A Rose by Any Other Name...

Would still smell as sweet, wouldn't it?

My brother's mother-in-law asked me last week what the difference was between teaching at the two different schools. Week 4 at HPSS has had me reflecting on the differences in teaching practise between what I was doing at my last school and what I do now. Not much is different - yet. However, I have taken mental note of the differences in teaching, and this is what I've come up with.

Two Teachers and Subjects in Some Classes

The most obvious difference are the modules. These are the classes I teach with another teacher from another curriculum area. I teach two of these - one is called Kakahu and the other is called DBAD101. Both of these courses run for a semester.

Kakahu
Kakahu is a foundation module which means the students are years 9 and 10. I co-teach this module with a technology teacher and together we're exploring fashion. We sit together for 80 minutes every Friday morning and plan our next week.

This week we are using reading and drawing skills to interpret characterization. We'll look at characters and interpret their personalities. We'll look at the opening clip of Inside Out and look at how characters and emotions are visualised. We'll read a text and highlight character descriptions. Based on the interpretations of characters, they'll use kiki babou and color theories to create symbols for characters. They will then use these symbols in creating a storyboard to visualize a short story that we'll annotate and unpack together.

This is different to teaching my year 9 classes and my year 10 classes on my own. While I still had the reading skills happening, and I still tried to get students to visualize the symbols, I never managed to get the quality of work out of students that my co-teacher does. She has the subject-specific knowledge which empowers her to get great visual results out of the students.

A section of our planning document where we can see who is responsible for what for our up-coming classes.

DBAD101
As with Kakahu, this is a one-semester course. It's year 11 / Level 1 NCEA. It's a combo of English and PE with a focus on leadership, communication, and conflict. We have chosen texts that look at these concepts, and I have asked the students to find a novel that has these ideas in them as well.

We have been looking at the concepts of leadership and communication, and as we have done so, we have taken them out to the PE field and had a go at using these skills in practical situations. This is something I was always keen on doing, but didn't know how to pull it off. Having a PE teacher in every class means I always have someone to bounce off.

Having two teachers in the class is great in other ways too - when kids who are working hard and need my time to really get the concepts, there is another teacher available for behaviour management, or to float and talk to the other students and explore concepts with.

A section of our planning doc showing how we are going to explore the film in a practical way through PE

Flexible, Responsive, Blended Learning

This kind of practise all teachers strive for. We all want to ensure the success of all our students. I've always had playdough in my room. In recent years I've had maker-spaces with equipment to create with. Colored paper, glue, scissors... I've spent hours and hours learning how to teach with technology, so that devices weren't just word processor, but powerful learning tools. Difficulties arose with students not wanting to bring their devices to school. Being in an environment where devices, Universal Design for Learning strategies, and flexibility is normal makes teaching in this way much much easier.

My plan for my Level 2 class on Monday (2x80 minute blocks) has space for this.
Romeo and Juliet Act Two Activities

Flexibility also comes in spaces that I can use. I have taught in small, glass-encased meeting rooms, large open spaces, the auditorium, the tennis courts, the library, a social space, a tech room... All in two weeks. I currently have a lot of flexibility in where my class is depending on what we're doing.

The online classrooms that facilitate flexible, autonomous learning

Structured Tools Enable Flexibility

This has been instrumental to my feeling of calm in teaching. I have always strived for flexible, differentiated learning, and have tried to use assessment for learning techniques. I kept looking to find the best way, and never managed to get or create what I wanted. One of the biggest blessings in coming to HPSS is that the DP in charge of Curriculum and Learning has spent the time with her team researching and deconstructing every facet of the New Zealand Curriulum and the NCEA assessment documents. This has allowed her, with her team, to generate a solid foundation of tools, vocabulary, and practices that are versatile and cover every learning area. I feel freed up to use the tools, design my lessons, and know that the students will understand.

By looking at the learning matrix for the school and combining it with the assessment rubric for the work that I'm doing, I get clear and streamlined learning objectives that clarify what learning activities I need to find or create.

Romeo's and Juliet's Coming of Age Journey

So What is the Difference?

In the end, the differences come down to:
Consistent, visible learning frameworks
Consistent expectations for autonomous learning
Consistent expectation that learning is grounded with a real-life application, and
Consistent expectation that the students can get out into the community or engage the community and use their skills.

Getting my Teach on

Week 3.

This has been my first week of teaching at HPSS, and so far - I love it! Dad asked me how teenagers were supposed to focus for 80 minutes, or 160 minutes, and the reality is that they do. We're not asking them to do the same thing for the entire lesson - that would be mind-numbingly boring. We're exploring the content using a plethora of learning activities.

On Tuesday I only saw two classes - my foundation class (Year 9 and 10 Technology and English) and my Year 13 Literary Theory class. I saw each of them for 160 minutes - one 80 session before morning tea or lunch, and one 80 minute session afterwards. For my year 13s, it meant I was delivering a week's worth of teaching in an afternoon. They were able to produce a piece of writing for me that showed me their current skills and where we could focus on developing further. I was really impressed by these students' writing ability. That's something that I want to keep a close eye on, because the way they have developed their writing is really sophisticated.

01. What is Literary Theory - PEEL Essay (diagnostic)

02. Litheo

02a. Timeline of Literary Theories

03. Literary Lenses

04. Literary Readings of Little Red Riding Hood

05. Literary Retellings

What I love about the English and technology combo with my foundation students is that it's a co-taught module. So many cool things happening. I would be teaching with direct English instruction and turn to write the instructions on the whiteboard only to find them already there - my co-teacher had written them for me. As we go through things, we're looking at the same notion of dressing through similar lenses - what does it tell us about the person, about the history, about the culture? And as we research dress, we find out more about these things which brings amazing depth to our understanding of the texts and inspiration to our design concepts for clothing.

What's also really exciting is how my English and PE module brings great depth of understanding. We're looking at leadership, communication, and conflict. After starting with some ground work exploring the contexts of our module, we started analyzing leadership, conflict, and communication in the film 42. Careful planning and detailed communication between my co-teacher and I had us choosing a film that is critically viable and fits the focusses of the PE curriculum. After exploring these concepts in the opening of the film, we're going to explore them physically through games and activities on the field on Monday. More depth of understanding through physical engagement! So excited!

My level 2 class looks at the idea of coming of age. Initially I struggled to find a way through this that wasn't dry and boring. Teenager-struggle-makes adult decision. And repeat. All year long? Hmmm. When we started talking about it in class, we found ourselves a way forward - exploring the teenage brain and what it goes through, and how neurodevelopment influences characters in different ways in different texts. Then, looking at coming of age stories through the ages, examining how societal expectations change and influence the teenagers' experiences.

01. Course Outline

02. Mysterious Workings of the Teenage Brain

03. The Teenager is... PEEL Paragraph

04. On the Sidewalk Bleeding

05. Response to On the Sidewalk Bleeding

I'm really enjoying that I'm not teaching to an assessment. I'm teaching a topic, I'm including the skills, the students are compiling bodies of resources, and when we're ready, we'll craft the resources into assessments. That doesn't mean we're phlegmatic about the work though -already this week my level 2s have analysed a short story, exploring ideas and written a literary response, and my L3s have written an essay that can go into their portfolio for further crafting.

Dad also commented on the students calling me by my first name, and whether that allowed them to show respect. Modern teenagers don't give people respect because of their title. Modern teenagers aren't impressed or influenced by title. What matters most is mutual respect built up through relationships.

The use of devices is something that dad is often concerned about. But can I tell you a secret? They're not used 100% of the time. All students have laptops and they all come to school everyday. They are used - the parents' investment is not wasted. They access Google classroom, teaching notes, and they write responses there. But devices are only one tool. We've done mix and match, drawing, reading aloud, class discussion, group discussions... The device is only one tool in our arsenal as teachers. I've always seen devices as a window - what we can see through them is as important as what we write on them.

Camp 2018

I love camp. I always have, so it was a privilege to experience a camp held at a different place, led by a different group of people. One of the last things I did at Long Bay was go to year 9 camp, so it's kinda cool that camp is one of the first things I'm doing here too. I found myself looking for Jeff a few times though, until I remembered who I was out with!

Camp was a day and half, with the focus on continuing to connect with my hublings. I love the philosophy, and had to confront my imbalanced tendency to be more of a doer than a talker. I like getting out and doing things, so the periods of time where we were sitting chatting I quickly found myself wondering what to do next. "What do I talk about now?!"

I know, I know, time spent chatting together is important! It's a skill that I can't neglect anymore; I'm going to have to practise it!

Due to a flooded campsite out at Piha Mill, we had two communities of students out at Carey Park instead of one. This led to needing an adapted programme which the EOTC team managed epically well.

For my community, Waiarohia, camp went like this:

Thursday

• Left school at 9am, taking double-decker Ritchies buses to Carey Park Christian Camp in Henderson Valley.

• On arrival, students congregated for safety briefing and morning tea. Staff also attended the safety briefing before being taken for safety training on the activities we were to run.

• Hub activities on the field included name games and icebreakers.

• Hub Relay was the first indication that as a hub we have plenty of work to do on communication! We managed to complete three tasks - out of about seven. I haven't decided if we had too many chiefs or too many followers. We definitely needed to get the leadership dynamics more balanced.

Rotation 1

• Burma Trail
• Confidence Course

Rotation 2

• Bivvy Building

Rotation 3 (after dinner)

• Problem Solving

Night Activities

• Spotlight
• Camp fire
• Board Games
• Sports
• Night Burma Trail

Rotation 4

• Riddles
• Photo Challenge
• Swim

Avoiding the Groundhog Day.

I think the first thing to remember is that these blogs are largely about me processing my learning journey, as reflection makes learning stronger.

When I left Long Bay, one of the reasons I gave in my leaving speech was that HPSS is the next step in my learning journey. When I interviewed for my position, I said that I wanted to take what I already knew and was able to do and stretch it and grow it in a different direction. Being prepared for that and embracing that doesn't mean eliminate the learning pit experience - it just means that I'm prepared to go through the struggle.

You can't help a butterfly out of its chrysalis. It needs the struggle to make it strong enough to fly.

Several years ago, when I was getting upset about digital platforms changing again, and digging my heals in about transitioning, one friend said to me "don't look for work-arounds (ways to continue to do the things I'm used to, but in a new space), look for new and better ways of doing things." I think of this every day at the moment - it's such great encouragement and advice. I get excited by the new opportunities that are in front of me. I'm grateful to another friend who, over the years, has taught me how to face the world one challenge at a time. I'm also smile and remember and the words of a DP last week "we only do it one day at a time around here". 

Monday was a big big day for me. I'm an introvert. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with me, it just means that being around people uses a lot of energy and I refuel by being alone. It's different to extroverts - they are refueled by being around people, and are drained by being alone. I had my eyes wide open when I came into this job. I knew that introvertedness was going to be my biggest challenge in coming to a completely open, shared environment. I'm not scared of it, or afraid of it. I'm on my learning path to find the new ways of managing it.

On Monday, every block was devoted to building relationships with my hublings - my group of 14 or so students who are mine to look after. I took breaks in the staffroom, with a couple of minutes in my pod office.

Was not my best move! 

My brain was fried by the end of it, and I was barely able to figure out what to do. I had my planner in front of me all day, and my hublings were great at reminding me what we needed to do.

"Are we going to do our floor times selections?".

Great reminder! It was written in my diary, but I hadn't quite worked out what I meant by my notes!

They told me what needed to happen.

A quick email told me where to load their selections.

My favourite activity of the day, though, was getting them to tell me "how to hub". They know I'm new. I'm not going to try and fake knowing things that I haven't experienced, and so I just said to them "Look, I need you to tell me how this works. What do we do in hubs?" They all made awesome presentations, with only one dubious suggestion about wheely chair races up and down the corridor! I'm pretty sure that would violate too many health codes for me to even consider! 

The kids are super great.

At the end of the day, when the community leader asked if we had any questions, I said my only question was how to find a moment of quiet during the day to refocus. She was great. She juggled the timetable for Wednesday to afford us all a block of quiet in the day, and made sure I had some practical tips for managing the rest of the year. My next steps will be

• to try working on a bean bag in a corner of the library in a short break, 
• and
• to make sure my notes in my planner are completely clear so that I can more easily go with the flow of the day without having to spend precious brain power on searching for the answers.

On that note, I'll go back to reading through the resources for tomorrow's workshops so that I know what is going on.

HPSS - Week 1

This week, relationships and building a firm foundation has been key. Time has been given to meeting our students, to sitting with each other and planning, to sitting in communities and discussing preparations for camp next week. The foundations and structures of HPSS have been clearly taught through a range of media. All through, I get the feeling of authenticity as the presenters model good teaching and learning practise.

As I was noting down all my events in my planner book, I again noticed how much time was given building firm foundations. Foundations in relationships, and foundations in HPSS culture.

 

Building strong, professional relationships is an intrinsic part of working in a school where there are cross-curricular courses being taught. I remember someone once saying that collaboration isn't about two people adding two separate parts to one document. It's two people working together as a unit to co-create the document, and for that to happen there has to be a high level of trust, confidence, relationship, and respect. As I've worked on our Level 1 English and PE plan, my co-teacher has been fantastic at reeling me back in and showing me what she had in mind as she developed this course with my predecessor.

And reminding me that we have two terms to get a specific outcome for both English and PE.

😊

My challenge of the week has been timetabling. As I've watched timetablers over the years, my brain has often exploded. I know that with further practise I'll become more adept at it, however, Sudoku is not a skill that has ever come naturally to me. So when two students came to school without having looked at their timetable choices beforehand, I had to try and figure out what I was looking at. Inevitably, I asked them to go home, look at the course selection guide, and email me with their choices.

Thank goodness. Because it then gave me the chance to get help from one of our timetablers as to what I was looking at. Turns out that just pressing ctrl+f to find the courses in the course book and then writing them down wasn't a good way to work through the courses! It didn't take into consideration the intricacies of the job.

Overall, a pretty cool week. There are people with similar shoe fetishes, people who keep telling me to eat, and I've met a bunch more of my neighbours as they are also my colleagues.

Next week - kids arrive and camp starts, as we continue build relationships and make our way into the academic year.

HPSS - Day 2

I promise I won't spam with a day-by-day account of what went on every day! It's all just a little bit exciting again today. Amazing what sleep, water, and computer access can do! Suddenly the familiarity of a hybrid and Kamar brings some order.

The powhiri was lovely - it was just the staff and felt really intimate. I didn't realise I'd be greeting every single one of them, and by the end everyone was just laughing. That was followed by everyone of the staff introducing themselves with one slide and 30 seconds of talking. The impression it creates: people matter, relationships matter.

When I first trained as a teacher, this Maori proverb was in the front of one of the curriculum books:

He aha te mea nui o te ao

What is the most important thing in the world?

He tangata, he tangata, he tangata

It is the people, it is the people, it is the people

This still resonates deeply within me, and expresses how I felt in response to today's experiences.

PD was in the library. Bean bags were on the floor. Couches were behind. Chairs behind them. I wish I took a photo. Curled up, on the floor, in a beanbag, with a bunch of other people just like me, writing notes on my hybrid - it really was a nice way to learn. After all, curling up on the couch with my hybrid is how I work at home too.

Maurie spoke on respect - always keeping respect at the forefont of our minds because in an innovative environment respect is essential. People need to be able to fail and to get things wrong so they can risk having a go at being creative. Without respect that all falls over.

Claire spoke on the Code of Professional Responsibility - the new code that has been gazetted and is now part of our governing law as educators. I remember being told once about a Code of Ethics and a poster that I should read, and that was about as far as my knowledge of the legislation went. Spending some time looking at it and remembering why we do (and don't do) what we do (and don't do) was another good stake in the ground. It was good think about things that we can, perhaps, get too familiar with (as in, too blase about) and let our boundaries slacken on. Timely reminders help to keep us all safe.

Familiarity breeds contempt 

Our Guidance Counsellors reminded us all about the simple and obvious actions - and sometimes the not-as-obvious actions - that we should be taking as teachers to keep everyone safe. What I really liked about how everyone was speaking was how it was from a really positive point of view. Let's keep our kids safe. Let's think about our at-risk young people who don't have the skills to keep themselves safe so we have to do that for them. Let's not let anybody fall, but let's keep each other accountable in a respectful, professional, kind way and remind each other of potentially blurred situations if we happen to see or hear them arise.

Lunch was exquisite and a karakia was given before the meal. I wish I had a photo of the kai too. Second day in a row lunch was provided. Summer fruits, beautiful chicken buns, a selection of finger foods - sushi, lamb meatballs, brownies with raspberry couli, chocolate-chip meringues... I may have to go shopping again!

The afternoon ended with a session on Safer Schools by the PPTA, and then time looking at the schedule for the following week. The whole week is set aside for Individual Education Meetings - what others would know as Parent-Teacher meetings. I have 14 students to look after in my hub, and I get 20 minutes with each of them at a day and time that suits them. The importance again is being placed on people and relationship first.

Sit down, on Kamar, feeling proficient. 

Docs sent, weekend reading identified, I know what I'm looking at. 

I'm looking forward to next week, to meeting the ako and their whanau. To sinking my teeth in and getting going. It's going to be awesome.

HPSS - Day 1

The day finally arrived. Even though I'd been so excited about it in the lead up, and getting nervously restless over the past few days, the first day still did come as a bit of a shock. At one point I even found myself longing for the comfort of the familiar. The old place where I knew where everything was and what I was supposed to do.

One thing hasn't changed (much) though - Amos is still Amos!

So what did I learn from today?

The kids are already 21st century learners – that’s when they were born.

• Nearly as much as considering that it has been 20 years since I was in 6th form, that freaked me out a little. We don't need to worry bout turning our students into 21st century learners anymore - they're already here. As Russell always tells me - we can't look at our students' future through old eyes - through our past. Their world is different, and we have to adapt to them.

Netflix, Amazon, Air BnB, Uber, Spotify et al are all responding to the modern demand for personalisation.

• Schools can’t expect to be free from that demand.
  The world is changing quickly but schools aren’t changing quickly enough.
  • 
  
  
  Don’t leave it too late to respond to change.

Kids are not inspired by shallow learning.
Like it on the edge.
They like rigourous, challenging learning - that is more engaging for them than constantly being entertained and not active participants who are discovering new things for themselves. I'm always reminded of Picasso's criticism of this: We educate kids out of creativity. Something I'm always so aware of.



LEARNING DESIGN
Making things is still fun. For years I've had playdough in my room to engage all the senses and build learning. Today, presented with pipecleaners and pompoms and jigsaws and string and... Making the concepts - connected, deep, and visible - was fun. It was fun because it was challenging.

CONSISTENCY
Having a language that is familiar to everyone all the way through the school has been something that I've always felt important. It brings clarity for everyone - staff and students - when we all know what it means.
I love how I see this being achieved at HPSS - the key verbs are visible everywhere. Time is put into explaining to students what they mean for different subjects. An example was "Test" in science could mean to carry out an experiment and see if what you thought would happen actually happened, whereas to "test" in English might be to see if what you wrote actually communicates your purpose or intention to the reader.

From there, lunch (Mmmm - highly recommend the crispy duck salad at Catalina Cafe), timetables, computers, and logins. And though I had my pick of computers, hybrids are me. So, in a school full of macbook pros and airs, I will be the HP hybrid, writing on the screen of my computer with my pen.

It was a full day.
It was a busy day.
It was a good day.

And I'm grateful for the reminder of blogging to help me to process the day, in preparation for tomorrow.