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Keeping you up to date

Retrospective 2020

12/10/2020

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Browse our summary of all the different workstreams and projects that have been underway this year below...enjoy!
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TeachMeet: Collaborative Spaces          12 November 2020

11/18/2020

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“There needs to be constructive alignment between the methods of the teacher and the opportunities and potential offered by these new spaces. You start with the teaching, you train people how to teach differently, and then move into the new spaces.”                                                 
 
John Hattie

Thank you so much to Newtown School for your generous welcoming of Kāhui Ako teachers to explore your modern learning environments and talk to the teachers who use the spaces. 

We began with some provocations, led by Nicki Read (DP at Newtown School). She challenged us to place ourselves on a continuum based on some of the myths of collaborative learning spaces (that they are too noisy, that they only meet the needs of some students etc). Nicki finished her introduction by asking us to think of the collaborative space as an extra teacher. How would we plan for this specialised extra teacher?

The conversations Nicki’s provocations initiated were then carried through into the exploration of the spaces themselves. Participants were free to explore the modern learning environment at Newtown and had the opportunity to ask Newtown staff questions as we wandered around. It was great to connect to other teachers and share Newtown’s learning, such as room organisation and self-directed learning.

“Peel everything back to see the "why", so options for change become clear. The "why" is important – there can be many versions of "what" you build. There has to be a clear purpose for each learning space – a general purpose space ends up being everything and nothing. Plan for deep understanding of the rationale behind your space – this takes time.”             Waimairi School case study


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Resource links that we shared:
  • Our slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bmfc-Uv6EsVyDd6oB1h_NPo1FCDZC8FI/view?usp=sharing
  • Modern Learning Practice (ERO) https://www.ero.govt.nz/publications/modern-new-zealand-learning-practice-glossary/
  • Innovative Learning Environments (TKI) https://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Innovative-learning-environments
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Communities of Practice - Tuesday 27th October

11/12/2020

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The morning session on cultural responsiveness led by Lynette, Claire and Mitch challenged participants to consider how they can create a curriculum that actively acknowledges Māori. Beginning with ‘A call to action for Aotearoa/New Zealand schools’, we were introduced to the  https://putatara.education.govt.nz website, a resource to support schools and teachers to develop learning opportunities for sustainability and global citizenship that are place-based, inquiry-led, and focused on participation for change. 
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“The stories and histories relating to your school’s geographic location will assist you to instill a deeper sense of personal identity and belonging for every student. Focusing history learning in a familiar place allows assumptions to be challenged and new perspectives to be explored. While you may choose to show the links between local, national, and global history, place-based history also acknowledges the different experiences of Māori across Aotearoa and allows students to explore local tikanga and the events that have shaped their own community.”
http://maorihistory.tki.org.nz/en/programme-design/place-based-education/

Professor Wally Penetito, Ngāti Hauā, describes place-based education as having three strands:
  • a place-based curriculum that lets students examine knowledge and events from where their feet stand
  • a place-based pedagogy that takes into account the tikanga of where you are teaching;
  • the idea of challenging your own “taken-for-granted” world

We were all encouraged to think about how we can incorporate Māori culture and identity into our teaching practice.

In the afternoon session on Inclusive Student-Led Learning, Chrissie explicitly made the connection between Universal Design for Learning and student agency. When teachers actively embrace the UDL principles and planning cycle, they will be helping students to be purposeful and motivated, resourceful, and knowledgeable, strategic and goal-oriented - all aspects of student agency and all vital themes in the key competencies. 
The overlap with our wellbeing work is becoming clear. Knowing our students and putting them at the centre of our planning is the first step for any planning.

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The discussions and sharing of practice at both of these sessions have been both rewarding and challenging.  We look forward to continuing our communities of practice next year.
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Don’t just listen - do something! WSL Hui (Term 4) with Sarah Te One

10/28/2020

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This title completely sums up the provocative presentation Sarah Te One (Core Education) presented to WSLs and other interested educators last Thursday. After a brief outline of current thinking about children’s rights, Sarah focused on the word ‘agency,’ “Agency is often thought about one-dimensionally as only being about the child’s voice but it means much more than that. Agency is really about whether or not the child/learner can influence what is going on around them. Unless the child is able to exercise choice, then there is no agency.”
New Zealand has been a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child for 27 years. The Convention is a balance between three potentially conflicting ideas - children as autonomous; the role of the family to raise children in their own ways; and the State’s responsibilities to ensure that children can access social services, like health and education and justice too, so that they experience a good quality life growing up to feel a sense of belonging and responsibility to society.
The major points we took from Sarah’s presentation are that when we are working with children they need to be included from the beginning to the middle, to the end. Voice is not enough. Our job is to help children understand that they have rights. The Lundy model shows how we can spread students voice so they have influence:
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Sarah has challenged the WSLs and teachers in our Kāhui Ako to revisit the way we engage students in our inquiries. She reminded us that the way we inquire into students’ needs could be far more reciprocal. The design of an inclusive local curriculum that is a key feature of our collective work is an ideal space for us to exercise our thinking around the ideas Sarah shared.
You can view Sarah’s slideshow here and please contact us if you’d like to know more.
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Learning Services and Support Hui #3

10/22/2020

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Develop and implement our own Learning Support Delivery Model 
​​Across Our Community



Our In our previous hui it was agreed that we would like to collect anonymized information that would enable us to identify our collective ākonga needs and collaborate  in creating quick and innovative solutions to meet these needs.

A small working group then met to determine what our first steps in forming a register.  These key MOE documents were used to shape this hui and formed the basis of our discussions and decisions:
  • Learning Support Delivery Model:  Learning Support Register user Guide,  
  • Common Language for the Standardised Learning Support Register (sLSR),
  • Learning Support Delivery Model:  A guide for groups sharing learning support information. 

In this hui we explored and trialled the common language that we use when referring to different learning needs of our ākonga, using a couple of mock case studies to test our understanding of the common language we agreed upon.  This provided valuable discussion and enabled us to amend the MOE's common language model to better reflect our usage and our ākonga's needs.

We then discussed the process that we would like to use for pooling this data and how we would like to collate this information and surfaced some privacy issues we needed to address to ensure we maintained the privacy of students and the data.

Our next steps include:
  • Refining our common language based on feedback 
  • Applying for URF to support the efficient collection of data
  • Present draft privacy protocols as an addendum for Kāhui Leaders to approve

Thanks to our smaller working group, comprised of members of the Learning Services and Support group, who planned and contributed to the implementation of this hui.  The session was focussed, dynamic and thought provoking!
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TeachMeet - Our LGBTQ+ and rainbow students, whānau and staff - Thursday 15 October

10/18/2020

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Teachers from Owhiro Bay and Berhampore kindergartens, Houghton Valley School, SWIS, WHS and three students from WHS shared what’s going well for members of the LGBTQ+ communities (students, whānau and staff) in our schools and kindergartens, what the challenges are and some next steps we can follow up.

The meeting was very positive, ranging from how to support transitioning teachers, to the range of ways rainbow students and whānau express themselves. We were able to see the progression from early childhood to students last years at school, especially as one of the students from WHS had also been to Houghton Valley School and SWIS. She was impressed at how the awareness and response to our rainbow community has progressed since she was at those schools.

However, the strongest message we took from the session is to never assume that your school is fine. There is always more room for progression, no matter how ‘progressive’ you think you are.
Here are our shared notes from the TeachMeet
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Communities of Practice  - Tuesday 8 September

9/24/2020

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Our second Community of Practice sessions took place last Tuesday (8th September). It was a wonderful opportunity to build on work on Cultural Relationships for Responsive Pedagogy and Inclusive Student-Led Learning from earlier in the term.

Lynette, Claire (from Poutama Pounamu) and Mitch (ASL) led some robust and gritty conversations in the morning session on Cultural Relationships, supported by karakia leaders - Maria for Island Bays School (Karakia Timata) and Tineke, Christina and Kate from Owhiro Bay School & Kindy (Karakia mo te Kai). Kia ora to all of them for being so willingly to lead and share.

Chrisse (Core Education) and Catherine (ASL) delved deeper into the guidelines of Universal Design for Learning in the afternoon, offering the opportunity to connect with new people across the schools in our Kāhui Ako and think about our own practice during the lockdown using the UDL framework.

Thank you to all the participants and presenters from both sessions for coming with such enthusiasm. We are looking forward to our third sessions on Tuesday, 27th October (Term 4, week 3).

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Shaping the Plan To Support Our Learners Together

9/3/2020

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Information shared at our previous hui  brought clarity to the role of the Learning Services and Support community of practice and informed the focus of our second session -

PIanning how we would pool our information so we can target our actions and resources.
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Janine Devenport, Lead of the
Whakaoriori Kāhui Ako (Masterton) and Principal of Fernridge School, joined this session and shared how they began the work of collating their learners' needs across their cluster.  Their story provided a valuable practical example and deeper insight into the nature of the work.  

Our next hui is in Week 2 of Term 4, 22 October @ Ridgway School from 2 - 3.30pm.


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Learning Services and Support Hui

8/27/2020

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Forming Community and Shaping Our Learners’ Needs​
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In coming together for the first time, we began by listening to stories from our students of their experiences of learning support within our cluster of schools.   This was a powerful way to focus the group on why we were coming together and to bring some clarity around what we want for all our learners.

We then shared what we were noticing "Big picture" that was happening in our schools around learning support.  This broad picture will bring clarity to the role of this Learning Services and Support group and will inform our first steps in supporting our learners in a positive and consistent manner across our cluster.  

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This is the focus of our second hui,

Shaping the Plan 
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To Support Our Learners’ Together 

Date/time: Thursday 20 August, 2:00 - 3:30pm
​Venue: Ridgway School, 102 Mornington Road, Portacom Room 3.

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Community of Practice:        WHY grow cultural relationships for responsive pedagogy?

8/25/2020

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​E ai ki te korero: 
‘Whaia te iti kahurangi; ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei’. 
Pursue the highest ideals; if you must submit, let it be to a lofty mountain.

Bringing together teachers from across our Kāhui Ako to meet, engage and connect was a picture of the power of collaboration.  Right from the start there was a positive buzz in the room, and it was encouraging to see our kaiako step out of comfort zones and connect across learning pathways.

The day started with a whanaungatanga activity, in which we learned many interesting things about one another and many different ways we are connected - a love for walking and the outdoors, a strong value to family and whenua, and a shared experience of spotting Matariki in our skies.

As the morning progressed, we unpacked some significant texts and shared both our experiences and ideas about what we were reading.  Tātaiako, Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners was one of the documents that we engaged with - an opportunity to refresh our thinking around this important resource.

“Evidence shows high-quality teaching is the most important influence the education system can have on high-quality outcomes for students with diverse learning needs.”
Ka Hikitia: Managing for Success

Each person took time to think about a takeaway that they could implement in their teaching practice in the coming weeks.  Looking ahead, we have paired up to form accountability partners - we will be checking in on our buddies between sessions to see how we are going with following through on our next steps.

We finished our session with framing key questions that arose out of our readings and discussions.  These key questions will inform and frame our next session - Tuesday 8 September.

Thanks to all those who came along and contributed to our collaborative discussions.  Your unique perspectives are invaluable as we journey together.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.
My strength is not that of a single warrior, but that of many.


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