and give them the best learning opportunities possible. Working long hours is nothing, if it is going to benefit my students.

I have also learned and grew so much as a leader (my first term as Assistant Principal) and have chosen to stay positive among adversity.  

After being accepted into the National Aspiring Principals Programme 2015, I choose to withdraw (due to some personal reasons). 

It was necessary to re-evaluate my goals, knowing what is happening for me now and what do I want to achieve. This was no easy decision, but I contemplated and came to the conclusion that I can still learn and grow where I am at the moment. Being part of a positive and supportive management team, is something to not underestimate.

I can't wait to see what challenges next term will bring...

~ "Teaching:  You laugh, you cry and you work harder than you ever thought you could.  Some days you're trying to change the world and some days you're just trying to make it through the day. Your wallet is empty, your heart is full, and your mind is packed with memories of kids who have changed your life. Just another day in the classroom" - Anonymous ~

Leadership Coaching

This workshop was my third PD session for this year and I would regard it to be a very positive and enjoyable experience.  

I have been introduced to the eight skills of coaching and became aware of the true meaning of coaching and how to use the GROWTH coaching framework.

We all know that goal setting is really important as it gives a directive, energising function and effect commitment. Therefore, one has to make sure that iSMART goals [inspiring, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound] are being set, instead of SLOTH goals [Somewhat vague, Lack commitment, Open-ended, Timid, Hard to achieve], as they will be more likely be achieved.

What I also liked was that the group were able to see the impact of a coaching conversation and that we were given time to practice coaching someone.

Summing up:

• Coaching is about transforming good intentions into great results, it is a significant conversation
• It is a significant conversation to unlock a person's potential to maximise their performance
• When a leader coaches a colleague, you encouraged them to be self-directed.  
• Good coaching leads to Actions, Clarity and Energy

~ "Vision without action is but a dream. Action without vision is a waste of energy. But a vision with action can move mountains" - Lao- Tze

Developing independent students - edchatNZ

After missing a couple of edchatNZ sessions, I started to feel that I had the so called 'withdrawal syndrome'

This chat did not disappoint, with many professionals spending time to share ideas and their knowledge in our 'virtual staff-room'! 

Storify:

Reflection:

• Although it is important to engage students and develop life-long learners, it is my perception that we should foremost aim to develop confidence in our students. This [I think] will enable students to work independently, as they will have the confidence to try new things, not fearing to make mistakes.
• We need to encouraging students to think more for themselves and give them choices. When students have choices, they feel that they have ownership of their learning. Students will take more responsibility for their own learning when they have agency.

What if... we help students to experience a situation / challenge they never had before and enable them to utilize their individual skills to confidently solve a problem?

~ "Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students." - Solomon Ortiz ~

Teaching Inquiry (Writing)

This teaching inquiry will see me working collaboratively with another teacher.

The main question for us is: "How can we accelerate the progress of our group of students to where they should be in relation to the National standards?"  Using some initial data and knowledge of our students, we were able to establish a baseline and direction.

Focusing Inquiry questions:

• What assessment information do we have?
• What are our students' strengths?
• What are our students' learning needs?

Our Inquiry: "How can we support students to learn/know alphabet names and sounds, which leads them to build words and ultimately putting words into sentences?"

Teaching Inquiry questions:

• What instructional strategies will we use to help students achieve?
• What resources will we need?
• How will we differentiate to meet student needs?
• How will we encourage student ownership of their learning?
• What personal learning do we need to undertake? (Research/Readings/Support from others/Professional Development/Observations/videos)

Actions:

• Encourage student recording: Whiteboard, Student books, iPad - voice/ video, Student blogs, Shared Writing book
• Relevant problems
• Using materials: Flashcards, Class Wiki (ILP), Practice letter names & sounds
• Providing challenge: Students relate writing to a picture
• Learning buddy work: Share their writing/ story with a buddy
• Questioning: provide thinking time

Our Learning Inquiry will look at:

• What impact has our teaching had on our students?
• How do we know, what is the evidence? (Assessment/Student feedback - feed forward/Observations)
• What do we need to do next?
• What changes could we implement?

Reflection: (To be elaborated on in due course)
See outcome in Teaching Inquiry (Writing) Reflection

"Success doesn't happen overnight. Keep you eyes on the prize and don't look back." 

- Erin Andrews ~

"Kick-starting Learning in Term 1"

Annemarie confirmed the venue for our annual EducampRotovegas and I've had the e-Learning Smackdown slides and Sign-up form sorted long before schools started back for 2015.  We were ready and was looking forward to welcome educators to Rotorua.

Then we received this tweet from Network for Learning

and a blog entry by Andy Schick

http://www.n4l.co.nz/educamprotovegas-participants-thank-you/

Thank you N4L for recognizing teachers in this way!

We had a great turnout, the room was packed and it was wonderful to see so many newbies present.  The Smackdown did not disappoint, with a huge range of ideas and resources being shared.  

My Storify tells the story of the day, as it happened in the Twitter feed.

A warm thank you to all of the attendees! 

~ "To the world you may be 'just' a teacher, but to your students you are a HERO" 

- Unknown ~

'RTC Ready'

Connected Rotorua had a great start to the year with Shaun sharing his knowledge on how to manage evidence for the Registered Teacher Criteria.

He shared these Registered Teacher Criteria (RTC) Reference Sites

• New Zealand Teachers Council Registered Teacher Criteria
• TKI Registered Teachers Criteria and e-learning: unpack the 12 criteria and provide elearning examples.

Shaun has been using Google Slides to collect evidence for his RTC. I've used his Google Slides since 2012 and personally find this to be a valuable tool [to use] to collect my evidence. It is also easy to hyperlink particular posts from my blog, which I tag (label) with the RTC.

Two other examples of how blog posts are tagged (labelled) with RTC are from Shaun & Annemarie.

There is also a template in Google Sites, created by Leigh Hynes to use. Watch this video on how to find this template.

More RTC Templates

• MyPortfolio RTC one page template
• Word document RTC self assessment tool with questions to ask yourself and space for written reflections.

And then last, but not least using SOLO Rubrics by Pam Hook to self assess RTC.

~ "If you have a candle, the light won't glow any dimmer if I light yours off of mine."

- Steven Tyler ~