2016 what happened to term 1?!

This is my first entry on this blog for 2016..it seems crazy to say this..but there have just not been enough hours in the day! I am considering making a case for why we need a day extended out to include 30 hours...just not sure who I write to about this!

in stopping for a minute to think about life, the universe and everything education...I am reflecting on challenges I am encountering so far this year...the question being which one to reflect on first!

My choice to move schools... from a school that was finally in a good place after a few years of struggle...to a school on a 1 yr ero review with an LSM and a huge amount of challenges... seemed rational as a decision. I still believe it is a rational choice ( though there are the odd moments when I wake up wondering when they will come for me with the little white van and those special jackets with arms that tie at the back!!) however it is a choice that has now generated hundreds of other choices that need to be solved- from creating a school curriculum to raising PCK in our teachers and dealing with daily life for our students.
How to tackle those choices and how to ensure that within the daily craziness of life that we are staying focused on the big picture? This is seemingly simple, yet so amazingly complex when you stop to look more closely.
So my aim this year when blogging is to try and keep myself focused on the big picture- again this may be challenging as every stakeholder has a different lens on the big picture.
! As a leadership team we are focused on the strategic goals and how to implement these so we achieve our targets. ERO are focused on student achievement ( and rightly so- it is very possibly the worst in NZ) however they don't see the implications that are inherent in focusing on achievement when many of our learners have been so failed by the school that they aren't 'school ready'- they have no language for themselves as learners and building this language takes time...we know it will be what raises achievement..but will it do so fast enough for ERO? Parents and our community are focused on the whole child, socially, emotionally and academically- with the biggest issue for them being regaining trust with a school that has let them down for so long and without this trust we can't forge strong home school partnerships that are focused on learning. then we have what is essentially a brand new staff ( 17 of the 20 teachers are brand new to the school) again relational trust is a huge influence on supporting these teachers- until we have trust we can't engage in open to learning conversations and without that we can't raise PCK and move forward to address achievement through effective classroom programmes. On top of PCK raising for staff we have thrown them into the deep end by going 1:1 for all year 5-8 students- exciting and with all the inherent possibilities for personalisation and differentiation of learning- but a pedagogical nightmare for some of our teachers that requires huge levels of support.
Finally we have our beautiful students- so desperate to learn and like there parents for many the school has failed and disengaged them, so we need to build relationships with a new shared language for learning at our school that all our learners can own.

so having worked out the challenges we now need to work out what we will do to address them- as a leadership team we took various areas and have put them into a continuum marked out of 10- this was our way of looking at all the areas we have to shift and then reflecting on where we are ( given that 10 would be a highly functioning school) and working out what tiny step will take us to the next point on the continuum. This is proving really great as a stop and evaluate tool that we use on a weekly basis with formal evaluation every few weeks.
an example of a few of the aspects we evaluate on our continuum are

Planning

8/3
30/3

8/3

To get to 6 we need to:

• link in the assessment for learning data,
• differentiate and link this to specific LI/ SC so the LI matches the task

30/3

A closer and sustained  analysis through weekly feedback by SLT/MLT showed that a 6 was overly optimistic. We need to work with teams more on how to link data with groupings, texts and LI and SC’s.

To get to a 5 we need to

• Co-plan using TKI reading teacher notes & CSI to scaffold appropriate reading lesson structure and LI and SC  (These meetings are scheduled throughout the end of term 1 and the first half of term 2).
• Evidence visible in modelling books (what is actually happening in teaching sessions matches what is in the planning)  Lit team tracking
• students able to talk about their learning and whether they are being successful as evidence of triangulation between planning, learning and student ownership.  SLT-to ask every students

Pedagogy

8/3
30/3

8/3

To move to a 3 we need to:

• Support teachers to get guided reading into place
• Ensure all teachers are able to administer assessment tools in reading
• Support teachers to make links between reading PLD and writing  

30/3

We have made progress with guided reading in place in all classes but need to align assessment data with planning and teaching. Making links between reading PLD and writing is not happening.

To move to a 3 or 4 we need to:

• Put in place a supported model for planning guided reading with teachers
• Have all teachers meeting the expectation for elearning occurring in reading, writing and maths
• Encourage teachers to tap into student voice to make programmes more engaging
• A one pager of what a reading lesson should look like

Elearning

L/C/S pedagogy

Basic skills need to become routine in Y5-Y8 classes

8/3
30/3

8/3

Progress made:

• Teachers using teacher dashboard to support learners with renaming/filing work
• Some teachers creating differentiated reading digital learning objects (DLOs) for learners that support specific learning intentions (building the create/show what you know culture)
• Most 1:1 classes are using Class Google Sites for students to access learning (digital-home)
• Y4 using pods of Chromebooks since Wk 8 T1 (using Class site - Reading Hub)

30/3

To move forward we need to:

• Continued modelling and co-teaching in class to build eLearning capabilities in teachers (e.g. CyberSmart lessons, Reading, Writing, Maths)
• Further work with teachers using Class sites as a hub for students to access target resources
• Providing feedback/next steps via commenting - all 1:1 teachers
• Support Y1-4 with iPads - using Explain Everything to develop targeted resources and capture student voice

• Class blogs for teachers ready to take that next step in making learning visible (and connecting with whanau in an authentic setting)
• Learn/Create/Share pedagogy introduced across the school

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

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

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 

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

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:)

Weaving evidence, inquiry and standards to build better schools

Professional reading focus for our SLT this term.

Having left the UK specifically because of my 7 year old having to sit standards tests and the trauma this caused him, I am wary of the implementation of standards in NZ.  I'm hoping that reflecting on the contents of this book, specifically with a lens on our particular schools' context, will enable me to find positives in the integration of the standards.

Chapter 1 reflection

On page 9, Timperley and Parr state that the approach most likely to have the highest impact on student learning has 3 strands:

• use a range of evidence to inquire into the effectiveness of current practices
• decide what should stay because it is working
• decide what needs to change, and how it needs to change

Thankfully they then go on to state that  'the processes involved are not as simple as this description makes them appear'. At this point in my leadership practice and also within the context of our teachers practice and our school situation, this statement is very true. I know both evidentially and also from that 'hunch' we have as teachers that the 3 strands to raising achievement are a solid base from which to evince change. However I am also very conscious of the range of complexities hidden within attempting change. 

For these strands to all pull together in order to make the changes required, we need certain states to be in situ. Such as:

• Strong relationships within and across our school
• Collegiality and collaboration based on shared understanding of our purpose for change
• Trust- exactly the same trust that we strive for in our classes. That empowers people to open themselves up to risk of failure, knowing that it is ok to fail, that we never achieve success until we are aware of what we need to do, personally to change and raise our practice
• An agreed direction, aligned with differentiated levels of supportive PLD to facilitate pedagogical growth

page 11 sees Timperley and Parr addressing the very issues I have with standards in our wonderful NZ curriculum 

"Part of our motivation for putting this book together is to try to avert the kinds of negative consequences experienced in many other countries and to optimise the chances that standards will be used to promote the kinds of learning that are valued in the curriculum through using the rich descriptions that accompany the standards as a source of information for advancing teaching and learning."

The rich layers of resources that surround our standards have huge potential to support and advance learning, to create ownership of learning between teachers and learners, through the development of deep understanding of what success looks like at any given point in a child's education. However to create the optimum learning environment for this integration of standards, curriculum and teacher inquiry, we again come back to the states we need in situ before this can happen. As Timperley and Parr put it " This will only happen, however, if professional and community learning- rather than punitive accountability- remain to the fore."

Within our context, reaching this point is our biggest challenge on the road ahead....

Reflecting on my deliberate acts of leadership

As the end of the year moves closer I am reflecting on my progress for my appraisal process. One aspect of this is to identify my deliberate acts of leadership this year...not the ones that align with my goals...but rather all the other day to day acts that demonstrate my progress towards the professional standards.
This is a tricky process on many levels. Firstly the word 'deliberate'! I think that often in education the world around us shifts and changes daily at such a rate that it can be hard to say that an act was totally 'deliberate'  as this implies far more time to reflect than we often have available in our leadership roles. In many cases it is more a case of making a choice based on needs that can be long term and equally can be based on a sudden need arising for my school, students or teachers. Secondly, by identifying my deliberate acts..it goes totally against the grain of my English 'stiff upper lip, no bragging' upbringing! So it is quite hard to state...yes I did this well...much easier to confidently state a list of things I need to work on!
But for the sake of building my own reflective abilities I am going to practice stating clearly and confidently ( without too much self mocking!) my deliberate acts of leadership:)
Here we go..

Developed ( in collaboration with staff)

•  Student Speak Literacy progressions for Reading and Writing and built teacher capabilities to use these in class as part of students daily reflective language of learning

• School wide Writing process which is being used currently and undergoing a process of adaptation for different year levels so the students and teachers own this. 

• MBS maths planning, teaching and learning web site to allow for clearer understanding of how maths is taught for parents, as a planning tool for overworked teachers and importantly to allow individualized education for students MBS Maths

• An agreed set of evidence that will be collected by MBS teachers in order to inform the process of making a reliable and valid Overall teacher Judgement

• A deeper understanding of Teaching as Inquiry with my teachers and a development plan for building this capability over the next year

Researched areas required for PLD and ran staff meetings in

• Moderation- what this means, why it's important and what it means for us as a school: This need arose out of the analysis of the mid year data and was identified a a need by both leadership and staff
• Moderation in the 3 standards areas, how we collect and use the evidence in order to inform us on our students progress against the standards
• Reading- the importance of modelling books as a record of learning and teaching and how these form a key part of our evidence
• ALiM and ALL- disseminating the knowledge gained from our teachers leading this and from the inquiry teams in order to support development of best practice across the school and to build the capabilities of our two lead teachers in their roles.

Built teacher capabilities and collaboration in the following school wide areas-

• Analysing the school wide data prior to presentation to our BoT in order to gain insights from our teachers on what the trends in data show. Thereby leading to a clearer understanding for all stakeholders on what the needs of our school are. This will lead to our board being able to set a realistic budget, aligned with the strategic plan and importantly the actual needs of our teachers with regard to the context of their students and their own PLD needs in order to create success for all
• Using teachers expert knowledge of their learners to inform class lists for 2015- this was done in a very long and heated ( you could clearly see how passionately teachers care about their students education) staff meeting with chart paper and all pupils names cut u ready for teachers to create classes with the best mix of learners

Liaised with our BoT in order to -

• Give them a clearer understanding of what lies behind the data they get presented. This clarity for the board will hopefully create better understanding of what is actually required in order to create the environment that will lead to the achievement of the strategic plan goals and allow more realism of expectations
• Create and continually update an action plan of what is happening within our school in order to meet our strategic goals, especially in student achievement
• Support the board to make a jump into using google in order to allow more collaboration and streamline the systems with an existing school system tool

Organised and ran school wide events -

• NZ Fact-a-thon- teachers created questions for each year level and students where sponsored to learn these. The money raised will go towards refitting our audio systems in the hall
• School Production- Our amazing dance teacher was the creative force behind this and I got the joy of the behind the scenes organisation ( staging, lighting, stands, tickets, PTA programs, timelines etc). It was hugely successful and a testimony to how well MBS values the creative arts
• Junior poetry competition and senior speech competitions

Reflected continually on challenging situations and how to best resolve these for all parties using skills that involved..

• Building my ability to use the ladder of inference in order to remove my personal gut response to situations and try to find a way to support the parties involved to come to a solution that worked for them
• Using open to learning conversations in order to coach colleagues and help them to identify how to resolve a situation or develop their ability to reflect on their practice
• Repressed personal aims and feelings in order to build stronger working relationships with colleagues
• Always try hard to reflect on how other people perceive a situation in order to support their progress and ensure I am putting in the required scaffolds of support to enable them to meet their goals

Ok that has made a start....now for the list of things I need to work on.....only joking.....there isn't enough room:)

Rethinking Pedagogies for future focused learning

Sitting today covered in mud from messing about in my garden and participating in #cenz14 Key Competencies Book group hosted by Karen Meluish Spencer.
With the authors of this fabulous book


Discussing how we only touch the tiny tip of the iceberg as far as how we utilise key competencies. We need to dig deeper down to find a way to build our students ability to become future problem solvers
Key idea #1 wicked problems for our students to solve
Wicked problems of our students futures
We need to create future schooling that will aid students to build the skills, mindsets and competencies that will equip them to collaborate globally to solve these wicked problems

By creating agency for our students to empower them with the belief that their education is their own, it is personal to them and through this their engagement lifts to increase collaboration within and beyond their personal sphere of influence into a realisation they can have a global influence.

Democratic Dialogue builds students understanding of how to engage with wicked problems
and
The shirky ladder of collaboration is a good way to use collaboration to build students agency to become change agents that can solve wicked problems

Another key idea is to build all of our abilities to transform discourses and leverage diversity
http://bit.ly/1rOOZ3m

Self revies for teachers, schools, leaders and communities can help the progress of key competencies tki self review

Forming intentions for a future focused education

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:)

The importance of cognitive dissonance

6 weeks into being the only DP in my school I find that life is crazier than ever. The role involves supporting every aspect of the school-something that shod be easy if I don't have a class to plan for?- bit in reality not easy at all.
Every day is planned out from the priorities I have on my worryingly large list... And every day has interesting and unexpected twists that mean the list is put on hold and then increased!
Earlier this year I talked about action plans and prioritising. This is working, I have action plans... So many in fact that I am considering creating an action plan for my action plans! But is this the most logical way to work? The action plans help, but when do we reach a point at which action plans are the only thing happening! They help me to track all my roles so I can try and ensure that I am allocating equitable amounts of my time to each role. Yet they also create friction and dissonance within my head about what constitutes equitable allocation of my time.
What is most important?
Student achievement is why we are all here, yet without support for teachers so they feel empowered, we won't have student achievement. Then there is community engagement, if we don't engage our parents in an honest, open way then nothing we do will help to accelerate achievement.
It's an interesting challenge to my thinking and I think is only answered by the word 'why'?
Why am I doing this? Does it relate back to our strategic plan or our vision?
Life is so exciting and a process of continual learning:)
I hope for a simple formula. But feel that complex algebra is what I will find....(good job I'm a math nerd!)

CAAP plan and the difficulty of reliable OTJ's

Recently whilst constructing the mid-year mathematics report to the board, I discovered a blip in the data from a cohort group. It seemed fairly anomalous and investigation found that it was based on the difficulty for teachers and leaders to ensure consistency of OTJ's schoolwide.
Despite a reasonable start on how to gather evidence for making OTJ's, we still have a long way to go as a community of educators to ensure that this most abstract and tricky process can be made as authentic and valid as possible.
Our journey at MBS began with supporting teachers to understand how to analyse the schoolwide data and how this is only one part of the overall puzzle we have to put together in order to see where a students levels lie.
This year we are running both an ALiM and an ALL contract and an off shoot of these very valuable programs, has been the need for me to develop a CAAP plan ( Curriculum Action and Achievement Plan).
This is still an ongoing process of revision, feedback and more revision. However it has started to generate a document which aims to support all stakeholders within our school and wider community, see what a child achieving at a certain level, will 'look' like. Using the National Standards and also the ELLP, and numeracy progressions in order to build up a big picture of the skills and abilities a child will display. This is the start to building  a deeper understanding of what a child who isn't achieving will look like, and also the structures we have in place for the different tiers of intervention.
As a school, we have spent a lot of time looking at moderation within writing and have constructed a more shared understanding of what each level of writing will look like. We have also focused a lot on the collection and analysis of mathematical assessment in order to feed this into effective planning.
However we now need to use all these areas we have been working in and start to feed what we know around maths and reading in order to see how we can deepen our understanding of how to make valid OTJ's within these areas. In order to align our abilities as a staff so that by the end of the year we are able to make reliable OTJ's on a students work, in any of the 3 areas and for students at all levels in our school.

PLG group and the multiplier effect

Last term I joined a professional learning group facilitated by Maggie Ogram from Osprey Consulting.
The reasons for this are two fold:
First I knew that as I am relatively new to educational leadership and for that matter also to education itself- I have only been qualified as a teacher for 4 years!- that I need to ensure that I am double checking myself continually. Luckily I am an over achieving autodidact, who thrives on learning new things and I always research a concept or finding to ensure that what I am doing is pedagogically sound, and also proven to be effective. However I am keenly aware of what I don't know and so this PLG gives me an opportunity to collaborate in areas about which I may be unsure.
Secondly I knew that as my fellow DP was leaving, I would be loosing a very important professional relationship- the person whom I can bounce ideas off, have heated discussions with about practice and research ( not quite arguments as we have total respect for each other! but definitely good sound constructive conversations that lead to shared understandings) and who generally acted as a coach and mentor in one. So I knew that within the current structure of our school, I wouldn't be able to find that relationship for a while ( however approachable I ensure I am with other staff, it does seem that once one hits management level that people won't argue with you! and I need people to have a good argument/conversation with!) so the PLG has given me a forum with which to share ideas, bounce good conversations around and generally given me a group of coaches of which we are all equal and can all contribute valid points.
This last term we have looked at Certain readings in order to stimulate conversations in areas we all agreed we needed to work.
The first reading was around the kind of leader we are:



This is an excellent from a very interesting and thought provoking book

The ideas in this give a great reference point from which to set a series of leadership goals and I am finding that having these pinned to my wall above my lonely little desk in the dungeon office are helping to keep me connected with what is important to focus on

Kicking off term two

As always a term starts and you hit the ground running. For me this has been doubly true due to working through the holidays. This had twofold reasons- to get all the new devices up and running ready for week 1 and also to build the professional relationship with our new principal and also our new office manager.
A week into the new term i would say that it was worth the effort throughout the holidays. the teachers and students are really enjoying getting to put into action all the PD we have engaged in around true e-learning and the investment both financially and time wise has been successful.
As far as professional relationships go, it has also been very valuable to have time to engage in some very constructive conversations that mean a more shared understanding of our way forward and also of how we can make these steps.
This first week has also seen me work with my outside appraiser and that has been very valuable, as a way to focus my thinking on me and my leadership values. I often spend 99 % of my time focused on other people and forget to stop and evaluate my own position and goals. Having talked to colleagues I had the notion of sharing the whole of my appraisal process with the staff and my appraiser agreed that this would be a great way to create trust, openness and an understanding of my goals. So this week I will put my reflective journal and my goals into an open Google document. shared with staff and invite their comments. It is a part of human nature to feel wary of being too open with their aims. However I believe that by doing this I am being open to input, creating collaboration and also displaying my trust in other people.

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