Thursday, 28 May 2015

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




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

Wednesday, 27 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

Tuesday, 26 May 2015

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? 

Friday, 22 May 2015

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:)


Thursday, 30 April 2015

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.