There are some great videos on the TEDX Denver Teachers site. Really enjoyed this one from Co Barry, examining how exposure to complex problems develops students into creative innovators. Barry describes a process called "Design Thinking", where students work through stages to solve difficult problems. There are many elements similar to various inquiry learning models, and ideas such as risk taking and experiencing failure to develop resilience are also commonalities.
Barry has a great website where she explains the process and has some great success stories. The premise is that "Teachers cultivate a creative mindset to develop rigorous and relevant programs for their students. Design thinking allows students to fail fast and learn by doing rather than avoiding failure by striving for initial perfection. It fosters the need to ask relevant questions versus giving correct answers. It requires teachers to guide and show pupils instead of telling and lecturing. It encourages students to become process experts as opposed to subject experts. "
So the model fits really well with the intent of the NZC, with the focus being on the skills required to solve the problem and ways to find the knowledge required. I taught in the US for 6 years and content knowledge was still very driving the curriculum in the state that I taught in. I can believe that schools adopting this model are seeing significant gains in engagement and achievement as outlined by Barry and fellow educators. I quite like the early stages of this model -really focusing on the audience that you are designing for. Getting that clear purpose is probably something I should spend more time on as part of my school's inquiry model. We are about to start a design process for a Gorilla Enclosure as part of our current inquiry unit and I think I'll give this Design Thinking model a try and see how it supports our current inquiry model and the technology process that we use in the classroom here.
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The first meeting of the Canterbury PLG for teachers interested in Modern Learning Environments and Collaborative Teaching, was held at Clearview Primary. There was a great turn out - in fact we had to cut off registrations, as we had reached well over one hundred people coming. It kicked off with a presentation from James Petronelli, Clearview's principal. This was followed by presentations from myself and our Associate Principal, Angela Scott. We were fortunate to have Chris Bradbeer as a speaker also. He came down from Auckland, where he is Associate Principal at Stonefields School. Chris shared with us how the Auckland PLG got started and the kind of events they have held. People then had the opportunity for small group discussion. We really wanted to get a feel for the needs of Canterbury schools. People identified opportunities, challenges, ways they could help other schools and support that they need. We finished off with a tour of the spaces at Clearview Primary, which promoted much dialogue and discussion. Keep an eye out on the PLG blog for another event in Term 4. So the term has whizzed by - not quite sure where the weeks went! Of course, it feels like I have never been away! The kids are loving the new classroom set up, and it has been great to see them start to "own" the space. They make great use of the bean bags, floor pillows and cushions. The old bar stools that were destined for the dump, and the number 1 favourite. There is often competition to see who will get to sit in those! We were also fortunate to get a low white board table to sit in the learning studio. This is really popular with the kids too. I'm planning to develop a resource box, with activity cards for the students to choose independent activities that they can complete on the table. Eg. word families, ways of making different numbers, sentence starters. We are team teaching Maths among three teachers. What we are trialling is this: We have 3 homebases and a long learning studio area. 1 teacher has groups in HB10. This is also the SILENT ZONE. Any student can choose to work in here, but they must be on their own and silent. It has been really interesting to see who chooses to work here - one day there were 20 students making this choice. The second teacher has groups in the learning studio outside HB10. We have a whiteboard station set up here. HB 11 is a space for practice activities and computer tasks. Students working on these can also choose to work in the learning studio. HB12 is Maths Games Zone. The interactive white board is loaded with games, there is chalk outside and there are maths games to play and reinforce learning. This room is buzzing and often quite noisy - but that's the purpose. The teacher who is not working with groups that day is the roving teacher. They are available to help students, check practice activities, monitor students and supervise the general area. Guess which is the hardest job?
We have just introduced a teacher aide two days a week, to release the roving teacher to work with a targeted group of students. This is also working well. Parent help is available several days a week also. Discoveries: When you are teaching, you are focused on your group and there are hardly ever outside distractions. When you are planning, because you are only planning for one or two maths stages, the quality really improves. We have all agreed that we have got to know a math stage in depth and that the quality of our lessons, ict integration and follow up activities has improved. Students who are not with a teacher have someone to go to when they are stuck. Games are purposeful because there is someone to monitor those children who are using those activities. Students are working through maths progressions for their numeracy stage. The space that we have can be a little tricky to use, but I feel like this "power of 3" math is going really well. There are still a few kids whose self management needs work, but as I keep reminding myself, that's also the case in your own classroom. During a class circle time with my kids, we came across a couple of potential problems that needed solving. Firstly, lots of children reported others taking computers and saving them for friends who were still in their maths group. Many also said that when choosing a space, someone else would tell them that they couldn't have that space as they were "saving" it. We had a hui to discuss these issues and reiterate that no-one owns a space in the block. During the circle time, the kids noted several positives such as meeting students from other homebases, developing key people that they worked well with and not being distracted or interrupted in group time. I personally cannot believe how much learning has happened in the term. I would estimate that I got through almost twice the Math Key Ideas that I would usually get through. The progress has been amazing and I have been super impressed with the students. We're still working through new ideas, finding solutions and refining, but I'm really enjoying this way of teaching! So this week sees the first get together of a Canterbury Professional Learning Group for MLE and collaborative teaching environments. A few of us at Clearview Primary were inspired by the Auckland PLG and decided to set up our own! The response was overwhelming and we had to cut off registrations at around 100 people. Shows the demand there is for professional development in this area. We are going to kick off the first meeting with sharing our Clearview journey, having some time for discussion, planning for future PLG events and a tour of our awesome school.
We really want it to be about teachers talking with teachers - sharing ideas, challenges and opportunities! If you missed out this time, keep an eye on the PLG blog for future events. Looking forward to seeing lots of people on Thursday! Some of the best learning experiences I have had this year, have involved getting out and about and visiting schools, talking with teachers and principals and seeing what other people are up to. When you are a classroom teacher, it is all too easy to get stuck in your own environment and not know what is going on, even in your own school.
Fortunately the internet provides a window into the outside world. There are hundreds of educational blogs, tweets and facebook posts that give you instant professional development. But seeing something for yourself is the ultimate! I love this blog post from The Third Teacher + about the value of field trips. They are inviting people to share their field trip experiences and have these tips for making the most of a visit to a learning environment.
I love these suggestions, especially the ask and absorb questions. I was trying to think what is my favourite place in my school, and apart from the coffee machine in the staffroom, I think it is probably the learning studio area. This always seems to be a hive of activity, a place where students interactions are taking place and I love the hum of "busyness". So why not try and take a field trip yourself? Stop hiding in an office on your classroom release day doing paper work. Plan and make time, even for a field trip in your own school. The inspiration, ideas and even validation of your own practice will be way better than getting that data entered! So all good things must come to an end! Today my sabbatical ended and I headed back to my fabulous class, which is also a good thing. I'm kind of excited to start trying out some ideas that I've gained during my term off and to see how I can use my environment to support and enhance learning for my students. Firstly, I started playing around with the classroom design. This term I am teaching collaboratively with 2 other teachers for Maths, 1 other teacher for Literacy and up to 5 other teachers for Inquiry, Discovery Learning and some Literacy. I decided I would like to make my classroom more of a "watering hole" space, with a larger floor area. In the past, I have had quite large tables that took up all the room, so I switched these out for tables that are smaller. I still wanted the kids to have a "home seat". It's something I use for many of my management routines - I can take the roll in 2 seconds flat - but they will only be there a couple of times a day. This may be something I'll need to learn to let go! I wanted to create more options for students to choose a space to work in. So now I have table spaces, a huge floor space that can fit 3 classes when required, and more "rooms within rooms". We also have our learning studio space that we use all the time. The open space seems now to dominate the room, while before the tables definitely did. So the kids seemed to like the new layout today and are already beginning to move around the class more than they did in Term 1. When I had big tables, it was often like they were fixed to a spot, so it was great to see them doing this. It will be interesting to see how this evolves over the next few weeks, with collaborative teaching and learning getting underway.
I thought it would be interesting to talk to some of the Provisionally Registered Teachers working at my school, to hear their first hand experiences about working in a MLE. Even though it is a while ago now,(!) I can still remember my first teaching position and the excitement of finally having a class to call my own! The hours of setting up and all those resources finally going up on the wall. My very own teacher desk and one desktop computer in the corner with a printer that had Microsoft Works, Dangerous Creatures and Encarta!!
I wondered how it would feel to not have that experience. To go from teacher's college straight into a shared learning space. To find out I interviewed Jacinta, Caitlin and Jason, provisionally registered teachers at Clearview Primary. They all began teaching at Clearview Primary in 2013. Jacinta and Jason had previously been student teachers in our stage 1 space when they were being operated as single cell classrooms. Discoveries: Caitlin commented that as she was used to having an associate teacher in the room, she had found it easy to work alongside other teachers. Jason said it was great to get management tips and tricks from more experienced teachers. The PRT's said there wasn't any preparation at Teacher's College for the possibility of teaching collaboratively or in a shared teaching space. The PRT's felt the opportunity to work collaboratively with experienced teachers was a fantastic opportunity. They could observe colleagues, plan together and have support with making overall teacher judgements. The PRT's felt they had a strong bond with the students in their home class. They said it was essential that at the start of the year you had the opportunity to develop relationships with that group of students. For Jacinta and Caitlin, they spend two afternoons a week with their home class, the rest of the time is spent teaching collaboratively. They both felt this was an important time to focus on pastoral care and relationships. Jason spends more time with his home class, as his team is currently developing their collaborative practices. Jacinta had taught in a single cell classroom last year for three terms. She noted that working in a shared space, you can lose some flexibility. For example, in a single cell classroom, if her writing session was going particularly well, she could continue with it. However, timetable restrictions in a shared space and with workshops running to time, you are unable to do this. Jason also felt that some flexibility was lost and it was often difficult to find time to fit in "bits and pieces", like buddy classes and when your class was on presenting assembly. The PRT's found that developing collaborative practice takes time. There have been extra meetings as their team has constantly sought to reflect on and improve their practice. As one of the teaching spaces only opened this year, it has been challenging for all teachers involved to develop the systems needed. Wonderings: How will Colleges of Education respond to the changes in teaching pedagogies? What changes will they need to make to prepare teachers for new environments and ways of working? How can we ensure that "teachable moments" and flexiblity can still be allowed for in a collaborative open space? What changes to Advice and Guidance programmes will schools need to make? For example, should a PRT teach collaboratively with their tutor teacher? It was great to hear from our PRT's who are all having a highly successful year of teaching. In some ways, if working in a MLE is your first experience, you are at an advantage over those of us who are having to unlearn and relearn in order to transition to teaching in a MLE. I hope to catch up with our teachers in Term 4, to find out what other reflections they have on the year. This week I visited Waimairi School, hosts of the well received "Think Forward" conference this year. Principal Mike Anderson spoke at the CEFPI conference (see previous blog post) about the challenges his school has faced as a result of the Canterbury Earthquake. Despite the disruption caused by the earthquakes, the school continues to move ahead, developing their learning environments and pedagogies. Waimairi currently has Te Puna, a new entrant block with 5 teachers working collaboratively. This is the newest building on the campus. Two year 1/2 teachers are also team teaching in an adapted space. Mike described the journey the school has undertaken over the past few years. A lot of initial work was undertaken examining the values and beliefs that underpin all aspects of school life. There was a lot of time spent developing the vision for teaching and learning at Waimairi. Mike believes that it is vital that all the staff (not just teachers, also support staff) are part of professional development, and that you need to spend money on the people in your school. Discoveries at Waimairi: The teachers who are teaching collaboratively are taking time to reflect and critique how the teaching and learning is developing. They are constantly refining their practice based on their observations and student needs. They are adapting their spaces and using furniture creatively. A learning space was created for less than $800 with two existing classrooms. Walls were removed and a cloak room carpeted, to create a fantastic learning space. Waimairi has worked with Angus McFarlane to create a culturally responsive environment. They are keeping this is mind as they develop their collaborative teaching programme. As part of professional development, teachers are involved in a walk through model, where they have a critical friend. They visit other classrooms, then reflect on their own practice. Inquiry learning drives the curriculum at Waimairi. Each term, students are involved in a process along with curriculum leaders and teachers, where the focus for the next term's inquiry is developed. This ensures student voice is heard in an authentic way. Community involvement is high, with sharing of high quality work, projects and performances. Google docs are used by students to enable learning 24/7. Staff use hapara's teacher dashboard to organise their student's work. A focus is the development of purposeful, effective feedback. Waimairi is part of a cluster and will be having some rebuilding and redevelopment in the future. They are the first cluster in Canterbury to be ready for the Master Planning stage. Staff will visit Melbourne in the next school holidays, to gain inspiration and ideas for the future development of their school and cluster. It was excellent to visit Waimairi and talk to Mike, staff members and students. A great teaching and learning environment and awesome opportunities ahead. If you missed it, so worth checking out this story on Campbell Live this week. A great tour of Hingaia Peninsula School in Auckland and some experts weigh in on MLE development.
So still waiting for this video to be released, but here's a glimpse!! Christian Long (The Third Teacher +) showed this clip at CEFPI. Still waiting for the big reveal - but what an idea for a reality show. $1000 and one weekend to revamp your classroom! Way better than X-Factor any day!
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AuthorMy name is Ngaire Shepherd-Wills. This website is a record of my TeachNZ sabbatical, Term 2, 2013 and then I have continued to share my wonderings and discoveries about Innovative Learning Practices. I now work for CORE Education. Views are my own. Tags
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