Creating resources to support personalised learning

Creating a new site to support differentiated spelling based on joy Alcocks Spelling Under Scrutiny

https://sites.google.com/a/takanini.school.nz/spelling-takanini/

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:)

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

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

Collaboration across schools and the impact of IES to NZ education

Following on from the presentation I did to our ELN cluster of schools, I have been working with year 5/ 6 teachers this week as they develop on their journey using GAFE.
It was really wonderful to get out of my school space, and see how others are using GAFE.
These teachers are just beginning on their journey and it was really nice to be able to feel that all the things we have learnt over the last few years has given us the knowledge to help others bypass some of the experimental processes we went through!
They are not yet BYOD and as yet not as far into using e-learning as we are, but they have a wonderful MLE in which to develop their pedagogy and practice...so jealous:) Also they are a group of 3 teachers who are excited, inspired and knowledgeable which was a lovely vibe to feel. The children in their group will be very lucky to have such great teachers who are so open, supportive and collaborative about working together honestly in order to focus on what we are all here for...our students and their achievement.

The whole process of giving my time ( which I struggle to find enough of as it is!) in order to support other people within education, is reinforcing my belief that for teachers often the best PD is found by being given the time to just work with other teachers within our community. To access all the knowledge we have around us and importantly the experience available that is contextualized to our group of schools. The important decsion we have coming up about our level of support for IES is both supported and negated by these experiences... on the one hand the overarching ideas of IES seem to replicate what I have said above. However the question remains...who will actually make the decisions about IES funding and who works together and when? It also matters what the hidden agenda of IES is? What are the actual political objectives? If it is for a long term- which would be best if we are aiming to allow time for the process to develop from an initiative..into an embedded pedagogical change- then politics has no 'election period' short term limits. Yet this initiative seems to have a time limit- aligned with political timelines- so I worry that really what we have is a PR stunt with a hidden agenda that will allow for an endgame that smacks of the reason I left the UK!
Here's hoping I am wrong:)

Presentation for ELN 2014

This is the second time I have presented to a group of peers through our ELN PLG group. This time my self confidence in what I was doing was much higher. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to share what we have been working towards at MBS and the huge leaps we have made over the past few years in our use of blended elearning.
Consequently I have been asked by a couple of schools to work with their staff as they build their ability to use GAFE. This kind of collaboration is hugely valuable to educators as it gives us a means to share our skills and ideas in order to improve educational outcomes for whole groups of schools. All PLD should be this collaborative.

Journey to new devices for MBS

The journey we have taken as a school in order to secure new devices has been lengthy...but finally we are there.
When I took over ICT last year I rapidly discovered that 95% of all device in the school where Windows XP operating systems. From April 2014 this system would not be supported by MoE software provisioning or by Microsoft. Hence our year long journey to work out how to acquire new devices on a limited budget.
Through a process which started with setting a school vision and strategic plan specific to our schools vision for our digital citizens, I started dialogues with various parties and companies who could give us options.



Once presented to the BOT the discussions started about budgets, constraints and how this would fulfill our needs as a school/ community.
Towards the end of 2013 we had finalized budgets and quickly realized that this basic option wouldn't be viable or sustainable financially.
A change of Principal meant revisiting the whole concept of where we wanted to be as a school again at the start of 2014



The urgency of the situation started to be borne in upon the BOT and Principal, with the realisation that in two months time we would have NO computers in the school.
This along with the level of staff frustration at the lack of functioning ICT with which to put into practice the years PD on e-learning they had received meant that we put in place a quick move to BYOD in order to cover the gap.
This was already started in years 7 and 8 during 2013 and was highly successful for students, parents and teachers.
The decision was made to roll this down to year 5/6 as soon as was feasible within the structures and procedures I put in place to ensure successful BYOD




With the help of an action plan and regular contact with teachers, parents and students this has rolled out very successfully.
We still needed to fill the gap in devices which would become reality in April 2014
So I went back to the BOT and with the support of the Principal started to breakdown and evaluate all our possibilities within a given budget of 30,000



This time we came to an agreement and three weeks later we signed contracts for our new devices- 43 chrome books and 37 ipad minis. Along with 12 chromecasts to make the tv's in each room more usefull.

The outcome has been that I have learnt a huge amount about myself, my role as ICT and elearning leader, how to create visions and action plans and align them with the schools strategic plan and vision.
At times i have been frustrated with feelings that the board did not fully comprehend how frustrated our teachers where. However as the year progressed I was glad that there where people there who would ask me tough questions and make me double check myself and what I was doing. The responsibility to organise this has been mine, however the reason for all of this has been to ensure the students, teachers and community all get the best fit solution in order to create learning that can be blended to build the skills our student need to leave MBS as problem solving digital citizens. For that I thank everyone who made me stop and check my thinking and solutions:)
I have had no holiday at all over this 2 week easter break...but tired though I am, I couldn't be happier...now I can get these devices out into classrooms and the real work can begin

Building capacity

As a whole staff we engaged in many hours of work last year, in the area of analysing data. Across writing and maths especially we are seeing school wide movement that shows how well our teachers know their students and conversations with students has meant that the students also know themselves. With the advent of BYOD this year for more of the school, we are starting to build capacity for staff and students to use online assessment tools. Such as exit ticket. Nearpod , google forms, voice thread, showme, khan academy and many more. This is allowing for instant assessment , which means learning to need, and even more powerfully... Learning to need and interest. This equals total engagement.

Appraisal process

So my first appraisal meeting with external facilitator is set for next Thursday. I am setting up my Myportfolio to have a subset page which can be shared directly with my appraiser. As this is a tool I use anyway it makes sense to utilise it for as many purposes as possible. With that in mind I learnt a new trick today while at the ELN sessions, courtesy of @mosbourne01, which I have already utilised. It's sad how excited I get by a new trick in ICT use. But all these tricks streamline the amount of effort that is required in order to provide evidence of goals achieved.