Stretching Your Edges a Keynote by Jennifer Abrams

 

Stretching Your Edges a Keynote by Jennifer Abrams

Two weeks ago, I attended the ACAMIS Leadership Conference, where one of the keynote speakers, Jennifer Abrams, delivered an interesting session on the ongoing journey of professional growth. Her keynote focused on how we can continually develop ourselves in relation to professionalism.

Key Takeaways from Jennifer Abrams’ Keynote

Jennifer highlighted the necessity of working collaboratively, communicating effectively, and being valuable group members. She began by prompting us to reflect on our growth from our very first job to where we are today. This activity helped us to understand the concept of “growing up at work”-not in a diminishing sense, but as a reminder that professional development is an ongoing process. We are encouraged to 'grow psychologically, cognitively, and emotionally throughout our careers'.

The goal of her work is to help us:

•         View challenges as external rather than personal
•         Avoid being swept up or overly reactive to difficulties
•         Respond thoughtfully rather than impulsively
•        Collaborate more effectively with others
•         Approach situations with greater thoughtfulness
•       Navigate the world with increased ease

Five Facets for Professional Growth

To achieve these goals, Jennifer outlined five facets for self-exploration:

1.    Self-awareness: Understand your identity, upbringing, strengths, and limitations.

2.   Openness: Suspend certainty and embrace complexity and openness in your thinking.

3.   Responsible Communication: Take ownership of your language and all forms of communication.

4.   Reciprocity and Respect: Practice mutual respect and live your values openly.

5.   Resilience and Emotional Health: Build resilience and prioritize your emotional well-being.

I found her keynote interesting and a reminder of how we can continue to 'grow at work', how we can, 'be better' and how, 'we can be of value'. As educators Abrams reminds us of the important of not only growing as educators but to grow and “stretch our edges” as professionals.

• Video to learn more by Jennifer Abrams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYIRtOULhto
• Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/e5-stretching-your-learning-edges-with-jennifer-abrams/id1741532932?i=1000662599345'
• Jennifer Abram's website: https://jenniferabrams.com/spotlight/

 

 

Fostering a Cohesive Learning Environment: A reflection from our NEASC visit

 A we update before the blog post!

It's been a long time between the last blog post and this one - over year! A lot has happened. After finishing my doctorate I decided I wanted to try something a new in education, having spent almost 20 years in education in NZ, I had always wanted to go to international teaching and the time now seemed right. In July 2023 I left NZ for China. I'm at a fantastic school with amazing students, educators and staff. The world of international teaching is new to me and education outside the NZ context has at times been a learning curve. I love learning and this new chapter has so far been interesting and exciting. 

One area that is quite different to NZ is accreditation. The school I am at is accredited with both the International Baccalaureate (IB) and New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). IB and NEASC offer a joint accreditation process called the CLP. In December we had our first NEASC visit. There are 10 Learning Principles that, "encourage schools​ ​to be reflective learning communities able to design learner-focused futures that may transform both learners and ​schools" (NEASC)

 Each week I write a blog post for our school faculty newsletter, and this was published back in December 2024:

NEASC accreditation is about developing learners, and the term learners includes everyone in the community. It is an integrated approach to learning and recognises that learning, as we know is not confined to just the classroom. Or school is about to start the internal reflection which will take 12-18 months. One of the areas we will look at is ‘what is high quality learning’ and building a shared understanding of high-quality learning. To build this understanding of high-quality learning we need to be clear on the aspirations we have for our students (NEASC CLP workshop, 2024).

When I conducted my doctoral research one of my questions was in relation to creating a future focused school. Often when a school is looking to create change, the school will focus on three key areas, pedagogy, curriculum, and systems. The findings of my research showed that there was a fourth key area that needed to be addressed first: Character and Culture,

Figure 1 Four components of a school (T. Yuill Proctor, 2022, p89)

 

It is essential to recognize the integrated approach to learning that NEASC accreditation promotes. This approach emphasizes the importance of understanding our community's unique character and culture. The first step in the NEASC process is a clear understanding of our aspirations and this is related to understanding our Character and Culture,

“The uniqueness of a school is based on the people within, the students, the teachers, support staff and wider community. Over time, the Character and Culture may change. This could be due to such things as changing demographics in the area and turnover of staff, because it is the people who make up the Character and Culture within a school…By having a clear understanding of the Character and Culture of the school and the future direction, it is then possible to examine and plan for change with the other three components: systems, curriculum and pedagogy.”(T. Yuill Proctor, 2022, p88)

Whilst all four components are interrelated, a school’s ability to have a clear understanding of its unique character and culture is necessary to create alignment, cohesion and synergy. Gaining this understanding involves an in-depth examination of the school’s philosophy based on our mission and values, followed by mapping it out (T. Yuill Proctor, 2022). During the NEASC CLP workshop on Thursday, we were introduced to a NEASC framework that helps schools understand their character and culture before moving into pedagogy, curriculum, and systems.

Figure 2: NEASC 9 Steps

The 9 steps in the diagram above is a backwards mapping tool where we can look at the impacts and evaluate the learning that is happening. We can then ensure that these are relating to our guiding statements and the qualities we hope to develop in our learners. This approach aligns with the schools holistic understanding of high-quality learning, as emphasized during the NEASC visit. By reflecting the community's unique character and culture, we can better understand our highest aspirations and the qualities needed to achieve them. For example, if one of our guiding statements is around Peace, we might identify empathy as a necessary quality. From here, we can identify what this looks like in different contexts with the school and incorporate daily practices that foster empathy in our learners.

In conclusion, the NEASC CLP accreditation process is not just about meeting standards but about fostering a holistic understanding of high-quality learning. By focusing on our unique character and culture, we can create a cohesive and synergistic learning environment that aligns with our guiding statements and the qualities we hope to develop in our learners. This integrated approach ensures that we are not only preparing our students for academic success but also nurturing their overall development as individuals and working towards our mission and values.

Final Note

Our next step as a learning community is to select 5 Learning Principles to focus our internal reflection. From here we will create design teams co-led with students as we explore evidence of learning. Out of this process we will select 2 or 3 big ideas to focus our future design. Through-out this process we will involve all members of our learning community, especially our student learners.

Doctor of Education Thesis: Connected classes: a case study of one high school's journey from a traditional to a future-focused curriculum. (2022)

 

Just over a week ago I graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Doctor of Education. I walked in the graduation parade and later in the week crossed the stage to receive the actual certificate. I’m incredibly proud of what I have achieved. When people say a doctoral study is full of highs and lows, they are right. The highs are high and the lows, well let’s just say I had an amazing supervisor (Sandra) who on more than one occasion gave me the encouragement to keep going. I’m incredibly grateful to both of my supervisors, Sandra and Alison, and to my examiners. They provided me with support, advice, and guidance which helped me to produce a piece of work that I’m very proud of.

Next steps: now that I’ve had a we bit of a break from writing I am going to try and write an article or two for publication. I’m also working with GrowWaitaha to turn the Connected Curriculum Learning Design Framework into a usable teacher resource.

Below is a copy of the abstract for the thesis and if you feel like taking a look at the actual document, hopefully this link works!

 

Abstract

Today, we live in a knowledge-based economy and educators need to design learning which focuses on the ‘knowledge and skills necessary for the knowledge age and where innovation is a valued commodity (Bolstad & Gilbert, 2012). Using action research with a participatory component and presented as a case study, this research examined one high school’s journey as they moved from a traditionally structured school, based on the factory model of education, to one that is future-focused. Future-focused learning takes into consideration a changing understanding of what knowledge is valued by society and the skills necessary for dealing with uncertainty and change. The New Zealand high school involved in this research provided the opportunity for teachers to change the delivery of curriculum from a traditional single-subject mode of delivery to one that connects the curriculum using a concept-based curriculum, with a focus on 21st-century skills. The three subject areas connected were Science, Social Studies, and English at Year 9 and Year 10 (students aged approximately 13–15). A challenge for the school involved in this research was how to shift to a future-focused institution and support teachers in changing the design of the curriculum and pedagogy. There is a range of literature on curriculum integration but there are limited resources for teachers on how to implement curriculum integration. This research focused on examining the processes the school’s Senior Leadership Team undertook to create a learning institution that is future-focused, which would enable teachers to change their curriculum design and delivery.

The school involved in this research designed and implemented change by having a clear understanding of the school’s ‘Character and Culture’, which then informed the school's systems, pedagogy, and curriculum. Understanding the Character and Culture of the school was about knowing the people currently within the institution, who they are as individuals, the strengths and weaknesses, the diversity of the student population, and the needs of the students and staff. Each school has its own character, such as the history of the school, location, and people within the school, which can change over time. Established schools need to work with the people within the school community to drive change. Before embarking on changes that affect curriculum, pedagogy, and systems, the findings of this research indicate that schools should take the time to understand fully the Character and Culture of the school.

This research not only examined how the Senior Leadership Team created an environment for change but also how teachers at the school, involved in this research, plan, and implement a future-focused Connected curriculum for the subjects of Science, Social Studies, and English. As part of this research, based on the literature and working with the teachers, the researcher designed a new pedagogical framework called the Connected- Curriculum Learning Design Framework. This new Connected Curriculum Learning Design Framework considers 21st-century skills, concept-based curriculum, and specialist-subject pedagogical content knowledge. It is based on students developing and creating knowledge by moving students from surface-to-deep to transference of learning while concurrently developing 21st-century skills by using innovative pedagogical strategies and a concept-based curriculum. This research captured the experiences of three teachers involved with the planning and implementation of the curriculum with a Connected learning class at Year 9 and Year 10.

The two most significant outcomes of this research are the Connected Curriculum Learning Design Framework and an understanding of Character and Culture. The Connected Curriculum Learning Design Framework used in conjunction with practical planning documents provides a method for moving students through three phases of learning: surface-to-deep-to-transference of learning using innovative pedagogies. However, before teachers can redesign a curriculum that is future-focused, it is necessary for a Senior Leadership Team to create an environment for change, and the teachers involved have a coherent understanding of the purpose. The understanding of the Character and Culture of the school is a significant outcome of this research as it provided the ability for the teachers and the researcher, as the coordinator of the Connected classroom, to shift from a traditional form of teaching to one that is future-focused. Schools wanting to make significant change, from a traditional mode of instruction to one that is future-focused, first need to consider the Culture and Character of the school undergoing change prior to implementing new pedagogical approaches. The Connected Curriculum Learning Design framework provides a pedagogical approach for teachers to design and deliver agentic learning programs for students, which include subject-specialist learning, curriculum integration and a focus on 21st century skills.

 

ChatGPT: an Educators Perspective

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a conversational AI that follows instructions given via a prompt. ChatGPT has the ability to “answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests”. It can also correct code. (https://openai.com).

A quick search on LinkedIn, YouTube and educational pages on Facebook that I follow reveals a very interesting conversation taking place. These conversations  include everything from how to use ChatGPT for planning lessons to concern around students plagiarising using ChatGPT. The future capabilities of AI are fast becoming a reality and there seems to be equal amounts of excitement and concern!

There are YouTube videos on how to create lesson plans, rubrics, comprehension resources where ChatGPT does the heavy lifting; creating the resources, designing the inference questions, and even providing the answer grid and for the appropriate level (see here https://tinyurl.com/yc8mfwed).

A simple search online for ‘can ChatGPT solve IB maths questions’ turns up this blog post on what questions ChatGPT got right and wrong: https://tinyurl.com/2p8s5pcs. ChatGPT scored 5 with the author noting that with a few tweaks it could easily score higher. “It did make some very surprising basic mistakes – but overall was still able to achieve a solid IB Level 5 (a good performance), and it did this in about 5-10 minutes” (Chambers, 2022). 

As far as essays go, just provide a prompt with the context, level, wordcount and question and voila! ChatGPT can even provide feedback on student writing.

This all sounds pretty useful. However, ChatGPT currently has a number of limitations. It will fill in knowledge gaps, make mistakes, and include references that don’t exist. It’s constantly being developed by the users and therefore dependant on the views, opinions etc. of those humans “ChatGPT was trained using a massive dataset of text written by humans that was pulled from the Internet. Thus, the responses can reflect the biases of the humans who wrote the text used in the training dataset”. (Torrey, p7). Because of this ChatGPT can be discriminatory and biased.

ChatGPT is an interesting tool in that teachers can use it to ‘save time’ and essentially students could use it to potentially ‘pass’ with minimal effort. It comes as no surprise that newsfeeds in the edusphere are filled with teachers voicing their concerns (and equally as many showing their support) around students using such technology.

Cyberwise (https://tinyurl.com/2mnazjre) recently produced an article on the positive and negatives of ChatGPT written by ChatGPT itself. This article asked the question of whether students using ChatGPT was plagiarism and the response from ChatGPT was this:

“It is generally considered plagiarism to present someone else's work as your own, whether you have copied it directly or asked someone else to produce it for you. This includes using a language model such as ChatGPT to generate text that you then submit as your own.” (ChatGPT)

With all the fuss around this, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until another digital tool will identify whether the student work is their own or from an AI tool like ChatGPT. But what to do in the interim? Well, in this author’s opinion, perhaps we teachers learn to embrace it.

Research conducted By Susnjak at Massey University, NZ, titled ‘ChatGPT: The End of Exam Integrity’ found that ChatGPT can produce work that demonstrates critical thinking. This raises good questions about exam integrity. According to the article, the area of exam integrity in online assessmentis under researched. An interesting finding in this research was,

 “It is clear from the experimental evidence conducted in this paper that AI technologies have reached exceptional levels and are now capable of critical thinking rather than just information retrieval…One of the most impressive capabilities of ChatGPT is its ability to reason critically, as well as express thoughts and ideas in flawless prose. This technology has demonstrated exceptional competency in these areas, seemingly matching the capabilities of humans” (p13)

The risk identified by this article is “that students could potentially use ChatGPT to cheat on exams, as the technology is able to generate responses that are indistinguishable from humans.” (p.14).

The question that AI such as ChatGPT raises for me is what knowledge and skills are currently of value to communities? My rationale for this is that schools are in the business of providing students with knowledge and skills that are valued by communities - be they tertiary, industry, familial or something else. Overtime, what these communities value in terms of knowledge and skills changes.

I can’t help but go back the OECD Future of Learning 2030 document and agree that:

“Students need support in developing not only knowledge and skills but also attitudes and values, which can guide them towards ethical and responsible actions. At the same time, they need opportunities to develop their creative ingenuity to help propel humanity towards a bright future.

As Andreas Schleicher, Director of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, commented in 2019, “Education is no longer about teaching students something alone; it is more important to be teaching them to develop a reliable compass and the navigation tools to find their own way in a world that is increasingly complex, volatile and uncertain. Our imagination, awareness, knowledge, skills and, most important, our common values, intellectual and moral maturity, and sense of responsibility is what will guide us for the world to become a better place” (Schleicher, 2019[2]).”(p6)

So, we have some choices:

·       Status Quo – essentially do nothing! Teachers could use ChatGPT to create lessons and assist with teaching. Students use it in their learning and potentially as a method for producing work that is not their own. This will then result in school policies and consequences to try and curtail the misuse (I use this term in a general sense) of the technology.

·       Embrace the technology – this choice has a lot of potential future scenarios, such as integrating AI into teaching and learning programs, changing the way we evaluate learning, changing our teaching and learning programs and the creation of new knowledge and skills, the list goes on…

Whatever we choose, the fact remains that the technology is here and will only continue to develop.

Embrace the technology but how?

This is a big question and one I don’t have the answer for!

But, I do believe that we need humans who can critically think, be creative, design and solve problems to improve the environment for those that live in it (ethically).

As educators we need to think about the purpose of teaching and learning, the content of the teaching and learning and if how we ‘assess’ is currently a good measure of success in students gaining knowledge and skills. While AI is increasingly able to respond to prompts with in a more human-like manner, we as teachers need to ensure that we don’t create passive citizens but active lifelong learners who have the  ‘attitudes and values to act ethically’. 

So, if our concern as educators is that AI is providing students with the answers – maybe we are asking the wrong questions?

 

 

 

 

Reference

Blakemore, T. (2023). ChatGPT tutorial for Teachers, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQJOXn4NG40

Chambers, A. (2022). Can Artificial Intelligence (Chat GPT) get a 7 on an SL Maths paper? IB Math Resources from Intermathematics  https://ibmathsresources.com/2022/12/11/can-artificial-intelligence-chat-gpt-get-a-7-on-an-sl-maths-paper/

ChatGPT (2022). Cyberwise https://www.cyberwise.org/post/the-pros-and-cons-of-students-using-chatgpt

OECD. (2019) Future of Education and Skills 2030.  https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/teaching-and-learning/learning/learning-compass-2030/OECD_Learning_Compass_2030_Concept_Note_Series.pdf

https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/

SusnJak, T. (2022). ChatGPT The End of Online Exam Integrity. Massey University Auckland, NZ. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2212.09292.pdf

Trust, T (2022). ChatGPT and Education, https://tinyurl.com/yv6m7ra7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My EdD research: Prelim findings on integrating curriculum interview on the 'Master of One' podcast

Last week, I was interviewed about my EdD research for the 'Master of One' podcast (also on Spotify). This podcast has been created by Toni Westcott and Laura Butler, two NZ educators. The purpose is to share teachers who are completing postgrad study to "unpack educational research done by teachers and sharing practical tips for your classroom".

My research is a Case Study looking at how one high school transitions from a traditional mode of instruction to future focused and how teachers collaborate to deliver an integrated program at Yr 9/10. This research is to capture how a high school makes the change from a traditional subject-silo approach to an integrated approach to curriculum. It also looks at how teachers collaborate to deliver an integrated program. The curriculum areas integrated are Science, Social Studies and English. The study will specifically examine the processes of change and the experiences of different stakeholders. It is hoped that the findings will provide educators and other interested parties with evidence-based research that can inform future change and practice within secondary education.

Currently, I am at the stage of writing up my findings.

Here is the podcast:




Thank you to Toni and Laura for this opportunity.

Some thoughts...

The Education community locally, nationally and internationally is an amazing community to be part of. But during this lock-down and Covid 19 the challenges facing us in NZ are being faced everywhere. It has been awesome seeing the resource sharing to generating ideas and discussion on what innovations could come out of all this. I would recommend DistruptEd TV as a great viewing. I have been thinking about how we can innovate not within our current structures but how do we change from the outside these structures. What is worth keeping and what could be very different - I would love to be part of some 'anything is possible' thinking around this. 

I have discovered that I love being at home and I think my career in education provides a nice balance of being surrounded by people all day and then relaxing at home. Before lock-down my favourite unwind activities were running at the gym (I love treadmill running) and kick boxing. I am not doing either whilst in lock-down. Instead I walk almost every day with my daughters (Miss 12 and Miss 18) and these walks whilst never far from home are a good distance. Our walks sometimes involves solving riddles or taking conversation starters or just simple road trip games like eye spy. This is the favourite part of my lock-down day. I have also rediscovered my love of cooking from scratch and have made homemade gnocci, tortilla's, pizza, pizza sauce... I think it is because I have the focus and energy rather than the time to put into it. The two girls have been watching the Marvel movies in order which has created a nice connection for the two of them. They discuss the acting, dialogue, whether the props are consistent between the movies, sound tracks etc. But as a parent I love that they have found something to share and connect to whilst in lock-down. 

I realised, when I saw this photo that over the past couple of weeks I have been role modeling to my 12 yr old, how to work from home (usually I would work/study after she is in bed). Here in this photo she has her first learning zoom. 

Miss 12 is a Civil Defence cadet and they are meeting 1x a week at home. She has work to do in-between each zoom including a NCEA Level 2 standard. All cadets are expected to complete the work, regardless of age and this is something I really appreciate. The zoom meetings take a similar format  with a Q&A, quiz and general social connection. I posted this photo because Miss 12 wanted to be set up at my work station, in my chair etc. Over the past 2 weeks working from home she has seen how this new way of being, works in our home for me.  I have since given her a desk and chair in the living area (our shared work zone ) for when school starts on Wednesday. 

This is just a personal reflection of how life is working in my family bubble. That without realising it our day and week has a new rhythm. We celebrate Wednesdays rather than the weekend as that is another week down. Thankfully, we still enjoy each others company but allow each other space. We've celebrated a couple of birthdays via zoom, Easter via zoom. I have connected with friends/family who are oversees via video messenger.  I have not taken up any new hobbies and probably should be doing a little more study than I have. But this is an adjustment and it pays to be kind to ourselves and each other.

#Edchatnz

Online Learning Communities

I have to say the online learning community of teachers is amazing. One of these groups is #edchatNZ on twitter. In the past,  at the beginning, sometimes I tuned in but didn't comment and at other times I did. Yesterday, I was so excited to see, in light of current events the hashtag was reactivated and I was excited. I had forgotten or maybe I am just older the pace of discussion and the need for tweetdeck was crucial. If you are a Kiwi teacher here or abroad or just a teacher in need of some awesome conversation tune in and share your thoughts.

Photo of the day goes to my daughter. I organised a family 5pm virtual catch up with all the family. It was awesome, so get the whānau together, or the dept or even a team of mates - connect, it is the most important thing we can do.

March 26th - Binge-ing

As someone who struggles to see in New Years Eve, I had no problem seeing the clock strike 12 last night as NZ enters the lockdown! Possibly Auld Lan Syne would have been an appropriate song to sing as we farewelled one way of living.

I've titled this post 'binge-ing', mostly because I feel like I have been binge-ing the news and Miss 12 has been binge-ing her learning. And like a good binge it can leave you feeling a little full and in need of a rest. As a result, I have stepped away from the media and took myself for a walk. It was interesting to see families out walking together keeping a safe distance with a nod or quiet hello from across the street as we passed. I didn't see anyone on their phones!  I guess we are on a go slow at the moment.


I have been really impressed with our wider educator community. Having been on Twitter for a number of years and using this as a source of support I find myself there again. I am really happy to see the restart of the #edchatNZ and really recommend joining this hashtag at 8:30pm tonight. It is especially a great place to start if you are new to Twitter.
Here is a great article I saw someone share Twitter:  Eight Steps to Smoother Transition to Online Learning

Something else I am finding interesting at the moment is all the discussion on the 'how' to deliver the learning remotely. Whether it is checking in with students or running shortened lessons for those who can.  This morning one of our Social Studies teacher's ran a current event quiz through Microsoft Teams and about 10 students tuned in but what was pretty cool were the parents joining in. Whilst these are challenging times it will be interesting to see how this affects teaching and learning in the future.
If you you use Microsoft (like the school I'm with), there are all sorts of support coming through like videos on how to use tools such as Microsoft Stream. It is a video storage/library for your organization that you can upload videos too for your students, and where meetings are recorded to if using the the Meeting function in Teams. I am just learning about Microsoft Stream but what I really like it is a secure place for only those in  your organization.

How is Miss 12 going?
This is where the binge-ing comes in. Having got the work from her teacher she has decided to do as much of it as possible as quickly as possible so as to have time for "other stuff". The learning set by her teacher is something she sees as a 'must do' and she wants to get to the 'can do'.  Miss 12 also has homework from the Civil Defence Cadets that she is part of. This is quite challenging as we find ourselves using Google for the stuff we are unsure of. Whilst I write this blog she is preparing tonights dessert: apple and rhubarb crumble. However, I've just popped into the kitchen and the pie is in the oven and she is cleaning out the baking cupboard!
A quote from Miss 12 on learning from home "It sucks!" - Translation is that Miss 12 prefers to be at school with her friends and her teachers. 

My photo learning challenge 
Today I deleted some wrong photo files, normally careful to check I delete the raw orf file and save the jpeg, in my haste I deleted the jpegs from the camera. This mistake created today's learning. With Google's help I learnt that I could download a raw image extension from the Microsoft store and then go to a Convertio and convert the raw orf file to jpeg. 
It is just a picture of the kitchen table with my work and Miss 12s  work. The nerf guns are for some fun later in the week, the sports gear is Miss 18's as she's a PT and completing a Science degree in sports and nutrition. The recipe book is a platform for Surface/laptop during video meetings. In hindsight I should have collected the docking station and monitors from university. I'm lucky as I have a uni laptop for study and school laptop which means Miss 12 can use my personal Surface as she doesn't have a device.

An Idea and a Plan

I have two daughters at home: Miss 12 who is in Year 8 and Miss 18 who is at Uni. Miss 20 is in Wellington and currently is in the hospitality industry. Each child has been disappointed by the changes in the last few weeks, Miss 20 had her Uni graduation cancelled and work, Miss 18 cant do BJJ  and has had her learning go online, and Miss 12 has had all her sport cancelled. But due to their experience with Christchurch earthquakes a while ago now, they are disappointed but understand. The older two are also glad that we have power and most importantly working toilets! 

Miss 12 is annoyed that I am a teacher and she said she is going to enforce  the new school holidays dates!  Which made me think that it is important that over the next few weeks she doesn't see me as a teacher but as a mother who is helping her. In my opinion, while teachers are providing learning opportunities to the students at no point do we want the parent/s/caregivers to feel that they have to be 'teachers'. 

For our mental well-being when in isolation  I know that routine is important and social contact via online tools is also important. I've asked Miss 12 to think of at least 1 fun thing she wants to do each day, something to look forward to. With social interaction I was thinking of having a virtual pancake dinner with my family for my birthday that's coming up. I also thought I would create a virtual quiz for the nieces/nephews and my children to join in on. 

Yesterday, I realised it had been a few months since my last post. This could be a good time to get more into a routine with my blog! I thought I would try to blog most days with the following content whilst at Level 4 Covid19 shutdown:

• Some things that may be useful related to learning, 
• Something of interest to me in education
• How Miss 12 is doing with her learning, some thoughts from her 
• I have been slowly learning photography and thought the next four weeks could be helpful in this. To hold me to account I will post 1 photo (but not today as I'm currently in my pjs having morning coffee whilst I write this blog!)

 Here are some useful online resources

Science

Nano Girl : Has an amazing website with all sorts of Science stuff for students, parents and teachers. Nano Girl has a podcast and after each episode there is a video. She also has some great resources for explaining Covid19 and some experiments with soap

History/English

I saw this on the History NZ teachers FB page: We are currently living through a historical moment and someone has created a good task for teenagers around primary/secondary sources and keeping a diary of the current pandemic: Eye Witness to History

PE

The Body Coach is creating Youtube Videos P.E with Joe and these I think are coming out each day. A way for students to keep active and burn some energy.

Link to: Govt website for Covid19

My thoughts: Post earthquake (2011) reflection and our situation today

Some thoughts:

Over the past week or so, as the world changes, I have been part of conversations on Twitter and F2F about the changing landscape of teaching and lessons learned from the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 and what is happening due to Covid 19. These are just my thoughts:

So, what did I learn from the Christchurch earthquake 2011: 

• During the EQ students suddenly had a new/increased responsibilities such as looking after younger children, helping the adults, working more in their part-time jobs due to parent/s losing jobs, or just the stress of being home which meant that learning was not a priority. Other students were able to keep learning and looked for those opportunities
• Learning was for those who could, and when things settled back to normal, pathways were put in place for those who didn't have access, or couldn't learn online.  We needed to trust, our Senior Leadership Team, NZQA, MoE  and other experts (including our unions and teaching council) with regard to NCEA and student learning. (Communication is a part of the 'trust' I mention.  It  includes communication that results in informed decisions. That all key stakeholders are represented in discussion in some form or other.)
• Educators were amazing at coming together, sharing and helping each other. Teachers set up blogs and sites to provide learning to students not just on their school roll or class list. During 2011 I can't imagine what our Senior Leadership Teams had to do and decisions they had to make. Our Teachers (regardless of position) are not invincible and had their own challenges plus trying to keep things 'normal' for the students or staff. 

My thoughts about the situation today:

• E-learning (in the event of school closure) is for those who can, and educators are trying their best to get the schools, teachers etc into a place to facilitate this as best they can. 
• There are amazing educators in NZ and beyond and you kind find them on Twitter and Facebook, as well as in your own school. Teachers are already sharing ideas, resources and positive attitude to learning in challenging circumstances.
• Like back in 2011 with the earthquakes, I believe we need to trust, our Senior Leadership Team, NZQA, MoE,  and other experts (including unions and teaching council) with regard to NCEA and student learning.  
• Microsoft and Google both provide a wealth of resources and information, if you are a Microsoft School I recommend joining the Microsoft Educator Community as a teacher at a high school which uses Microsoft I find this an incredibly useful site.  Google also have a community for educators 

Just a few thoughts.

Liberatory Design with Year 9 and Sustainable Cities

Liberatory Design Thinking

As part of my Boma Fellowship  I attended a 2 day intensive workshop at the Stanford d School at Stanford University, let by David H Clifford. This introduction to Liberatory Design  (LD) has had an impact on my own thinking. It has led me to create a series of micro-credentials as well create a unit of learning, where students went through the process of LD to design sustainable buildings as part of a sustainable city project.

What is Liberatory Design?

Liberatory Design was co-created by David Clifford and the National Equity Project . It is about bringing equity into the design process:

LDT

The image above shows the LD process and it has several components that encourage the designer to examine equity in their design through: Notice, Reflect and Empathize. To me this way of thinking allows the 'human' to remain at the centre of the design rather than the 'product'.

Sustainable Cities, LD and Year 9

Students in our integrated curriculum class (Science, English and Social Studies) have had their learning structured around the SDG's and Global Citizenship. Students have undertaken a series of student led inquiries and project based learning. In Term 3 we used the Liberatory Design process to structure the student learning program.

Students were in groups and each had an aspect of city. The premise was a new island was going to built off the coast of Christchurch and it must be a sustainable city. Each group was assigned a different aspect of the city e.g. industrial, residential, business... 

We first took them through the 'Notice' phase where we discussed things such as bias and assumptions. This was more challenging than I had anticipated with some students declaring they had no bias. I sort some advice from the Boma Ed Fellows and David and based on their advice designed some games. This helped to create some light-bulb moments for students where they realised they did have bias. One student reflected that her role was to create a sports centre and she had focused on netball which was her favourite sport and passion. She then examined her own assumptions and redesigned her sports centre. Other students noted how they had male/female toilets and this may not be the most equitable design in catering for everyone (these are only two examples) - this was directly related to addressing their own assumptions.

Prototype in Minecraft Edu

Part of our challenge was getting students to think beyond the easy solutions. A way we did this was work in 'Chance' over the course of the term. For example, after students had decided on their power sources, we took away the lithium mines - it had been in the news and we worked it into the lesson. This meant that students had to go back from ideate/prototype back to the 'define' section after re-examing the 'notice' and 'reflect'. Some students were frustrated at starting again. However, when we spoke to them about how this related to building their capabilities in relation to perseverance, problem solving and overcoming challenges as well as working through the design process, the students got it.


As far as the prototype stage, we had students do at least three and this was related to 'Chance' challenges. Students for the most part opted to prototype in Minecraft EDU. What was interesting were the students commenting that it was easier to do it in Minecraft than with the card. That it was hard to visualise with just card and then how to actually create the building. We required their final prototype to be done with card, cello-tape and glue. Students created QR codes to display their Sway's, or Power-point or video on the what the sustainable features were and other aspects of their design.
Students had to have at least 3 sustainable features and at least 1 additional sustainable feature focused on well-being.

Sports stadium:the QR code will work if you have a QR reader on your phone

Recreation Area (QR code has been black-out)

Rather than the 'Test' phase we did have students reflect on their learning and the process. We also invited teachers to a presentation where students shared their learning.

There was a lot more to this than the summary above but I hope to highlight some key moments. A key learning for me was the the 'Notice', 'Empathize', 'Reflect' aspects of Liberatory Design which needs to be worked into the curriculum through-out the year. By working on this through-out the year students would be able to go deeper when looking at equity and challenging their own bias/assumptions and that of others/systems/issues.

Palo Alto and Esther Wojcicki post 3

The last school we visited on our Boma Ed Fellowship to California was Palo Alto High School to see their Media Studies department and meet with Esther Wojcicki (It was a highlight for me, to meet Esther). 

I had watched a few of Esther Wojcicki online talks through Singularity U and have the 'TRICK' acronym up on my whiteboard. The word I really love is the acronym   'Kindness' and is something I am wanting to focus on with the students.

I think what struck me the most about visiting this school was here was a teacher who had believed in her students and program. She made it work inside prefab buildings until the number of students overwhelmed the space, and a purpose built building was built. That Esther had the drive and passion to deliver a curriculum that was truly engaging and authentic.

We walked into a classroom where students were just announcing who the new editors were.

Students where running this learning with teacher off to side observing. Students clapped and cheered as the new editors went up. The chatter among the students was positive. The air was filled with anticipation and celebration. It really was exciting to watch. From here they split into their own groups and down to the business of putting together a publication. 

There are a number of publications students put out and each one is responsible for gathering the advertisements to fund the print run. Each publication is of an exceptional high standard whether it be a newspaper such as The Campanile or a magazine like Agora:

 

Besides the print publications there are also involved with visual media such as tv where student produce a variety of tv shows.

Infocus is a daily tv show where students share announcements and information for the school community - it is the schools daily update system. 

There is is so much to this Media department (including radio) and students have the responsibility of not only producing articles of an exceptional high standard but for distribution.

Esther is an inspiring educator and woman who not only has seen this vision realized at Palo Alto but also has raised two incredible daughters. One is a co-founder  of 23andMe and the other the CEO of Youtube.

I recommend watching Esther Wojcicki presentations there are a number of videos and she has also released a new book 'How to raise successful people'. You can follow her on Twitter @EstherWojcicki

June Jordan School of Equity - Boma Ed Fellowship post 2

 The June Jordan School of Equity, San Francisco was the second school we visited as part of the Boma Ed Fellowship program. I have never been to a school like this and found it absolutely amazing.

This is a school that was was created when the community demanded a new school and was named by the students after it was established. June Jordan was a West Indian-American poet, teacher and activist who discussed issues of race, gender, immigration and representation. It is fitting that students chose this name -especially when you read about their 'pedagogy project' (end of this post)

The focus of the school is youth participatory action research - fighting against institutional repression. Their mission not only prepare students for college but to be agents of change.

The June Jordan School for Equity describe themselves as:

• We are a college prep school, but we believe what kind of person you are comes before academics.

• We are an innovative public school, but not a charter school.

• 100% of our graduates have a strong post-secondary plan.

• We believe working-class families and students of color deserve a private-school-quality education, in a free public school.

• We believe that true excellence cannot be achieved without equity, or fairness to all.

It was interesting talking with students about their senior projects. Students had chosen project that were important issues to them. One student spoke about gentrification and the impact of this on his community. Another student was looking at immigration. Click here to read about the interesting students at the school, their experiences and how they are trying to make change.

The school has a beautiful community garden with kitchen on site. There was a community group working in it when we were touring the school. The aim is to provide programs on nutrition and farm to table food. They also have chickens and fruit trees.

Walking around the school the walls are covered in quotes and images that affirm their goal of social justice

This is an incredibly school that works at empowering the students to not only believe in themselves but to be the change they want to see.  They have a pedagogy project which they explain as:  "pedagogy (a fancy way of saying “the way we teach”) is expressly designed to help our students understand the forces of marginalization they have experienced growing up, and thus to begin the process of freeing themselves from oppression, including especially the internalized oppression (or self-imposed limits) which we see preventing so many students from meeting their potential."

It was an inspiring visit.


Further Information:
http://www.junejordan.net/bio.html
https://www.jjse.org/pedagogy-project
Student Life Video: https://www.jjse.org/student-life
Youth Summit Video: https://www.jjse.org/youth-summit-overview