‘Being’

I'm really lucky to work at a place I love! A place where everything challenges the traditional and provokes us to seek more;  

to BE learners. 

Term three last year I chose to be part of a book group and 'wow' had I found my niche.

The topic (Book: Raising children who refuse to be raised) and a tribe of educators keen to discuss trauma/hauora and learning. This grew my need to explore more and an opportunity came for me to be part of a Wellbeing tour in Australia; exploring Positive Education. 

I had not only found my niche but I had also found my passion in Education.

I  opened books; read intently /highlighted, note-took, sketchnoted, tweeted, skimmed or listened to them, I revisited old textbooks...  I was BEING, in a learning state, motivated by the 'yes' moments and wanting to  unpack more,   I was immersed in the "flow" of learning. 
 I was BEING a self-determined learner. 

As I reflected on both the content and the process along with my experiences, thoughts, discussions and tweets; One book stood out for me;  Contextual Wellbeing by Dr Helen Street.  This book  perfectly articulated my thinking  about Wellbeing and has become my bible as such.

This reflection led me to this provocation:

Wellbeing: Lets first focus on the 'BEING'

so it leads to the 'WELL'. 

At Haeata we have good structures in place (Choice, Hauora, Whanau liason, Relationship focus,  Project based, Mentor groups, Puna ako, Mai Time, Kaupapa ako, Inquiry, workshops, Modern buildings...) but do we know how to BE in these 'spaces'.

Lets look at the word 'Space' literally: 

When I wrote my #oneword2019 blog, I gave an example of 'liberating' the learners at Haeata, because they can: 

•  work in a space conducive to their passion and wants.

What did I mean?

At the end of last year I spent a lot of my release time in the music room, kitchen and garden.
Why because thats where our mentor group chose to 'be' for their self-determined learning and so to support their accountability I joined them rather than  battle about where, who and what else they could/should be doing. They were where they wanted to be and doing their learning with who they wanted to learn with.

 

 

 This led me to ask how we can make our spaces more conducive to extending their learning; this is a space our ākonga wellbeing needs are being met but how can we also drive autonomy in their learning within the spaces they choose to be?.

Now comes the tribe again: sharing my thinking with a fellow Kaiarahi, she linked this idea of 'being' to the self determined framework,

 

and together with our other Kaiarahi we drove this 'being' and ARC  as a driver for exploring better use of our learning spaces for our Tuakana teacher only days.

Then our Kaiako became Kaitiaki of the spaces they hold a passion for and delved into how the space can drive autonomous learning.

It was exciting to see this happen and where we can go....My thinking now:

This web lead me to consider the impact of the teacher and what is it to "BE" a teacher; 

the feelings we invoke and the norms we allow. 

How we facilitate learning in our spaces. 

Or

 What is it like for  ākonga to enter a space that is occupied - to "Be" in the space with others? 

(blogs to come)

Thoughts:

being inclusive - being strong - being an observer - being resilient - being trusted - being respectful-  being independent - being collaborative - being a collective - being dependent - being in the flow - being courageous -  being fair -  being open - being responsive- being engaged - being empowered -being competitive - being inspired - being free - being rushed - being smothered - being overwhelmed - being patient-

-being me-

 
And for me now after 4 days at school and with my #oneword2019-MOMENT- take a moment to breath and to not speed up the rush:

Sourced from Dr Libby (instagram)