Confidence and Purpose

Today I met Andrew Patterson in an online video and enjoyed his inspiration.

His main discussion was around building confidence first and creating experiences for children which make their desires in life seem like real possibilities.

He is inspiring as he loves disruption and having a go, trying big ideas, things that arent easy but are possible.

How can I create confidence in my students, and how can I bring more experiences based in the real world - not just the world they are born into - but the possibilities that their are in the real world, in the future world, into my students lives?

What is knowledge?

Epistemology, ontology, axiology, rationalism and empiricism...
Boy, have I been obtaining knowledge this week, including practising all my reading skills to infer meaning of new words from the sentences around them. It has been a while since I last read academic articles.
Mindlab Rotorua has begun with the small topic of

What is Knowledge? 

and

What is the purpose of education?

Not such easy questions to answer but great questions to discuss with the open-minded forward thinking participants of Mindlab.

So what did we discover?  

Video by Neil, Kath, Bevan, Anne and Kirsty.
  Our flowing river is representative of how knowledge is created and evolves over time. Our knowledge is always expanding, it can head in certain directions, change direction, bend and curve. Knowledge can become unused and drift into the small  distributaries that break off the river. Along the rivers journey are the things that influence our knowledge and that our knowledge influences. Our knowledge is influenced by our time and place, by our beliefs and values, by our environment (our place in the world). Our knowledge collects facts, ideas and skills, as it flows. Some are caught up in the flow, others swept to the sides of the river. As our river of knowledge grows it can be used and applied to create more in the world, just as the river helps create the forests growing along its sides.

Knowledge flows and grows!

 

 

So what is the purpose of education then, if not to impart knowledge? Knowledge is so much more than school. Education happens regardless of time or place, but (we discussed) that its purpose is influenced by time and place. The purpose of formal education in western society, many years past, was elitist, it was only for 'certain' people, to keep them in power. Then it was to produce mass workers who knew enough to follow instructions and do as they were told to man the many factories. Now we want to create active members of society, contributers, innovators, citizens. And whats more - we are unsure what the society that they will be members of is even going to be like...

 

 How do I see this 'new' purpose of education in my class...

 

I attempt to create a community of learning. A place where we all can make decisions about  where we work and who we work with. Where everyone can be considered a holder of knowledge, and I promote children to seek knowledge from each other. Where we celebrate together, have opportunities to collaborate together, and time to share our strengths and passions with the group. I challenge children to take responsibility, to debate, to agree and disagree, and to feel they each have an important part to play in our learning journeys. School is no longer about sitting in one spot, producing the same work as the person next to you, listening without responding, accepting without questioning, doing without thinking ... Transformation is required.

Day 5 - A picture of my classroom

This blog might have to wait a few days till I go into school to get its picture but...

It's an interesting concept this year as it is not just my classroom. I team teach this year and therefor the design of the classroom has been shared. My ownership isn't as strong as when I have my own room. This is probably also accentuated by me handing over main responsibility to class aesthetics to my co teacher who is very artistically minded.

I like that our room isn't cluttered. I like that we have tried to make space (32 five year olds need lots of space), I like that student work is up but not overdone. I like that the space is practical. I see tired rooms in need of a spruce up. I miss my old room with different learning areas (I had low benches, couches, beanbags, tables and desks). I wish I could be given a furniture budget and design a multifunctional space for myself and my class. I think schools should lease furniture on short term leases and each year a teacher can choose what to re lease and what to change based on their budget, classroom size and shape, year level etc.

Wouldn't that be great.

A year in Review

2013 came and went - in the blink of an eye - as can often happen when you are teaching. It was a big year of learning for me, and ended in a ton of new developments.

It was my 3rd year teaching year 5/6 class, my 2nd year trying daily 5 for my reading program, the second year having no desks, my 3rd year trying e-portfolios, my 1st year defining what an e-learning class meant to my school, my 1st year of planning online, and my 9th year of teaching, and was full of moments to remember...

Best moment - Camp
Having the opportunity to go on school camp for the second time was great. We had a neat bunch of kids, and seeing some of the children, I taught as 6 year olds who are now as 10 yr olds, in this context was great. It was almost like camping with family.

Saddest moment - Year 6 leavers
Watching one of my year 6 students - that I'd just given an award for class spirit - walking out of the achievement assembly, through the guard of honour, with tears streaming down her face.... says it all.

Happiest moments - Seeing kids succeed
When you can sit back in your class and look around at happy, hard working children. The ones with dyslexia who just keep striving, the poor spellers who love to write, the intelligent kid working at their passion, the figiter settling to a task, the shy kid reading a book to 180 people. Great moments.

Funniest moment - R and the pole
Kids do do and say the darnedest things. I have never laughed as much as when a poor lad in my class literally walked into a pole as we walked down the road to a show at the nearby high school. While I know it isn't polite to laugh at hurt children... he thought it was so funny that he recreated it for a special comedy episode on our school TV show.

Greatest success - The girls
I had a group of 5 Maori girls in my class. Each had come from a different class, each had no other friends in this class, but they found each other and became great friends. The success came around them maintaining this friendship and learning how to deal effectively with disputes, keeping everyone feeling a sense of belonging. We had many lunchtime meetings, initiated  by one of the girls, so they could talk problems through. By the end of the year, they could do this almost independently, and learned to let things go, to forgive and to smile.

Greatest challenge - Leading e-learning classes
Leading this great group of teachers that offered to try e-portfolios with their classes, was a great challenge. I wasn't sure where I stood for this. I was their equal, I didn't have all the answers, I wasn't convinced of how e-portfolios fit, how even I was going to make the best use of the e-learning tools we had been given. But I tried my best to guide them with what I did know, to challenge their thinking occasionally, and to help us all understand the power in e-learning.

Greatest failure - ABTV
Our school TV show. While I know its not great to talk about things as failure, this was definitely a flop this year. With no assemblies to air it, then no core group to run it...it became a nit of a shambles and just didn't happen. Something to work on next year.

Scariest moment - Meeting my class for 2014
This was the day I actually had to face the 5 yr olds (or near 5 year olds) that I would be teaching in New entrants next year... ARGH... nothing like a bit of fear to make you feel alive...

But that's another post.

Teachers are awesome!

Today I was lucky to be able to spend some time in school, but not my own school. Today I travelled and had the opportunity to visit with Tauriko and Tahatai coast schools in the lovely Bay of Plenty. What fantastic welcomes we had. The purpose of our trip today was to look into next steps for our own schools e-learning journey, and these schools didn't fail in providing us with inspiration and ideas to ponder moving forward.

We saw versions of BYOD working at various class levels from year 3 to year 8, we saw paid in digital 1-1 classes, and open BYOD classes, we heard children explain why BYOD helped their learning, and we experienced a variety of e-learning in action. Fabulous.

My takeaways...

- the problem of the haves and have nots is always lessened by more devises in the school, regardless of paid in, or BYOD systems, more devises just means more access for all.

- children take much more pride in their own devices

- children didn't seemed phased over whether they were writing in their books or doing a computer task, and interchanged between these two things easily.

- having a bank of similar creation tools meant children gained higher output rates due to familiarity with the tool.

- digital/ e-learning/ computer classes, they all still use books. Children often choose whether to write digitally or on paper, or this can be balanced by the teacher alternating.

- the focus is always on what we are learning, and will the tool support or extend this learning or not.

- the focus is on students choosing when to use digital tools, blended with some tasks created to increase particular skill sets needed.

- google apps for education has great potential.

- google sites an option for e-portfolios.

My wonderings...

- Am I becoming more convinced of the 1-1 model and its potential?

- Could charging our children be an option at our school? Would it increase the importance of e-learning in the school?

- How is our school insuring staff are all moving own their journeys? See Taurikos teacher e-competences.

- Am I now more convinced that BYOD could be an option for me next year?

Where is your school in its e-learning journey?

 Are you on a BYOD path?

How does you school do it?

Does the environment dictate the behaviour?

I have a slightly different classroom to everyone else in my school. I chose to create a less formal environment for my learners, initially to create space within the 4 walls, but also to try and provide for different learning needs, including my Maori learners who make up a third of my class. Reflecting on my own learning, I knew that I do my best learning, sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch, in front of the heater. It is quiet and warm.
But that is not everyone's cup of tea. Others like  fresh breeze, perched on a high stool, legs dangling. Others still will lay across a beanbag, music playing, book resting on the floor in front of them,... and so on.
So I decided that letting children experience learning in their best space couldn't hurt...

So I took away the formality (the assigned desks, in tidy groups splattered around the class) and bought in a home like feel (soft furnishings, open floor and spaces) to see how this would impact on the children's learning. And did this make a difference? To learning? or behaviour? What did I find? What did others think?

There were mixed reactions and a few comments on impolite behaviour (but was that the environment or the cohort) I believe the latter. We did have to learn a lot in the early days. Unlike last years class who had played a part in the transforming of the classroom, this years children simply inherited the room. They had a lot of growing to do, to be able to work effectively in this sort of environment. They had had 4 or 5 years at school being told where to sit, who to sit next to, and that all good work transpired at a table.
But one term into this year, I am beginning to see the rewards of placing these responsibilities back on the children...

My students have had huge learning experiences this term caused by their environment.
Looking through the NZ Key competencies:
Self Management: each day choosing appropriate places to work in, gathering their equipment and putting everything away after use.
Relating to others: making decisions about who to work near, dealing with distractions by simply moving, negotiating use of resources like bean bags, learning to deal with people where you wanted to sit. Self chosen whanau groupings are seen as well. A sense of whanaungatanga is being developed.
Participating and contributing: How we share the spaces in the room, and look after everything for the next person. Keeping tables clean, charging laptops.
Thinking: What do I need? where should I be now? What is best for the learning I am about to do?

I think the environment does help to mould the behaviour. The behaviour I hope my environment is moulding is 'student ownership and control over their own learning behaviours.' I hope as the year moves forward that my students will continue to grow in this area developing their own 'ako'

Learning environments

Here's a little blog I penned a few weeks ago.

I have just returned from re-setting up the furniture in my classroom ready for the second term. It has been 6 months and 2 classes since I ditched half my class desks for a more informal classroom with S  P   A   C   E.
Along with many educators out there I was inspired last year to finally make the change and ditch the desks. Luckily I could completely remove desks into an empty room next door and had the green light from the principal. So the transformation began to take place.

Our new totes

Initially I co-created the space with the children's ideas. The existing class couch (definitely worse for wear, but still enjoyed by all), a group table from a disused junior room, beanbags, cushions and some plush red chairs from Trade me, 2 low forms for the mat area, and a small table on wheels that once held a photocopier, all became part of our class space. Desk tote trays were replaced with portable tote buckets.

The idea was to
1. Create space for 30+ senior school students in a small prefab
2. Create places for different learning styles

My original configuration 2012

Today I took to the task of re-organising these furnishings for the winter terms - opening access to the heaters, avoiding lower sunfall, and accommodating spaces for a student teacher. This took a lot less time than I used to spend moving desks, trying to make groupings of children that wouldn't conflict, moving everyone's totes into their new, teacher chosen spots.... This year my time spent in the classroom during the holidays was for planning the learning - rather than planning the behaviour management. That's another story.

Old classrooms can be limiting, and seem so inflexible when compared to the new classrooms and schools that have been built recently, but all it takes is a little kiwi ingenuity and a can-do attitude to make a classroom work for you and your students. Thanks to inspiring teachers like Stephanie for helping me to see the possibilities and take the plunge.

Will upload photo of the new winter configuration soon.

Anticipation and Belonging

A new school year, new goals, new ideas. 2013 has officially begun for myself and the other thousands of teachers across N.Z. Teachers almost need a different calendar to the rest of the world, our seasons replaced with terms and our months by numbered weeks of the term. Written across the top of my week to a page diary are the weeks of the school term, as without them I wouldn't be able to be organised at all.

Today marks the end of term 1, week 1, and tomorrow is week 2 in my year. I know that in 11 weeks time this term will be over and I will be off on holiday.

The beginning of the year is always a strange time of anticipation. Wondering what your class will be like, will they get along, will they become a unit, or will they be one of those classes that never quite had the right mix. As a teacher you plan in activities to make everyone feel welcome, activities that make everyone feel a part of the class. Negotiating the class rules, and rewards, creating something to put on the walls together so everyone has made their mark on desolate walls, and the endless conversations around expectations in class, and out.

It's not actually a time of year I feel overly excited about, it's a little more like trepidation, I much prefer the term 2-4 time of comfortable understanding that a class comes to. But whether I like it or not, new classes come. So 2 days in term 1 and my class have begun the process of getting to know each other and making our personal mark on the classroom. Everything is ticking along with how I wanted to start the year...

But I have one problem- the class group is beginning to form bonds, the routines are being learnt, the children have taken the lead in designing the classroom climate for the rest of the year - yet 3 children haven't started school yet. These children haven't been a part of setting up our room, they didn't take part in creating the class ethos, they are already behind in building bonds with their classmates...

What do we do, after that fact, to help these children feel as much a part of the class as everyone else now feels?