Kaiarahi day

REFLECTION goal:

With thinking of the second order change I will take my thinking away from being a problem solver as I have focussed on, in the past  (either reactive or proative) to:

•  focus on the shared trust. Making time to listen to kaiako, reassurance; got their back and managing as best as possible stress to be at a tolerable level. 
•  I will drive the shared vision to develop my ability to redirect destructive conservations.

I will focus on developing the shared trust I feel with Jono and ensuring it is 'quick' communication. I will strive to make connection for catch up when events happens. I will seek to include Paul to a point  I connect with Jono.



https://insigniam.com/blog/courage-through-transformational-leadership/

https://blog.innocentive.com/2013/11/21/8-differences-between-traditional-and-collaborative-leaders

Reflecting on these:

So glad I went to Hanmer-our hot seat activity was great!! To spend time with Jono without it being forced!

Week 3:

Tough conversation with a parent following a student missing out on an opportunity and feelign lost at mai time. Listened to parent's frustration; as a puna ako teacher I wasn't involved in any of the incidences. As kaiarahi I apologised on behalf of kōrepo and acknowledged then talked her through the process of our inquiry and how the awaken stage is our provocation. That the movie was an important aspect to their awaken process.  I made sure that I had the back of my team.

Passion

As I reflect this week, I reflect on a number of things; the MOE training, our kaupapa and the our team discussions around the kaupapa.

For me all 3 are affected by the teacher student ratio and the restrictions a high student to teacher ratio can make.

Currently our kaupapa has 86 kids with supposedly 4 kaiako; but due to other commitments we are really working at 3 kaiako and sometimes 2 kaiako due to release.

The group being the developing inquiry (group B) should not be an issue but the starting point for these kids being both lack of idea and lack of understanding of the inquiry format.

In our team discussion a colleague commented as a criticism a group who were making fruit kebabs; how was this inquiry? Unfortunately this was the colleague who was unable to immerse herself in the kaupapa because of other commitments and  this group were in fact the group she had as her check in students.  I understood fully the criticism and know that this was a group I had  found myself working with. This group had lacked self-managing skills and were very distracted initially and this idea had come about by the fact that they had watched another group  I worked with make fruits kebabs as a trial for their cooking inquiry. They were convinced that this was their inquiry and I had to make it happen. And referring to the MOE training became argumentative (escalating) when asked why? as a link to inquiry.

Lacking connection to a passion, an idea and the understanding that kaupapa is immersed in the inquiry process takes time and when there is the impact of a large group.

At times, especially in block 3, when we have 2 kaiako in, it has this sense of babysitting.

I question why I haven't felt like this before as an advocate of inquiry projects. The impact of a hapori is that instead of 25 or 120 (as I have had in the past) there are 250+ akonga that we work with and knowing the students and knowng where they are at with inquiry and their passions are hard. Time invested into these rich conversations is crucial yet harder in the open space and number ratio.

My weeks have focussed on the need for a better student ratio  for learning in an open space and the MOE to recognise this.  I have a huge advocate for learning in ILE but would also am experiencing in my last two kaupapas large numbers  and learners new to the inquiry process.


I know that last year we tried passion projects badly; both due to  the lack of devices and the lack of buy in/knowledge of kaiako to an inquiry process. We instead integrated inquiry into our numeracy and literacy groups with were constant and we were able to know students and work with their plus one.

Something to think about below as we endeavour  to proceed...

Making it work for our learners- end of week one term 3

I begin the term refreshed and excited with the changes we have made to our kaupapa ako. Separating learners not by the choice of workshop but by their ability to work within the inquiry model and kaupapa ako.  

This image I sourced through facebook (Mindshift page) came to light as a I thought through the groupings. Mindset for our kids I feel is the biggest barrier to learning rather than the space or academic ability.

Many discouraged by change are quick to criticise and focus on the negative and loss of their known.

One such student who was negative, unsure, reluctant to fully engage (and going through a lot at home) understood the new groupings in her reflection at the end of week one. Initially Xharyah had to be escorted to her group. I will encourage to reflect again on the grouping and her next steps for the next kaupapa.

SOURCED from: facebook 

Taking a break- end of term holidays

These holidays were the laziest I have ever had as a teacher!!! I completely shut off from anything related to school; emails, work and i do not feel guilty or stressed in any way.
I feel refreshed and excited about the term.

This image resonated really strongly with me not only for our kids but for me personally.
An honest reflection: Terms four, one and two were for me about being stuck in the belongingness- focussing on being collaborative as a big team and not leading it or feeling like I have a voice or a voice overspoken. Throughout this time moving through the belonging/esteem segments as I was challenged and challenged myself. being used to having a niche in a school and a responsibility as such.

This term I feel like I'm in the a-ha/ self-actualization. 

For reasons: 

- love the new set up of our groupings actually focussing on kids learning pathway

- feeling a part of the team more

CORE top trends

In the past 5 years I have been using the CORE top trends to empower my thinking when  I was feeling a lone wolf. CORE as a company was a refuge for me for the last 5 years through the VPLD mentoring programme   I feel as though I am  eagerly awaiting  the release tomorrow.

I went back and had a look at last years and diversity jumped out at me.

Firstly as a proud moment of me of our hapori team and the changes we are making for our  next kaupapa ako cycle.

The first sentence states 'Designing for difference is impacting the way we organise and govern our societies and prepare for the future.

In reflection our previous kaupapa(s) we were expecting everyone to be able to run the Haeata inquiry process in their space and with the number of akonga that who on paper/physically  their  kaupapa.
We were limiting ourselves/stressing ourselves by making one-size fits for all when in actual fact our akonga were all at different stages of self-managing.

Leading into the parent conferences thinking through the challenging questions we  may receive, I reflected on the impact in particular the environment had on the social learning our akonga have to go through to be able to work in this space. And how we as closing school could not have really prepared them for this space.
I am a huge advocate of these spaces and excited at where we will take it but reflective of the impact these space have on our learning; for example Ruby.
She came to Haeata excited about change, enthusiastic about what she had heard, strong in ability but new to the community. Initially it was a culture shock- swearing, kids behaviour etc but as term 2 has progressed the 'girl' drama has for Ruby overshadowed at times her learning. RKF with her own device had chosen one kaupapa but because of the drama did not want to attend and instead attended another kaupapa at time- work wise did she work on her 'survivor' inquiry or did she work on a 'human rights' inquiry. In her words 'survivor was her favourite kaupapa so far' but was this because of camp  or the actual inquiry??? Socially RKF is struggling at times and prefers to hang with kaiako  at times. When we look at her link-ed are we seeing the best of her her learning or is it influenced/distracted by others.

Having just completed a kaupapa ako with a group that grew immensely throughout due to social connections I felt compromised initially that I wasn't teaching and that very little inquiry (in my gut0 was happening. I went from student led to teacher led (first/then) just to manage this group. Dividing our 50-60 into 3 groups- the independent/digital artists  to Clark; the reserachers/writers to Alicia/Sarah and the digital Maui /Matariki stars to me.
My reflection prompt for this:



So...... so excited after talking with Karyn re PD session last Monday and what we discussed as a hapori as a consequence of this for term 3- dividing the independent and the dependent for kaupapa ako.

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Cooperative vs Collaborative

My highs and lows this kaupapa have led me to reflect and refer back to the image I used as my continuum last year.

Our team of 4 progressed to mutual trust with elements of vulnerability - this was brought about of generating of our programme/ ideas as a group. We challenged each other, drove our culture of increasing agency in learners - I would love to say collaborative but definitely heading towards with more time and without the stresses of job interviews and then replacement procedures.

I look to us now and this kaupapa has for me emphasised how cooperative we are yet also sadly how selfish (love a better word but can't think of one) we are being.

Is it because of:

-release and preciousness of release? 

-resources -storage/ knowledge of purchases

-roaming akonga and learners not being followed up when not attending

-numbers of akonga vs kaiako/kaiawhina

-Are our systems  letting us down?

-are we looking after number one?

-have we inducted the new akonga well? 

-how do you new akonga fit  into a current kaupapa?

-wellbeing of staff-impact on this?

-extra-curricular commitments?

-frustration of kaiako following TOD

-engagement of kaiako at meetings?

-camps?  day trips? akonga & permission slips?

My #BFC630NZ chat this week:

This topic arose through personal reflections over the last 2 weeks; feeling at times I was struggling with the challenges of a large kaupapa group in an open space with little opportunity to be collaborative due to myself and  fellow kaiako release. 

My role became manager in an attempt to make accountability and reflection an asset of the kaupapa. 

This word  'enable' who I was a big user of featured in my thoughts instead as a 'negative' instead;

     - DH was unwilling to do any work because ET was not here to get his paint and picture. 

         This is a student I have worked with for now two years. Last year he was dependent on a 

         teacher and would only attempt work when he had teacher support. DH receives no funding 

         yet has this 'luxury'. Now DH is dependent on support- we enabled this..... why are we not 

         empowering him to work independently.

     - Our kaupapa ako group being so big- we hand out laptops to inspire/ assist with their artworks- 

        yet get frustrated when they are playing games or on facebook. 

My frustrations of feeling compromised over my lack of opportunity or battle to teach while feeling stretched to get around the group and ensure working was happening.

As a result I split our groups into 3, a group for kaiako-C, reliever and then myself to drive, motivate, check in with and eventually assess.  The past 2 days I have felt less compromised and concentrated on leading learning of a group with reciprocal positivity from the group.

Here's my twitter chat...

Our chat:

TOD webinar reflection-to be edited- just want for order

During our teacher only day we focussed on building relationships through circle-time, shame and trauma.

Navigating myths and legends-kaupapa ako week 5

Both Clark and I were excited and driven by our kaupapa ako class rather than workshop but reality hit when a big number selected the kaupapa ako (or later selected ) and reality hit.

Resources were initially an issue especially the digital programme and release. When Clark had release it was just me, Erana, Paul and 53 kids. My word reflection was compromise- with my twitter chat being just that: I felt that I was compromising teaching with managing- just the roll took 10 minutes within the open space, implications of facebook, level one learners needing time and not being able to give it and then... I felt that I was working with  new learners  who I hadn't worked with before.

It was a relief to have a reliever aligned (thanks Karyn!) but communication is crucial to make this successful and Alisha catered well for Sani but I was left with 52 which is challenging.

Accountability became a major element and I used google classroom comment - to record where they were at I was able to record and group the learners o make it more manageble. Once working with Clark I clarified my thinking for managing was he can be creator (every session there was some new resource) and I will manage the groups. A spreadsheet assisting further



   

Navigating through Myths and Legends-workshop snapper

Our second kaupapa ako for term two is Navigation. Clark and I were keen to work together and focus on arts as a media-output for learning. Maddie also joined us initially. Our pre-meeting was brief and we talked through the pre-task, post-task and workshop. We did not focus on the curriculum during our discussion and revisited this during our korepo PD meeting. We focussed on levels 2-5 in English and arts.

I was not part of the first workshop and Maddie and Clark's feedback was it felt quite flat. I grabbed the buckets of modelling clay for our second workshop and the buy in was engaging. the majority of the akonga choosing to use this to represent a feature/prop/ retelling of our adapted legend.
Two individuals for me

Anaru

Anaru- chose to work with our workshop twice. AJ worked hard engaging him with his puna ako group and he revisited with Erana the following day.

Taylor

Taylor was fully engaged and absorbed into the activity- not a peep out of him??

Here are our work pieces...
inspired by the video below...

 Clark and I adapted our workshop with Bridie and my puna ako group and included two Samoan legends I sourced as well. It was important to us to be culturally responsive.

Reflecting buy in

As I revisit, finish and post my reflections I reflect on my lack of buy in and why....

As a teacher, reflection was/is a big part of my learning programme and was the focus of circle time everyday. 10 years ago I tried to push a reflective journal for colleagues and got shot down so I got used to reflecting myself and  possibly not writing it and sharing it.

I realised that I reflect more on the negative/frustration  as I try to problem solve to be not be a negative or frustration. I struggle with sharing my negativity and frustrations.

So I looked  at what I do do... and what works for me....as  away to reflect...
*Twitter - each fortnight I lead a #BFC630NZ chat- the question comes from a reflection so i will post these to my reflective with my thought process and any outcomes from the chat.

*I will continue to use this reflective blog and upload photos that I take with a reflective comment. This can easily be done from my phone and look to do this 3x a week. I blogged most days as a class teacher and was quickly done.

Onwards and upwards; no excuses!!

Fa'a Samoa (Week 10 term one to end of week 2 term 2)

I sit here reflecting on the luxury I feel being able to spend my kaupapa ako immersed in my passion. After reflecting on how we can better serve our Pasifika akonga, I asked to offer  Fa'a Samoa as a kaupapa option.

The learning programme focussed on English and Social Studies.
(link to planning)

The initial week involved provocation through poetry.

Voice that came through was that they wanted to focus on language and were keen to write an 'essay'. So the second week involved independently working through a language resource while I met with groups to initiate/plan their essay.  The tasks then being..

 The scaffolding sheet had some success which surprised me but I also blame myself. I didn't monitor as  well as I could especially following release sessions in the two weeks  & provide the next steps.

I will need to address this more in my next kaupapa ako. I question the reliever 'lack of buy in"  & having to plan for a colleague and how we can possibly better this system in our next kaupapa ako.

A great success was google classroom and the ease it gave in sharing student's individual  documents  (make a copy)

Reflecting on term one

reflection document

Marae visit

Clark posted this photo to facebook following our Noho Marae sessions at Tuahiwi and I felt it represented perfectly how I was feeling. For me the Marae visit was not just about what I learnt but how I felt.

I was initially not looking forward to the Marae visit, anxiety, tiredness and the unknown were the reasons behind this. I had felt now confident saying my mihi and was weary of extending it. Nicole one of the coordinators told us right out at the start we were going to be taken out of our comfort zones; yes we were but in a safe comfortable way by both the coordinator but more importantly by our Haeata colleagues.  A task that was quite  threatening for some was made safe and sound by the Manakitanga and Whanaungatanga within the space by our new and old colleagues. 

Hence the photo: the wharenui and ngā whetū represented our coming together and reaching for the stars. As cheesy as it is it about the whanau feel and I then followed it up with my one word goal being strength.  I felt a real strength of whanaungatanga at the marae and wanted this to continue to be felt as the term/year continued; both for me to feel/ be ad support.

LEARNING:

manaakitangaPlay

1. (noun) hospitality, kindness, generosity, support - the process of showing respect, generosity and care for others.

whanaungatanga

Pla

1. (noun) relationship, kinship, sense of family connection - a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging. It develops as a result of kinship rights and obligations, which also serve to strengthen each member of the kin group. It also extends to others to whom one develops a close familial, friendship or reciprocal relationship.