ELN 2015

Reflecting on the journey during 2015 with the Eastern Learning Network with the focus on teachers as inquirers.

As a cluster of schools there has been a big focus on how to engage effectively with teaching as inquiry- from a teacher perspective and as a leadership. Through the year there has been facilitators from AUT supporting and guiding thinking, along with Maggie Ogram.
towards the end of term 3 a survey was constructed, with the input from leaders and teachers from the participating schools. This survey was then created and put out to the teachers and leaders from the schools in order to gather data around MLP and the development of this and also teaching as inquiry.

In term 4 the facilitators from AUT collated and analysed the data to give feedback to our schools that help us to see where we are and what gaps we have. This has given us the information we need as a cluster and as individual schools in order to align our resourcing and PLD in order to build these areas on into 2016.

Of all the areas of data there are some that are not surprising, for example -time- an ongoing battle for all schools to provide their teachers with enough time to engage in pld that impacts positively with their practice.

And some that are areas that either fall above or below the predicted levels given our school's journey and where we are on that journey. For example, the extent to which the collaborative inquiry has enhanced collaboration and capacity to reflect is high and the happiness with their appraisal process is lower than is being espoused within the school grounds.

New Entrant ownership of learning

so proud of our new entrant classes they have only been at school for a tiny amount of time yet they are already able to take ownership of their learning

This week marks 10 weeks at school for some and they selected a perfect goal to work on for their writing. who says that young children can't own their own learning!

they also love to use show me to talk about their maths learning and easy blogger to share...though I may actually have to set some rules about what they can video and share with this tool!!

room 1 are amazing- check them out:)

PLG Working hard on the seven traits of sustainable leadership

Had a great session last week on what we do and want to do aligned with the 7 traits of leadership that is sustainable

created a great info graphic to represent our collaborative thoughts

http://www.ospreyconsulting.co.nz/

sharing our professional inquiries

Teachers only day today and we kicked off with getting into break out groups and sharing our teaching as inquiry cycles for 2015

it was such a beneficial experience to be able to sit together and share our adaptations to our practice...I am hugely proud of the teachers at MBS and the community of learners we have become

Check out our inquires on our MBS professional learning blog

http://mbsteachers.blogspot.co.nz/

Professional Inquiry

NAPP 2016 presentation

Connected Educator 2015

i am being brave and have put my name down to host an event on the 30th September..wonder if I will remember what I was going to say...or will nerves make me sink into waffle!

The event is live at 2:25pm on Tuesday 30th September from this calendar link.

Plg- what is collaboration ?

Alma Harris  Disciplined collaboration

The concepts that are delved into are very similar to many other researchers findings I have read and also the day spent recently with Roween Higgie at the EAAPA leadership day Leading from within

The 3 key ideas are

Implementation

Innovation

Impact

They promote 7 tests for evaluating how disciplined your collaboration is.. I wonder how well we rate against these as a team? and across teams as a school?

7 tests

Clarity of focus

Consistent and creative use of data

Collaboration with purpose

Communication of intent and outcomes

Capacity building through engagement and involvement of others

Coherent action

Change in practice


Distributed Leadership

Creating learner agency in New Entrants

Day one with a new entrant class and we set some writing goals
this is part of our junior school inquiry into increasing student ownership and agency over their writing goals...an area I had seen as a problem for our younger students to articulate during snapshots of student voice earlier this year
Every teacher in the junior school has taken our kid speak writing goal and are trying different ways to increase ownership of their learning needs with their classes.

I have taken the kid speak goals and added visuals to each goal

In the first year writing goals

I have paired this with our MBS writing process that I posted about last year
Mbs writing process

and today with week 1 new entrants we spent a lot of time looking at their first goal
Room 1 setting writing goals

It will be exciting to see how this increases ownership and agency of their own learning needs

Juggling time

I have posted before about how hard it is to fit in everything I need to do during a normal ( is there any such thing!) teaching day.
As of this term I am in a classroom 4 days a week with 1 day a week to fit in everything else that I do for my role as AP/ elearning leader/ Maths leader/ SENCO.
It must be said that during this holidays I have alternated between excitement to be spending more time teaching and worrying how to manage everything I need to do.
Today was the first day of one of my teaching roles..a class of new entrants. I have spent the past week getting ready with the teacher who will do 0.6 and I was excited to implement the amazing things we had set up. Getting to school early to allow me to finalise all the prep for todays lessons ( couldn't fit everything in last week despite spending every day in school) I was met by a server room with no power...Now luckily I work for someone with a brain who has employed a full time ICT support company...but they don't live on site...so the problem still remained that I had to get this fixed ASAP otherwise the teachers would not be happy bunnies. I eventually found the issue and handed it over to the IT contract guy to fix remotely. However this took the hour I had allowed  before school to get set up...which then meant running behind all day trying to get resourced for the next section of the day.
Toughen up..is what I usually say to myself in situations like this...but I am not sure how much tougher I can be and I absolutely dislike not performing to the best of my abilities...especially when it comes to being in class...The lessons went well and we achieved all I set out...and more..but the only way to ensure this was to not stp all day and to run like mad during my breaks. I know feel like I have been back at school for a week already..which I know isn't good for me or my family.
So how to juggle is my big question to myself...How will I manage to ensure that everything I need to do is done to my rather exacting standards?

still the staff meeting I ran after school on elearning went well and so did the class programme...could be I am worrying before the horse has even bolted...guess we will see.

Leading from within

Day away from craziness of daily work focusing on leading change from within, facilitated by the awesome Roween higgie from education group... So I know there will be lots to think about.

Competences for leaders

Centre for creative leadership calls our role "middle leaders- we operate up and down the organisational hierarchy, as well as across functions and silos. To achieve results we must effectively manage people and processes "

http://www.ccl.org/leadership/CCLSearchResults.aspx?q=educational%20leadership%20research#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=educational%20leadership%20research&gsc.page=1

Our leadership roles are highly complex

Who are the senior/ middle leaders in our school?

Principal, DP and AP form the SLT

DP and AP have teams of teachers they work closely with to support.

Specifically within my team structure I believe that we have a strong PLCommunity which supports , extends and pushes each other.

What are similarities and differences between the two?

Our school is very small so the amount of middle leaders is small on paper. But in practice we have experts who step up and share and support each other

Our definition of a middle leader is ?

Leadership that gets results by dan goleman

http://www.slideshare.net/mobile/BagusWahyudi/leadership-that-get-result

I currently utilise affiliative, democratic and coaching most naturally. Authoritative is an area I am trying to build on in my leadership and pacesetting is something I have previously has to work on in order to ensure I don't run ahead

Authoritative leaders are clear about the bigger picture, stand firm in face of challenge but these leaders need to ensure they have people on the bus

Coercive leadership is appropriate when there is a process and accountability to be complied with- this is not the time to ask if people want to do things a different way.

Democratic gets buy in

Coaching helps change

Affiliative keeps everyone working in the same direction and keeps the passion running

Pacesetting can be positive or negative

Jan hill - leadership competencies

 This is about self awareness- my feelings, thoughts, actions. Knowing how people respond to this, then being able to manage this. For instance a couple of weeks ago I was feeling very stressed, I knew this and I knew it couldn't get out as my team need me to be strong for them...so I made sure to stay calm and keep my mouth shut if I was feeling a bit off so I wouldn't reveal impatience....this ended up being futile as my team knew instantly that I was not ok...as my quietness gave me away...since this I have been pondering how to handle the fact that if I seem off it freaks my team out...yet I'm still human 

Social competence is about how well I know and can facilitate the supports around my team to be there for them and know when each person may need support and what is the best way to offer this support

Relationships are fundamental to a string healthy school. Our role as middle leaders is to build these relationships, which can be very complex

Responsive leaders are reflective continual, adaptive leaders.  On this aspect I am always pushing the edge of research and seeking ideas that have a high proven impact that will enhance and support our students to achieve

We have to be good at evaluating new ideas and research to our context and seeing how this might impact and be integrated into our school.

The multiplier leader has influence. If we as leaders are influencers we are at the wave leading the change. Then there are people climbing the wave. They want to make the pedagogical shift, they believe and they are trying. Then there is the people who are under the wave or even in a tree at the side who really do not want to do this...the naysayers. Our role as leaders is to know how and when to use our influence..or that of others in order to help everyone to get up the wave...providing the wave is going in a direction that has been agreed on as a place we wish to go as we believe in it for our learners

In my practice as a leader this year I am working lots within how I use my influence and adapt this to people at such varying points on the wave.

Timperley says there are 3 key ways to create dissonance...which is the trigger for change

Theory...use research to prompt challenge to thinking

Alternative practice...observing others who are doing this already

Data...data is no negotiable....it is a blunt trigger for a conversation 

Taking a stand

Managers do things right and leaders do the right thing...having a moral compass

But this can be very difficult to align with how others perceive the same issue...so as leaders we need to do double checks on our thinking around these issues...go to the code of ethics...check with fellow leader to ensure we have our thinking around a situation...and always make sure we have evidence to support our thinking on an issue

Using a coaching model to see how we could extend our ability to take a stand

Resilience

What skills, knowledge, and habits do it have to support this?

What can I let go off that is holding this back?

How can I use my and other peoples talents more effectively?

Resilience as a leader, teachers, person?

Thinking and acting systematically

Whenever we think of a change, how we think and act is important 

Seeing the big picture

Adapting to meet needs

Being a systems player and maker in terms of generating systems

Carrying out review

Giving up the need to constantly please

During review how methodical are we, do we create dissonance around it? In numeracy review it is being very methodical...looking at what we have in place, what works, what doesn't and what innovations we have that are showing good data

Look at the work 'the principal' by Michael full an 

You look at how to seed a germ in your school:) the germ takes and spreads 

Facilitation

What we do in our roles as leaders is either directive or self directive 

The key to success is the building of self directed learning skills in our teachers

Ask the right question

Build capability and evaluative skills in our teachers

Fronting issues is a key part of this role of facilitator...using a range of tools to front issues as they come along

Use either of these frameworks to use as a frame to address issues

Desc script

Describe, effect, specify, consequences 

DQAP

Describe, question, articulate, problem solve

With either of these

Ask permission to talk first, make sure you have the time for the conversation, be careful of body language and tone of voice, don't make assumptions or blame

These conversations are not about blame but rather about change 

Use a solutions focused approach to timing issues so people take control

Rowen calls this flipping

Instead of totally empty sympathy

Flip the negative conversation into a positive e.g how would you feel tomorrow if you could tick of some of these

Then ensure you use their words in the conversations

Thinking about all the competencies, choose one you feel you need to work on first

Facilitation is the one that aligns with one of my goals for this year and is an area I struggle with sometimes. I need to use the DQAP frame and pre script for addressing certain issues in the school

A leaders role in team development

The leadership experience, Richard daft 2001

Forming

Storming

Norming

Performing

A norm is a custom, a rule, a pattern or a habit of a team

Positive norms

Ask questions that challenge and promote discussion ( strictly data and achievement focused). 

Support each other

Share and build our expertise and capabilities 

High trust that allow us to be more open to growth

Fun and work together

Negative norms

Quieter members not actively encouraged to participate in team, more dominant voices occasionally carried away

When tired sometimes edge towards blame which is negative

Two small steps I can take to strengthen or change one of these norms ?

Characteristic of an effective team

The team is clear about what it wants to achieve- student achievement is central focus

Ground rules are established for how the group works together- clear expectations for how we will all work together

Job descriptions, roles should be up to date and transparent

Trus or personal trustworthiness?

Onora oneill ted talk https://www.ted.com/talks/onora_o_neill_what_we_don_t_understand_about_trust?language=en

We can't make people trust us we have to focus on building our own personal trustworthiness

Honesty

Transparency

Reliability

Competence 

As a leader I need to ensure I am addressing issues for team members in a fair way that builds trust

ELN collaboration

Problem solving is the most highly rated skill required in the job market

How are we creating this and other skills to support our students as they progress towards their future careers

How are we using technology?

Diversity of teaching strategies

Multiple opportunities to learn , practice and apply

Student centric learning- ownership and agency

Peer learning is optimised through devices as this has the greatest effect size

Opportunities for feedback are maximised

Digital behaviours

Is the learning making students passive recipients

Or are the tasks rich creation based tasks

What does each of these look like- put ideas as a staff

Interacting- 

Meandering- looking but not really purposeful.

Distributing - sharing work via Google docs

Transacting- 

Researching- Google research tools and search terms . Copyright and plagerism 

Filtering the gold from the dross!

What do we use most?

In my daily life I probay most use distributing, researching, creating, interacting and transacting

In my classroom I lean heavily towards creation, transacting, researching, 

In the junior school there is a reluctance to use some of these tools. 

I need to work out how I can support teachers to become braver  

The getting ideas for how to use these us maybe the biggest

Teacher Talk

Look at the teacher talk frame and come back with ideas for how this can support what we can use it for to improve our leadership practice?

Determinants of relational trust

Taking the personal out of the conversation so that all conversations are based around the data
Entails asking open to learning conversations

SLT building a shared understanding of who we are as an slt team

Looking at the various models of leadership

http://knowledgeleadershipnz.com/schooling-improvement-models-2/


Taking the effective pedagogy pages of NZC and replace the words students with 'teachers and teachers with 'leaders'

Effective pedagogy

Teacher actions promoting student learning

While there is no formula that will guarantee learning for every student in every context, there is extensive, well-documented evidence about the kinds of teaching approaches that consistently have a positive impact on student learning. This evidence tells us that students learn best when teachers:

• create a supportive learning environment
• encourage reflective thought and action
• enhance the relevance of new learning
• facilitate shared learning
• make connections to prior learning and experience
• provide sufficient opportunities to learn
• inquire into the teaching–learning relationship.

Creating a supportive learning environment

Learning is inseparable from its social and cultural context. Students learn best when they feel accepted, when they enjoy positive relationships with their fellow students and teachers, and when they are able to be active, visible members of the learning community. Effective teachers foster positive relationships within environments that are caring, inclusive, non-discriminatory, and cohesive. They also build good relationships with the wider school community, working with parents and caregivers as key partners who have unique knowledge of their children and countless opportunities to advance their children’s learning. Effective teachers attend to the cultural and linguistic diversity of all their students. The classroom culture exists within and alongside many other cultures, including the cultures of the wider school and the local community, the students’ peer culture, and the teacher’s professional culture.

Encouraging reflective thought and action

Students learn most effectively when they develop the ability to stand back from the information or ideas that they have engaged with and think about these objectively. Reflective learners assimilate new learning, relate it to what they already know, adapt it for their own purposes, and translate thought into action. Over time, they develop their creativity, their ability to think critically about information and ideas, and their metacognitive ability (that is, their ability to think about their own thinking). Teachers encourage such thinking when they design tasks and opportunities that require students to critically evaluate the material they use and consider the purposes for which it was originally created.

Enhancing the relevance of new learning

Students learn most effectively when they understand what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how they will be able to use their new learning. Effective teachers stimulate the curiosity of their students, require them to search for relevant information and ideas, and challenge them to use or apply what they discover in new contexts or in new ways. They look for opportunities to involve students directly in decisions relating to their own learning. This encourages them to see what they are doing as relevant and to take greater ownership of their own learning.

Facilitating shared learning

Students learn as they engage in shared activities and conversations with other people, including family members and people in the wider community. Teachers encourage this process by cultivating the class as a learning community. In such a community, everyone, including the teacher, is a learner; learning conversations and learning partnerships are encouraged; and challenge, support, and feedback are always available. As they engage in reflective discourse with others, students build the language that they need to take their learning further.

Making connections to prior learning and experience

Students learn best when they are able to integrate new learning with what they already understand. When teachers deliberately build on what their students know and have experienced, they maximise the use of learning time, anticipate students’ learning needs, and avoid unnecessary duplication of content. Teachers can help students to make connections across learning areas as well as to home practices and the wider world.

Providing sufficient opportunities to learn

Students learn most effectively when they have time and opportunity to engage with, practise, and transfer new learning. This means that they need to encounter new learning a number of times and in a variety of different tasks or contexts. It also means that when curriculum coverage and student understanding are in competition, the teacher may decide to cover less but cover it in greater depth. Appropriate assessment helps the teacher to determine what “sufficient” opportunities mean for an individual student and to sequence students’ learning experiences over time. 

By replacing these words what parallels do we see for our practice as leaders?

How are we fostering relationships between each other and between our staff?

How often are we going back to the important statements that are contained in the NZC?

Student Centered Leadership- Leading teacher learning and development

Chapter 6

Public expectation for higher standards and accountability will always be a driving force in education. From the stance that this is a perfectly acceptable expectation as it is every child's right to a great education, then this is a good thing. However from the political machinations that this expectation will evolve, it is more a negative impact.
 "for every increment of performance I require of you, I have a responsibility to provide you with the additional capacity to produce that performance" 
Elmore, 2004

Or ' doing the work with learning how to improve the work'

Key questions
What kinds of PLD create the biggest shift in teacher practice?

what type of learning organisation and teacher culture supports this shared and sustained focus on improvement?

Leadership of teacher learning

Promoting and participating in teacher learning has a huge impact (0.84) - by this leadership it is meant that it is beyond just resourcing and organising systems for pld.

Why is this such a big impact?

Symbolic importance-

• Leaders are modelling student focused dialogue- by which I mean the leaders are happy to give up their time in order to discuss and focus on learners as a top priority in the school. Because of this modeled attitude teachers feel that giving extra is a natural part and are willing to give more
• Professional dialogue highlights leaders understanding of the concepts, vocabulary and pedagogical development of teacher practice and needs contextualised to learners in their class
• having the above gives leaders first hand feeling for the challenges, conditions and capabilities that surround the complex world of teaching and learning for their teachers. This experience means that leaders can setup systems and learning spaces to ensure that the teachers can access PLD that meets their needs, in order to address the needs of their learners.

Extent to which teachers identified leader as a friend did not have an impact on how successful this leadership dimension was:) 

Teacher Learning as a collective endeavor

This is the village to raise a child concept and in our team it is a prevalent form of teacher learning. However this collective endeavor to be learners to support our learners, needs certain parameters to succeed:

• all need to have student achievement at the center
• all need to have a growth ( not deficit) mindset about practice
• all need to be able to honestly dialogue their own abilities and needs

Teacher learning as a collective endeavor build instructional programme coherence. By which is meant that as teachers we dialogue about our teaching, how we teach, what we teach, what is and isn't effective and by doing so we raise a shared understanding of our teaching and learning. This allows us to be able to give and receive feedback from colleagues centered on our shared vision of what is successful practice.

This Professional Learning Community ( PLC) concept for a collective endeavor means that as teachers we all share responsibility for our learners and all other learners in the school...including our learner colleagues.

If we as teachers know that we can access support and expertise from our colleagues and value this as a support then we are more likely to be open about our needs as learners ourselves.

Chery Doig's community engagement parallels our engagement with our teachers as leaders

Community Engagement L@S from Cheryl Doig


Creating a climate for improvement

Non-negotiable we agree on that underpin things we agree are very important for us as an SLT to have as a goal

How resolute am I as a leader to creating expectations for continuous improvement in practice?

Do I keep a focus on continuous improvement for learners? ( not sticking with compliance)

Do I provide time, space, dispensation for innovation and support risk taking?


Engaging Teachers' theory of Action

To get change we as an SLT need to engage our theory of action with the teachers theory of action about changes that need to happen based on data. To engage our ideals with our teachers ideals then we need to have strong relational trust and then we need to surface the thinking of ourselves and our teachers around the change we can see that needs to happen . This requires us as an slt to ask questions that are always based on the data- So what are you going to do to change this? What else do you think you could do?

By doing this we are creating a shared vision for what we believe and then we can agree to try something as a way to create change in our practice that is based on evidence

Vpld hui 2015 day 2...

Thoughts from the day

Creative writing using multi ways to write

Minecraft world

Game creation that tells the story

Art

Online presentations

Great creation of student agency

New tool to use was aurasma

Then qr codeshttp://youtu.be/RqAV9P99CB8

MLE or MLP... What came first... The chicken or the egg?

Really great storytelling from 

http://www.mangapapa.school.nz/1/pages/1-introducing

Really resonate with the elements on creating growth mindset in teachers 

Education on Air Highlight Reel. May 2015

Weaving evidence, inquiry and standards chapter six

What impact does this chapter have on me as a teacher and as a leader?

What systems change need to happen in order to create the conditions for changes in practice to become a school culture?

Timperley and parr state that

Knowing what the pattern of information obtained from assessment which then feeds learning design requires a deep understanding of the content and processes around it- I take this as the relationship between AfL/ learning and agency

These capabilities are the traits of a highly skilled practitioner displaying adaptive expertise 

They point out the disparity between the anecdotal reflections teachers make on their learners and the actual instructional design they create which purports to meet these needs

When reflecting on this I believe we as leaders need to be asking continual questions about learners. I know we do this to varying levels. However for myself I know I need to dig even deeper when discussing students and learning, with questions like ' how do you know what you did was effective?' 

This is us modelling and building evaluative capabity in our teachers and ourselves

They then go on to discuss how we need to agree as a community of practitioners what the valued outcomes for students are- what the gaps in their learning are and how we believe we address these

However it is deeper even than that- we need the students to also know what their learning needs are and how they will address these

There is also a part to play from whanau in this relationship

The diagnostic tools need to directly relate to and inform the agreed outcomes so that the evidence gathered is rich and meaningful to the progress of the learner and also clearly supports the teachers to decide if they have the expertise to address these gaps

This then leads to us as a leadership providing the systems in our learning organisation which provide teachers with the pld opportunities that will build their adaptive expertise. Which in itself is the end game of teaching as inquiry

Student owned goals

What do we need to do in order to increase this across the school

Looking at the features of the assessment and goal setting chapter would be a good scaffold to share with our teams

At present learning goals are presented and students are beginning to understand

Vpld2015 Hui

Luxuriating in being in a room full of amazing people who share my mindset and value the same things

Ideas I resonate with...

Flow Channel to support learners to take ownership

Looking at innovation as a focus for learning 

Learner agency 

This is only developed by true understanding of AfL and passing the locus of control to our learners. Empowering them to own their learning and direct how they want to learn the next steps needed, in whatever way suits them.

As leaders we need to allow our teachers the same by creating systems within our learning organisation that promote and support this innovation and creating the conditions for success

One inquiry question from many!

How does self selected, flexible pld routes raise growth mindset, increase adaptive expertise, and promote collaboration in order to increase student achievement? 

Building teacher capability using learning videos and Google sites

Part of the structure that is working well to support teachers as they build their pedagogical knowledge of elearning and the various tools they need to apply this is the use of learning videos embedded into a teacher site

This streamlines the process of learning new skills and provides pld that can be accessed anywhere anytime in order to ensure that we are all working 'smart'

It also streamlines my time by allowing me to build a bank of support that means I only need to provide certain skills once...it then becomes teacher directed to access these skills:)

Leaders as Inquirers

Aligning my current inquiry foci with my goals for personal and school growth

1)By the end of the year I am working collaboratively alongside teachers in their classrooms in Mathematics and eLearning

• observing
• giving feedback
• focussing on student achievement

so that teachers have a growing understanding of best practice and are raising achievement for their students

2)By the end of the year I am setting up and leading PLD in Mathematics across the school

Run PLD which is easily accessible to all staff  in a variety of ways:

• 1 to 1
• In class - modelling and observations
• Team workshops
• Online

so that teachers are engaged in effective professional learning  

Through the PLD there will be:

• A shift in teachers practice (observations)
• Raised student achievement (use of baseline data)
• Deprivatization of teachers practice and classrooms

Underpinning both of these inquiries is the need to

• build relational trust as discussed here is a core for us as a school that is on our 3rd principal in 18months
• build my ability to have open to learning conversations as discussed by Vivianne Robinson. this is crucial to the development of a shift in teacher mindset to focus on student achivement

One key thing I am hoping will have an impact is ensuring I allocate some of my time to providing in class self selected pld for teachers. I feel this will allow people to build areas of practice that there may not be provision for in the general timetable of school-wide pld.

Weaving evidence, inquiry and standards chapter 2

Presents a model that integrates inquiry and knowledge building cycle with three important capabilities (fig 2.1, p.26)

Instructional- What do teachers, leaders, whanau need in pedagogical knowledge  that will most effectively accelerate the progress of the current context of students, on which their inquiry is focussed (p.29)

Organisational-School systems, such as assessment that support and promote teacher learning in their inquiry cycles- building a school structure that supports the building of adaptive expertise

Evaluative- “requires the use of evidence to answer questions-’ where am i going?’, ‘how am i doing?’ and ‘where to next?” (p.31) This capability involves deep pedagogical understanding on the part of teachers and leaders around what progress they should b looking for and then link these into the curriculum

The strands of this model are woven together through relationships that focus on- managed interdependence, trust and challenge

How This Chapter Could/Should Influence Our Practice ?

When using the model in fig 2.1, the starting point is always on student achievement- importantly the aims for achievement need to be focused on those outcomes valued by the school community- How does this look for our community? What are the contextual differences between our community and others?

How do we foster and support adaptive expertise and ensure our organisational capability creates a culture that promotes, not hinders this?

Evaluative capability involves the building of a shared understanding about what we require to build adaptive expertise...what are the conditions that at present are limiting this in our school?

How can we build the relationship aspects that will support change-

Managed interdependence? How do we know when is the time to access external rather than internal experts?

Trust and Challenge?

Where are we on fig 2.2, as a leadership team? as a team?

Setting up a Gifted and Talented programme for MBS

I have finally got the time to be able to focus attention onto our students who are requiring extension. Creating a document which outlines our schools' coverage for G 7 T students has highlighted two things:
How many things we already do for these students- such as:

Opt in lunchtime groups

Specialist classes
After school groups
Classroom acceleration and curriculum compacting...though this one needs some PLD to ensure it is across the school

Classroom programmes

Mathex

Debating

Speech and Poetry competitions

However it has also highlighted some areas to work on such as:

Creating a set of selection criteria, with staff, students and also parent voice

Culturally responsive Gifted programmes built in collaboration with our local Iwi and parents of our Maori students

We also as yet do not accelerate through side along enrollment, which is an area we need to look to build as we often have intermediate students already able to sit NCEA maths and English

however these are all on the to do list

This week I got to start my extension Maths and Literacy classes and we had a ball. It's amazing how much you can miss being with kids, when most of your day is paperwork! 

It was total luxury to get to spend time with these amazing students, who took to the idea of a blog to share work and ideas, like ducks to water!and I am looking forward to the next sessions

MBS gifted blog

some pics of the maths fun making Pi from Pies

Going Google...three years of learning is bearing fruit!

Our School has been GAFE for 3 years now and we are finally reaching a tipping point of change.
From e-learning as an isolated little part of a classroom rotation.....to full on ownership of learning through the power of online collaboration. This is not just for our students...but also our teachers...who struggled much more than the students to assimilate the new skills required. But being the amazing professionals they are, they didn't let it beat them! They knuckled down and set of on their journey...all from very different starting points on the spectrum.
And that right there...the fact that we all have different professional learning needs is what makes the journey so complex- for teachers who need to find the time in their already crazy jobs to learn new skills, and especially for school leaders, who have to find ways to ensure that differentiated PLD is accessible for our teachers.

My journey leading our school to the point we are at now has been a steep learning curve. Initially I would make huge assumptions that every teacher, once shown how to do something once, would be ready to rock and roll....how arrogant I was!! What I have come to realise over the three years ( sounds much more organised thinking than it actually was in real life!) is that everyone needed learning presented in different ways, for varying amounts of time and different levels of repetition. So my leadership practice has adapted and is still adapting.
At this point in time I use a lot of video models of the steps required in order to master a skill, so they can be revisited as needed  by our teachers. I luckily now have a Principal who is able to slow me down when I rush of ahead of people, which I know will help me to grow even more in my role.

So 3 years down the track we finally have teachers willingly using google docs to plan, a big step as it means all our planning is visible to anyone in our school at any time. The first tiny step towards collaborative growth mindset- we are willing to open ourselves up to feedback. It must be said that I belive the final tipper for this to happen was Google finally sorting out the problem of merged cells!! Finally teachers can have their favorite planning formats work in an online space...sounds silly, but it has been an important step!
So from me to Google...I thank you...not just for merged cells, but also for the tools we use daily without thinking that promote collaboration:)


Our reflection on what we felt e-learning was as a staff has changed in the last few years...the first time this was done, it was filled with ideas such as ...apps to practice handwriting, to keep kids busy while we do teaching with others! So proud of how far we have come