Well you mucked that up, how are you going to make things clearer?

Being a reflective practitioner, I have an on-going inner monologue going on, always thinking what did I do wrong there? How could I do that better? What was an alternative? How can I deepen their learning more? How can I make learning more visible? Well you mucked up there, how are you going to make things clearer?…

Is this a bad thing? Is being an over analyser an issue? Maybe, maybe not….

Maybe, just maybe, this puts you in the state of on-going learning? Not being a knower, but always looking to learn from mistakes to help learners with their own learning. To ensure you make the difference you believe you can make. High expectations for your learners and yourself.

Here is a few examples of this in recent teaching and learning…Here are the modules for me for the first semester (Term one/Term two different Key Concepts)

Key Concept Term One: Culture and Diversity
Key Concept Term two: Relationships

In SLM 1 for Year 9’s with Science and PE.

It’s all about the T’s: Timelines, timescales and team talks

Description Term One: We will explore different stages of life and development, from young to old, involving ecosytems and physical activity. This will include a couple of off-site activities, involving powerful partnerships.
Learning objectives:
Share understanding of physical activity over stages of life, by teaching others.
To explore ecosystems by considering life processes, situations and factors that change over time.

Description Term Two: We will be looking at the impact that human activity has had on our environment over time. In addition we will work in group and team situations. We will explore how we might optimise impact on team performance.
Learning objectives:
To test interpersonal skills by implementing strategies to impact on the functioning of a team. To make sense of chemistry by connecting human impact on our environment over time.

In SLM 2 for Year 10’s also with Science and PE

E² around the world-ecosystems and exercise around the world

Description Term One: In this module you will explore and make sense of the characteristics of all living things and biological ecosystems, choosing one from a country of your choice. In addition you will explore societal influences on participation in physical activity, sports, games and incidental exercise in different cultures and share by teaching others a game/activity from your chosen country.
Learning objectives:
Explore and make-sense of cultures around the world by showing an understanding of ecosystems and exercise. To share by teaching others a game/activity from the chosen country.

Description Term Two: You will investigate how human activities change the chemistry of the environment and as a result impact on the biology of ecosystems. In addition you will take part in games, sports and physical activity and attempt to improve the functioning of groups/teams.
Learning objectives:
Refine our interpersonal skills to impact on the effective functioning of a group/team.
To make sense of chemistry by exploring the impact of humans on an ecosystem.

That is the background, time for my learning and muck ups….

With the Year 9’s, I explored barriers and enablers as influences on physical activity as well as benefits and risks of exercise.

First of all I started off with what they know already…

I used hexagons that I made on http://pamhook.com/solo-apps/hexagon-generator/ here are the docs…
Getting them to go deeper, with barriers, enablers, benefits and risks…
Asking them to group them through negotiation and justification with each other…

From here I asked students to link the hexagons further into subgroups and annotate their justifications on the sheet…this is where I lost them, even though they had had great conversations in their sorting, they did not know what I meant by justify…I tried to reword this several times and still think I lost them…anyway the session ended, so I need to go back to this… @AndreaHenson_nz had a great chat afterwards about not making assumptions about what Year 9’s can do and supporting and scaffolding to ensure learning occurs. They need more scaffolding, it is not that they could not justify, they just did not understand what I was asking. I am going to focus in more by using this…

This will support and scaffold and build their justifications to allow for greater coherence in their PEEL paragraphs.

Here is a collage of the group in action exploring play and ecosystems at the local park…

With my year 10’s we are exploring barriers and enablers, with a focus on physical activity from around the world. Again I started with what they know…

Ecosystems and exercise from around the world…what do we know? #HPSS @CbwynnWynn pic.twitter.com/OjrP3m8OET

— Sally (@SallyHart72) February 16, 2015

Here is a picture of them exploring Maori Myths and legends through dance..also using the scaffold that I learnt was required to justify links, through my year 9’s.

I organised a collaborative task that all members of the group would have input into, each with a role and responsibility for the groups learning. To be followed by the generation of a PEEL paragraph/s answering this…

There are barriers and enablers that influence physical activity around the world. How might we use this understanding to increase physical activity for self and society?

Here is a blank copy of the task and rubric…pan down to see whole task..

Anyway, students went off and worked in groups, I thought I had scaffolded this well, but I did find myself clarifying things to the learners and some had harder aspects than others, the cultural norms part was tricky. Also there were a couple that did not pull their weight in their groups learning. So the positives are there was collaboration and most were engaged and contributing. With 53 learners in the class there were a couple that did not and that was where it was great to have the lovely @CbwynnWynn on hand to support. So in my head most benefited from the collaborative work, but the couple that did not had an impact on their group. I allowed students to select their own groups and I tend to mix this up, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t, perhaps on reflection I could have been more purposeful in my selection.

I look forward to their PEEL paragraphs and @CbwynnWynn had a great idea to get the learners to give peer feedback against a SOLO rubric for PEEL and a chance to refine from this as well as my feedback, to allow step ups in learning to occur…watch this space for how they all go.
So yes I have mucked up, been unclear, assumed… but using that to modify and support and scaffold in an on-going way is a must for deeper learning….

Something truly special is brewing here….

Whakataukī

E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea.
I will never be lost, for I am a seed sown in Rangiātea.

To search a little further, I believe this whakatauki to have a real tie into the first week at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. Once again I am left awe of our community and the partnerships we have continue to nurture between our school, Hobsonville Point Primary school and the wider community and whānau.
I will develop this further, however, it is important to look at aspects of the metaphor used within this whakatauki.

He Kākano
“Kākano means “seed”. The concept of He Kākano conveys growth, development, and expansion. Even before a seed is planted or nourished, it has inherent promise — the capability to take root, develop, grow, and blossom. A person, like a seed, is inextricably linked to generations who have gone and are yet to come. He Kākano comes from somewhere, it belongs to someone or something, and it cannot be isolated or detached from those connections. It has both history and potential. He Kākano reminds us of the opportunity we have in schools to make new beginnings, to plant, to nurture, to cherish, to realise potential, to grow and enhance that which is. He Kākano is a symbol of productivity and the promise of success through learning and achievement”. (TKI Whakatauki)

This makes me think clearly of what we are nurturing in our akonga within our community. From our relationships and whanaungatanga that we are developing working on in our on-going journey as a school. See past reflections on whanaungatanga here… https://sallyhart72.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/whanau-connections-what-how-why-so-what-now-what-the-importance-of-whanaungatanga-at-hpss/
I will talk more specifically to our Waitangi celebrations below. After a couple of weeks of inducting new staff and starting to introduce akonga to our school, through getting to know the learner development in hubs and communities, I feel another level of community developing within our schools. Both affirming and exciting as we the next steps on our journey as a new school. Akonga/ learners in this sense is wider than just the students. We are all on a learning journey as staff and Whānau as well.

Ruia
“Ruia means to plant, to sow, or to establish a foundation from which to develop. As the name of these leadership resources, Ruia represents the stepping stones, building blocks, or foundations that contribute to realising a seed’s potential. Individually, the parts of Ruia are valuable. Together, they form a strong platform upon which to grow future successful practice.
Ruia earths the seed – He Kākano – so that it can be nourished with time and energy. Ruia is the link between potential and realisation. It sets the direction for development, travelling forward to Rangiātea and from it as well. Rangiātea is the start and finish, depicting the cyclical nature of growth and development, the links and connections, and the enduring strength of relationships and location”. (TKI Whakatauki)

We are planting those seeds and releasing their true potential. We had a stream running in twitter #HPSWaitangi, which I will draw from. Through the day there were inspiring action shots, engaging activities showing the powerful partnerships in action between the two schools and whānau. However, for me the most moving of them all, was when I got home last night and our Principal had tweeted two tweets. It was wider than just Waitangi day and reflective of the whole week. Here are the two special tweets…

#HPSWaitangi Me: How's your son found first week @HPSSchool? Dad: he's gone from a boy to a young man in 1 week. I'm convinced #tearsineye

— Maurie Abraham (@maurieabraham) February 5, 2015

#HPSWaitangi Me: How's your daughter been during 1st week @HPSSchool ? Dad: We've watched her blossom b4 our eyes like we've never seen.

— Maurie Abraham (@maurieabraham) February 5, 2015

These were a true reflection of the difference we are making with learners, this is a testament to the vision, values that have developed and come back to, this is affirming for all involved, this is after one week!! This is why (selfish here) I am one lucky teacher to be a part of this.

Rangiātea
“Rangiātea is the origin of Māori migration. It represents the wider world, a place to put theory into practice and observe others who do the same. Rangiātea marks the start and the end of the journey of potential – He Kākano – as well as arrival at the point of opportunity to realise it – Ruia.
Rangiātea as the name for a collection of case studies provides location and context. It represents an opportunity to examine the way in which ideas, concepts, and tools can be applied and how the tools developed in Ruia to tend He Kākano manifest in the real world”. (TKI Whakatauki)

We are not at that arrival point, I think you are actually never there, as life is an ongoing journey and so is learning, however there are many points along the way that you need to take stock, recognise and celebrate that something truly special is brewing here….

Here are some other tweets to show you the special community I am a part of…

Epitomy of Powerful Partnerships: student, parent and teacher @McGhiePete playing together at #HPSWaitangi pic.twitter.com/AcOyI7iVsK

— Steve Mouldey (@GeoMouldey) February 5, 2015

Hangi awesomness at the #HPSWaitangi celebrations pic.twitter.com/OWPhHgAOtR

— Claire Amos (@ClaireAmosNZ) February 5, 2015

Great exhibition of student work from today at #HPSWaitangi pic.twitter.com/SJpuwF7Gg8

— Steve Mouldey (@GeoMouldey) February 5, 2015

#HPSWaitangi great turn out for the end of day festivities pic.twitter.com/jlx5ywjURc

— Daniel Birch (@danielbirch68) February 5, 2015

We're all whanau here…big kids supporting little kids in Maori science workshop @HPSSchool #HPSWaitangi pic.twitter.com/ChUkgRQPiT

— Lucinda@home (@curious_lucinda) February 4, 2015

With @DietrichSoakai & Ramon @actioneducation – performance poetry – with our primary & secondary poets #HPSWaitangi pic.twitter.com/8b3t1JkJ8H

— Rosamund Britton (@rosbritton) February 4, 2015

#HPSWaitangi primary and secondary students combine to paddle a wake pic.twitter.com/lEKzOzzvAF

— gmacmanus (@gmacmanus) February 4, 2015

Hands on #HPSWaitangi workshops have created some great products this morning! Flax flowers and fried bread pic.twitter.com/O7NdlAHyR6

— Steve Mouldey (@GeoMouldey) February 4, 2015

This goal by Macca made her number 1 fan (my daughter) go nuts! cc @leavellenoweth @McGhiePete #HPSWaitangi pic.twitter.com/g3OJaEUFmA

— Steve Mouldey (@GeoMouldey) February 5, 2015

Maurie and Daniel having a catch up at a successful #hpswaitangi pic.twitter.com/ywXopvMXpA

— gmacmanus (@gmacmanus) February 5, 2015

Waitangi Day Whanau evening #HPSWaitangi pic.twitter.com/IWwK4aNXcX

— Sally (@SallyHart72) February 5, 2015

I am not the only one on the staff feeling the “love” of our school, which has been triggered by our first week and Waitangi as the final highlight of this. Steve has written a great post on powerful partnerships that show his inspiration around the day… https://stevemouldey.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/powerful-partnerships-in-action/ Sometimes on the ground you are so involved in your workshops and activities, it is not until you get a chance to sit back and see what all have experienced and to hear my daughters explanation of her awesome day, that you see the full extent and impact of it all.

We are sharing and communicating through our blogs, not only to show you what we have experienced, but to show you potential for the way things should be. Sarah and Sharon did the most amazing job of bringing things together. Our akonga did an amazing job of working together to run workshops, learn and celebrate the powerful partnerships at the fore of our vision and values. I love that I have moved my older girl to the primary. She is thriving and I feel lucky that she too gets to be a part of this. For her seed to be planted and nurtured as she works along the way to her final destination…

Pulling out the PE…Deconstructing my teaching and learning…what did I do with my PE hat in connected learning this year?-Resources and thinking to share…

The long holiday period is a time for rejuvenation, reflection, resolutions and relaxation alongside the chance for more intensive and invigorating whānau time! In my last post I recorded my thinking on the end of year celebrations and how this aligned with our values, see here
In this post I want to deconstruct my teaching as a bit of a resource bank for others, maybe Physeders will find this useful, maybe not, but I will put it out there. The links and connections I have made in teaching and learning I have been a part of have been a part of, have arisen from the three aspects of our school curriculum. These have included, hubs, specialised learning modules and Big projects. What I would like to do is share a record that includes resources that can be modified, shared and used to suit others learners and context.

A good way is to start with knowing the learner activities, over the last holidays, I prepared resources for a hub tool box for all our coaches to uses, these included activities for knowing the learner, hauora, quadrants of thinking and reflections. These types of resources in the past have been the scope of Health and Physical Education teachers and others who may use to get to know their learners at the start of a year. I would like to think that others may find some of these useful for getting to know more about their learners in any context, so here are the resources (I am adapting, but these are the current slides/cards)…

As well as the knowing the learner type activities that we have used with our hubs, which this year was a group of approx 9 students with each hub coach (shifting to 12 this year with the second intake for us coming in). I have also developed resources that I have used within modules across the year to get to know the learner in these different areas, with my PE hat on. Here are some of these resources below. I will not get into so much what was involved in the modules, but the resources and teaching and learning programmes aligned to our Big concepts each term, such as, identity, citizenship, place and space and systems.

The first one was exploring my pepeha, which learners also did-“Museum of Mihi”…

Explorations of family trees-“Museum of Mihi”…

Exploration of passions in PE-“P.A.S.S” (Physical Activity, Sport and Society)…

Exploring critical thinking in PE-“P.A.S.S” (Physical Activity, Sport and Society)…

My hub and their exploration of the local whenua and history of Hobsonville Point…

Goal setting the “purposeful habit” for “thought in sport”…

and my learners from my first big project, taking action at the primary school and demonstrating the school habit of “contributive”…

Haha, yes I do quite like Haiku deck as a form of presentation software!!!!

This was a planning board linking PE and physics-“going through the motions”…
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sy76FoieK2NHVPGtdPtEJw3y8gckYSGVP6m34J_T_Ns/edit?usp=sharing

This was a scaffolded task for “going through the motions”…
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iBMqZ03mMCyl6d3qMkxcUmINGQVOrtb8d4HlZB_t1LY/edit?usp=sharing

A google form gathering prior knowledge…
https://docs.google.com/a/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/forms/d/1PNtYH4hCuWOglaqDyrGAbun9KUIcxT6aDcVXWmLca64/viewform

These are examples of docs and tasks that we did in -“move it, move it” -with Liz and Technology…

These are a couple of docs that learners have worked on to show the interrelationship between anatomical movements and cams and followers in technology…if you pan down the side of the docs you can see the whole thing…

This is an infographic for personal and social responsibility…this came from the module “It’s not all about me” and also “just do it and analyse it”… read reflections and details on these modules here…https://sallyhart72.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/i-am-a-writer-of-books-in-retrospect/

This was an infographic for “thought and sport”…here is a reflection and more on this module here…

About time! Overdue reflections and where to now…

There were many other resources that I used along the way, some are included in the deeper reflections, some are formats that cannot embed, others were using hobsonline and online forums etc to gather evidence along the way. Some verbal debrief docs and ongoing narratives that I have blogged about previously. This is a collection of a few, it may help to trigger ideas, it may not, but teaching and learning is an on-going experience that will evolve and transform as we go along the way, my ideas come from working with others in a variety of curriculum areas and from reflecting and acting, trying to be responsive to learners and the environment I work in…if not useful for others, it is useful for me to collate some of the ideas that have arisen for PE this year in the modules I have been involved in…I hope this may help others by sharing.

My major focus and goals across aspects of teaching in a connected, cross-curricular manner, where learning is attempting to being relevant and responsive to the learner, is to experiment, research, collaborate with other physeders (Alex at Rutherford is keen to get involved in working together-with her department), Bryce and Anna are at our school, with the potential to work with Anne McKay, Margot Bowes and Kylie Thompson with some flipped research they are looking at, with teacher lead research. Both Alex and I are keen to look at ways to develop, utilise and empower students through different modes of assessment and gathering evidence of learning along the way and in action. While the potential focus will have a physed hat from my end, it will still be in conjunction with those teachers I co-teach with this year and responsive to the learners that we have. Watch this space for reflections along the way…

Celebrating success….what do we value??

Cohesion of the first year in action at Hobsonville Point Secondary was highlighted in the celebration of success for our learners. It is possible to slip from a vision and revert to what you have always done…there was potential for this as 2014 came to a close. The end of year celebration culminated in showing how strongly we at HPSS feel about our dispositional curriculum. The crux of the celebrations was based on our Hobsonville Habits and school values. We did not revert to having top in subjects, which was imperative for a school connecting learning, working in a cross curricular manner, focusing on learning to learn and rather than just content and knowledge. There was multiple levels of celebration and recognition of mana motuhake “high expectations” in a different manner to those I have experienced in the past. In doing so a wide array of different learners were celebrated alongside each other. The thought and comments on why learners were being celebrated were thoughtful, meaningful and had the potential to bring a tear to the eye, this occurred with whānau, staff and learners and was a poignant moment in the journey of our school.

All learners were celebrated with their learning hubs, coaches, community and whānau. With three Hobsonville Habits being recognised, by self, peers and coaches as highlighting the success in their learning journey this year. Another example of whanaungatanga in action at HPSS!

At the main celebration each of the communities had a learner celebrated for each of the 10 Hobsonville Habits. To those of you outside this appears as just another list. However, for me this is a running record of our learners successes. Maybe also a trigger to rethink what you value at your school and whether your celebrations truly align with this…

Habit Awards – a student from each community who has displayed our Hobsonville Habits.
Resilient Award
Taheretikitiki: Gina Heidekruger
Tiriwa:Adriaan Olivier
Waiarohia: Katherine Garrett

Adventurous Award
Taheretikitiki: Alisa Warburton
Tiriwa:Katelyn Larking
Waiarohia: Joshua Van Wyk

Compassionate Award
Taheretikitiki: Jessica Su
Tiriwa: Lola Houghton
Waiarohia: Hannah Collins

Curious Award
Taheretikitiki: Liam Ranby
Tiriwa: Manoj Kumaraguru
Waiarohia: Matthew Van Gills

Contributive Award
Taheretikitiki: Joshua Hardy
Tiriwa: Erin Choi-Brown
Waiarohia: Joshua Long

Responsive Award
Taheretikitiki: James Anderson
Tiriwa: Natasha de Jong
Waiarohia: Gus Clelland

Reflective Award
Taheretikitiki: Antonia Smith
Tiriwa: Wai Ng
Waiarohia: Nat Hathaway

Creative Award
Taheretikitiki: Flynn Dawson
Tiriwa: Lola Houghton
Waiarohia: Andrew Jung

Resourceful Award
Taheretikitiki: Bennet Aitken
Tiriwa: Karl Voshaar
Waiarohia: Petra Brinkman

Purposeful Award
Taheretikitiki: Danielle Anderson
Tiriwa: Micah Tiriwawi
Waiarohia: Kiara Padayatchi

The community ambassador award was a special award, where as a community and then as a school we co-constructed the criteria with the learners on what this should involve…learners then voted for these awards, the supporting evidence that they gave supported choices for the habits and values awards also.
Here is a link to the criteria that the students came up with for what they valued in a Community Ambassador… https://docs.google.com/a/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/document/d/1PG5ZKJTCmbLaVWh7vefl_R-6Q8ns1H2xIinru7yx-SQ/edit You can see there is high exectations by the learners in our school!!!

Community Ambassador Awards:

Taheretikitiki: Bill Savery

Waiarohia: Daniel Loa

Tiriwa: Jalen Wilson

Next was the values awards and this went across the whole school, with supporting evidence arising from learners voice and teacher recognition of those displaying the school values.

Value Awards: Awarded to the students who have displayed our HPSS Values

Connectedness Award: Matthew Van Gills

Collaboration Award: Natasha de Jong

Innovation Award: Angus Lynch

Inquiry Award: Antonia Smith

Excellence Awards: Awarded to the students who have displayed excellence in:

Excellence in Sport: Mackenzie Vellenoweth

Excellence in Arts and Culture: Rhiana Jellick

Personal Excellence: Tia Fue

Academic Excellence: Annie Wang

Overall Excellence: Awarded to the student who is recognised as displaying our values and our habits in everything that they do:

Excellence Award: Jalen Wilson

Alongside these celebrations were many examples of powerful partnerships in action such as Elise with Pete and the house of Shem…with her original song put out there…Year 9????

It was not only the celebrations at the end of the year that finished off 2014 with a bang! As a school we also had the most amazing time on camp. The learners and staff all had an amazing time outside the four walls of the classroom, the learning and value of this EOTC experience is best summarised by the learners, here is a great video put together by Lea and Pete to show this…

Looking forward to another year and another year level at HPSS this year. Looking forward to the opportunity for our foundation Year 9 to take on board the challenge of leading and learning from our new year 9’s. To further develop our school vision and values…At Hobsonville Point Secondary School we believe in empowering young people with the skills to contribute confidently and responsibly in our changing world.

To reach for the sky!
Whaia te iti kahurangi

http://www.hpss.school.nz/

You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result…

Words by Mahatma Ghandi…quoted by many…. These words when used, are they utilised in action? Are they preached without practice? Are they used to inspire and in turn cause action? What are the results when action occurs? One thing we are exploring at HPSS in a variety of ways, is the importance of action/taking action in learning. Learning that is more relevant and meaningful not only because there is a search for results and outcomes. But also that the learning arising from taking action, taking part in a process of taking action and the results that arise, whatever they may be… In doing so we are creating powerful partnerships on many levels. Working with the ARC, sustainable coastlines and the BNZ during this action, making the learning authentic and amplifying the learning process and outcome.

These pictures are from the “Big project” that Bryce and I have been working with a group of Year 9 students on this year. The students were involved in taking on-going action on Hobsonville Point. The action was to remove 1000’s of plastic bags from a mangrove area on the point. The “result” was a huge cleanup and improvement. The students made a major difference to the community but also to their learning through this process. I will let the students do the talking, here is their website, this contains the learney and was developed by the whole team, with roles of website development, storytelling, filming and film editing, brochures and more…

http://jalenw8.wix.com/action

The reflections by students show not only their learning, but thinking about the process and outcomes… Here is an example of a Year 9 reflection on the project… https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rPS-PuNNrerkKdFUueIr6Kihyg7frz7g-opd2NbofjM/edit?usp=sharing

This was the project that I have been working on. In conjunction with this project, there were many others taking action and making a difference. One group saving the near extinct, native plant, epilobium found here on Hobsonville Point… here is a video of their learning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDTwzDgwTVU

Another group landscaped a community members garden. All involving partners to ensure learning was real world and authentic. The school show ran at the same time, with students involved in promotion, back stage, costuming, makeup, lighting, scripts, acting, dancing, music and more. All based on their passion and opted into by choice. With the focus on 2025 and the future, students took action through their voice about issues and concerns for them, what they foresee and what may be… Hitting issues like, bullying, rubbish, sustainable transport, food, global issues of consumerism and more.. All coming to a head at the project celebration the other night. I feel very proud of HPSS when I see the outcome of all this real world learning and in awe of our year 9 students. See more of the photos celebrating our projects on the school facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/hobsonvillepointsecondaryschool

Projects are only one example of taking action, we also have Arohanui onsite, which is a satellite school for special needs learners. Students have been involved with these learners. Sometimes in “my-times” and sometimes in ways that they are taking action.
This is one collage that shows our students running physical activity for the learners from a variety of the satellite schools involved with Arohanui. Students giving back, making a difference and learning in the process.

On a different tangent but involving the same word “action”. As a physical educator connecting learning, in an integrated manner, through cross-curricular, collaborative teaching. I continue to revisit my strong beliefs around learning in physical education being “in, through and about movement”. Trying to ensure that the teaching and learning programmes that we develop for and with our learners still involve the “doing” while continuing to find connections with other learning areas.

Connecting this term in “going through the motions”, involving physics and biomechanics…looking at forces, motion, energy, projectile motion, force summation and more…
Students have their own youtube channel, with a collation of their own videos showing these in sporting contexts, developed in small group situations with voice overs of knowledge…students have also been involved in practical where the physics and biomechanics are applied, observed and recognised in game situations rather than just in set up situations.. I am amazed by their level of understanding of the interrelationships involved at year 9 and strongly believe it is from doing these things in “action”, applied and tried, not just learnt about in theory… The same module worked with an authentic partner the other day with a visit to the University of Auckland East Tamaki Campus, where students took their application a step further with 3D motion equipment and testing of forces in action with expensive equipment and software, making the learning again amplified to another level.

In another module “move it, move it”, PE is integrating with tech and is involving movement analysis, which they have explored in a variety of contexts and have now shifted to their context of choice.
In tech they made ergonomes, which they have used to draw phases of execution of a skill, they are now going to make cams and followers to represent the movements of the joint… these are examples of cams and followers https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WPuaTQjEY4XI2W33I0ij5XaVaFLiXIDKnOzKCr_tk0s/edit?usp=sharing

followed by drawings of the steps involved…

Students have also been making sense of movements in application…in a variety of contexts, using circuits, activities and their own contexts/activities to explore…
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FNbxkahufVd8k2jaDXcEAwx5Xnpvmt5KNvb237DwlG0/edit?usp=sharing

The learning is connecting easily this term, it differs from term to term, always exploring how learning areas see links from concept to concept. The tension is to ensure that the “action” is still there…I feel like we are finding and exploring ways to ensure this that will continue into the senior school. With many modes being used to gather evidence of learning, see last term on verbal debriefs and narrative for feedback/feedforward…

We are inquiring into how? why? what? we are doing in our teaching and learning, but always coming back to positive student outcomes as a measure. For us this is not just academic excellence but personal excellence as well..represented by our Hobsonville Habits.

To finish this post, I return to Ghandi with a final quote, trying to mix things up at HPSS, we are are doing this on multiple levels of taking action and learning in action, anyone can do this, wherever you may be, just remember…

“I am a writer of books in retrospect…

“I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn”
― Robert Frost

A pertinent way to start my reflection, while I promise to blog more regularly on many occasions, it sometimes calls for the term to come to a close. Time to catch a breath and to collate all the on-going reflections that buzz around in my head during the term. While the quote refers to “books” I choose to use the mode of a blog to do so…

During this term, I have had my Physical Education hat on in both of my collaborative, integrated teaching modules. The key concept this term has been on citizenship and while we have been focussing on strand C in the Physical Education curriculum, (relationships with other people). We have really drilled down into personal and social responsibility. One of the modules was called “It’s not all about me” and integrated PE-focus (personal and social responsibility)-Social Science-focus (rights and responsibilities/politics) and English-focus (oral language features). Working with the awesome and passionate @rosmaceachern and super Sarah @hpssprojects
Our Learning Design model focuses were…
To critically reflect and act on personal and social responsibility for self and others through the context of sport.
To make sense of the concept “rights and responsibilities” by comparing political systems and their influence on society.
To share understanding of citizenship concepts and oral language features by presenting an oral text.
This module went really well, at times it felt full on trying to get through all the content. However, where required we siloed a bit, while still ensuring the connections in our planning and what we were hitting. The intent was to look local (in the context of sport), National-connected to the politics and global- starting to look at rights and responsibilities on a global scale.
With a political focus, we had some super successful real world learning arise organised by Sarah and Ros. Sarah organised a political debate with all the political candidates in the Upper harbour electorate. Following the debate and with further exploration in class the students voted for a candidate and a party.
Here is a video that Ros and Logan (one of the students) put together, focussing on issues they are concerned about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNznEZdUns&feature=youtu.be
Alongside all this learning in the Physical Education aspects, I had the learners, exploring, applying and developing their understanding of personal and social responsibility. Using two different models in this module. One was the sport ed model, where I used a modified version of the model- see the premise David Fawcett has shared here… http://www.slideshare.net/davidfawcett27/sport-education-model
We also used Hellison’s Model of personal and social responsibility. Here is an infographic I made of the different levels…The context was volleyball, while the focus was on developing personal and social responsibility, the unintended outcome was huge improvement in both skill and strategic play across the module. The impact on the functioning of the teams was clear.

The students took part in verbal debriefs each week on where they were at and where to next, I would like to develop good processes around gathering and summarising verbal evidence as a mode of assessment, while we are developing learning in Year 9 and 10. They were recorded individually in their groups reflecting on their learning. We did start a new narrative process during the term that needed to be written, so I feel like I doubled up a bit on what they were doing. My intent is to value the verbal and for me to summarise and feedback, feed forward without them having to write. Here is a link to an example of the SOLO rubric used during the module and one learners reflections on this, (I have removed names)..
https://docs.google.com/a/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/document/d/1a42TsdMUifqmVuAP3r89ioj0pHb6xXIcqlDM72EcpJE/edit
The students really shifted both their demonstration and understanding of personal and social responsibility, which I got them to show visually at the end of the term…

In my other module “Just do it and analyse it”- a module mixing personal and social responsibility and statistics. While still using the above model by Hellsion, I went about things in a different manner.
Students co-constructed what personal and social responsibility is..

They also looked at designing different continuums for what that may look like at different levels of SOLO

In this class, contexts differed every week, students not only reflected on their own levels of personal and social responsibility, but also gave data on classmates levels, which were then used in the mathematical aspects of the module, where analysis of data and graphs was a focus. This is the google form they filled in each week to collect that data on… https://docs.google.com/a/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/forms/d/1f0FrVGwwEAAI03c7Tuu8Y5kgEFRGKkhbwGY9imECQvU/viewform
The students also filled out ongoing written narrative in this module similar to the narrative document above, but without the verbal debriefs.
Here is a sample of a students final mathematical task/analysis, in relation to the data https://docs.google.com/a/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/document/d/1e5cyAJneyfzrEYUQMa4lRB29QrGWxG0LgfJxiMZo4WI/edit
I really liked that the students analysed data in relation to their own/others personal and social responsibility, dependent on the focus question of their task. I also think it was awesome that they experienced so many different activities, contexts to explore their personal and social responsibility through, pair-work, small group work, teamwork, sports ABL activities, group challenges and more. The focus was not on skill level, or achievement. Rather the focus was on relationships, interpersonal skills and personal and social responsibility. What I would change is…that I feel with the final task, the data was slightly limiting, it would have been better to have data that allowed for a wider spread and therefore, analysis could have been deeper. However, I think the students appreciated using their own class data, rather than token examples.

This is my ponderings on the term just passed, I will definitely write a planning and preparation post, prior to term 4. I am excited to be taking part in the following modules next term…
…with my PE hat on

“Going through the motions”
Learning Areas: PE and Science
Description: This module will investigate physics concepts in the real world by exploring how understanding of physics can improve your sports performance.
Big Concept: Systems
Threshold concepts: PE – Movement concepts… and physical activity
Science – phyiscal strand: physics concepts, velocity, motion, forces, energy
Skills: Science – NOS Investigating and Communicating Science, Physical World (force and motion eg simple machines, energy transformations eg heat PE – Movement, concepts and motor skills.
LDM focus:
To make sense of biomechanics by connecting physics concepts to relevant sporting contexts.
To test physics concepts by applying through sport to optimise performance.

“Move it, Move it”
Learning areas: PE and Technology
Description: Is the body a machine? How do machines work? Learn about systems of the body and how they are used in anatomical movements. Systems include: the skeletal system, muscular system, cardio-respiratory system. Design and make a 3D model of an aspect of anatomical movement from MDF, using mechanisms – cams, gears and followers. The model will then be applied to sporting contexts.
Big Concept: Systems
Threshold Concepts: Technology -Systems and control-Process and components-Evidence based decision making
PE-Movement concepts and motor skills , positive attitudes, Challenges and social and cultural factors
Skills: Technology – Modelling, decision making, prototyping, sketching, evaluation and analysis
PE – Movement analysis, physical activity.”
LDM focus:
To test ideas by producing functional models and prototypes
To refine ideas considering aesthetics and function
To make sense of systems of the body and understand their function in human body movement.”

…and with my maths hat!!

The real “X” factor!
Learning area: Mathematics
Description: To learn about “algebra” in mathematics and then make sense of this further through a variety of sporting situations.
Big Concept: Systems
Threshold concepts: Properties of equations and expressions, properties of number, Number and algebra
Skills: Calculating, modelling, quantifying and communicate, Problem -solving and evaluating
LDM focus:
To make sense by understanding algebra through relationships, value and patterns found in sporting contexts.

Not to take away from other aspects of our curriculum, which involves many aspects of taking action…

Wishing all you educators a happy and well deserved break to refresh, reflect, replenish and find balance in your hauora.
Arohanui

Sally

About time! Overdue reflections and where to now…

Well it has been a while….Term 2 has been a very busy time and I have neglected my blog…something had to give though! (Submitting thesis tomorrow!!)

In the world of HPSS we are very busy as all educators are. However, in a climate attempting to truly personalise learning, working in a responsive environment, connecting learning, it can get a bit crazy. In a good way though, we are connecting learning not only through the development and implementation of our teaching and learning programme, but also in our collaborative teaching and planning.

I have several reflections I would like to make about the teaching and learning I was involved in last term.

In the big module I was involved in-

The Master behind the chef.

M.A.S.T.E.R –
“Mountains
Arithmetic
Science
Through food
Exploration and
Rotorua”-which actually turned out to be Rangitoto!

Big Concept: Space and Place

Threshold concepts: Measurement, ratios, decimals and percentages, fit for purpose, rocks, soil, volcanoes, tectonic plates, water, nature of science

Skills: Accurate measuring and estimation, carrying out scientific and mathematics investigations, involving, concepts, knowledge, nature and practice, design skills.

Learning areas: Science, Maths, Food Tech
LDM focus: Explore, focus, generate

Learning Objectives:
Explore by deconstructing the processes and different perspectives in the nature of science.
Focus by synthesising knowledge of maths and science through food.
Generate through inquiry showing “what enables the MASTER behind the chef”?

Reflections:
As I had a mathematics hat on in this module I had some interesting thoughts as I reflected on this in an ongoing way across the module..

The module started off with a bang with a couple of great ideas instigated by awesome @McGhiePete . Starting with what learners bring with them around food experiences. Creating stories of food experiences to hook them into the module. This was followed closely by the core sampling that you may have seen if you follow any of us on twitter…this felt like such a meaningful activity, the kids were engaged and in their reflections at the end of the term this was a highlight for many…

From here over the term we worked on ways to integrate mathematics and science through food. At times I did feel bit like the third wheel. For mathematics I found it easy to integrate the learning with either food or science. However, at time it felt hard to integrate the three easily. Science shifted to the fore a little more naturally and the science hat was held by well known, Miss edchatnz @MissDtheTeacher
It made me question whether possibly two is company, three is a crowd in terms of integration? Something to ponder further this term as I am in a big module again. It could be it was just the three learning areas for that particular concept was a harder fit at the time.

In this module as we had 60 learners, from session three on I grouped learners so that I could run a differentiated programme for the mathematics. On reflection I think I did this in the wrong manner. Due to the large array of abilities I grouped according to ability, something I never like to do. I reverted to this with such larger numbers in the module. In hindsight I wish I had made differentiated tasks still, but mixed ability groups for supporting and extension to occur. I feel I really extended the top group who moved right up to use of trigonometry using clinometres around the school (which they loved!!) However, I feel like I did not extend the lower to middle groups. My colleague Cindy who I consider a guru, talked to me about how even the lower ability groups could still get to use the equipment, work with others, even if the trigonometry was beyond them. When I am involved in a mathematics module again I will definitely do things in a different manner. There were many other great parts to the module and I loved seeing the outcomes of the kids inquiry, where they showed their understanding of mathematics and science gained across the module through food. There were types of rocks, volcanic processes, types of volcanoes etc… all shown through food.

Thought in Sport:

Exploring the power of the mind in a variety of sports and literature.

Big Concept: Space and Place

Threshold concepts: Physical Activity, Making meaning, Communication

Skills: Critical Thinking, Evaluation, Paragraph Writing using PEE structure, motor skill learning

Learning areas: PE, English

LDM focus: Explore, Test, Reflect

Learning Objectives:
To explore by investigating ‘Thought in Sport’ in a variety of contexts.
To test the potential of your mind by applying a range of strategies to improve performance.
To reflect on the effectiveness of your performance improvement.

Reflections:
I feel like these two learning areas married up well in this module, where I worked with Lisa. Through the contexts of sport and physical activity we explored the power of the mind. With a specific focus on being collaborative, resilient, adventurous and purposeful. All aspects of either our Hobsonville habits or our school values. here is an example of the type of reflection the learners did.

Here is a snapshot of a learner reflection…

We also looked at aspects such as goal setting and being purposeful, see here…

Highlights for me in this module were the fact I really feel like we hooked in the learners who love sport, into the focus on English and paragraph writing. Their reflections and the shift in their learning were obvious. Lisa also hooked the learners in by allowing learners to select their own sport person and use their biographies in contexts they were interested. These biographies were used alongside their own experiences for relevant and meaningful reflections. Adventure based learning activities were experienced, tramping in the Waitakere ranges, pushing them in fitness contexts etc… but always reflecting on the habits and the mind…In terms of improvement, I would just say more time, to develop their learning more, working on a term basis, I would like a bit more time with the learners to take things even deeper.

NOW IT IS TIME FOR TERM 3!! Where to from here?

Once again I am in a Big Learning Module with awesome @rosmaceachern and super Sarah @hpssprojects this time…

It’s not all about me

This module has a focus on good citizenship and involves students critically reflecting on personal and social responsibilities within the context of sport, leadership and government. Students will learn how to be effective and powerful communicators.

Big Concept: Citizenship

Threshold concepts:
Interpersonal Skills
Citizenship
Rights and Responsibilities
Making Meaning
Creating Meaning

Skills: interpersonal skills, resource interpretation, paragraph/essay writing, oral language skills, communication skills

Learning areas: Social Science, English, PE

LDM focus: Reflect, Make Sense, Share

Learning Objectives:
To critically reflect and act on personal and social responsibility for self and others through the context of sport.
To make sense of the concept “rights and responsibilities” by comparing political systems and their influence on society.
To share understanding of citizenship concepts and oral language features by presenting an oral text.

We start on Monday and already in our collaborative planning I can feel some natural links arising, where contexts and knowledge will be connected, meaningful and authentic… Yeah to another term of exploring connections in learning.

Also in a small module…

Just do it! and analyse it!

Big Concept: Citizenship

Threshold concepts: Evaluating and Critical Thinking. Personal and Social Responsibility

Skills: Analysing data through O.S.E.M and communicate findings. Interpersonal skills

Learning areas: Mathematics and PE

LDM focus: Test and Generate

Learning Objectives:
To be able to generate explicit findings from data.
Test by applying personal and social responsibility to sporting situations and seek feedback from others on this

We started this the other day with some front loading before getting into the practical context. With students co-constructing what personal and social responsibility is.

Also students made their first reflection on personal and social responsibility, see here…

Here is the example of Hellisons..

The focus from here is to gather data through the practical over time. their own data on personal and social responsibility that they will analyse, with a statistics focus within the module alongside the data that they produce through learning in sporting contexts…

Anyway, I am excited about exploring the new connections in learning this term. I am also excited that we have developed SOLO rubrics upfront this time to look at assessment for learning over time and the shift in learning, rather than assessment of learning at the end. We continue to reflect and shift where needed, with our processes and at times it can be full on. However, this is to be expected when you are doing things in such a different way to what has been done in Secondary Education before. I hope we can continue to innovate, engage and inspire our learners and I promise not to leave the next blog so long next time, so that ponderings and reflections are out of control 😉

Whānau connections: What? How? Why? So What? Now What? The importance of whanaungatanga at HPSS.

Whanaungatanga
1. (noun) relationship, kinship, sense of family connection – a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging. It develops as a result of kinship rights and obligations, which also serve to strengthen each member of the kin group. It also extends to others to whom one develops a close familial, friendship or reciprocal relationship.
Kōrero ai ngā whakapapa mō te whanaungatanga i waenganui i te ira tangata me te ao (Te Ara 2011). / Whakapapa describe the relationships between humans and nature.

The following post involves reflection and potential action in the ongoing development of whānau connections at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. The importance of whānau connections at HPSS is paramount to the success of our school vision in values and our ability to truly innovate, engage and inspire our learners. Herein lies the importance of defining learner. For us at HPSS a learner is not just the students that attend the school, we see ourselves all as learners…The Senior leadership team, the teaching staff, the support staff and potentially the whānau/ family and wider community. We have already kick started the development of these connections. Therefore it is important to take stock of where we are at and where to now?

I would like to use some basic reflective questions to show this…

WHAT?
What is our take on Whānau connections?

To ensure that we have whanaungatanga in action (as defined at the top of the post), it is important that we involve the whānau on many levels across our school community. To do this we also see the whānau as learners. In education a strong aspect of power relations at play and to be considered seriously is the “history that we are tied to”. We must recognise in all schools, but even more so at a school breaking silos, showing connections in learning and doing things in a very different way, that we all bring our own perceptions of what education is and should be. Not only do our learners bring their history, culture, influences and experiences with them. So too do teachers and whānau. It is therefore imperative that whānau are part of the dialogue that occurs around the learning of their children/dependants.

HOW?
How have we tried to achieve this so far?

We have attempted to engage whānau on many levels and here is a few examples…

1. From the get go, the Senior Leadership team of Maurie, Lea, Claire and Di played an important part in introducing whānau to learning at HPSS. With individual meetings with the whānau and children on enrolment at HPSS. Also with community evenings/information evenings to keep the community in the loop along the way. Involving the what? How? Why? of learning here and keeping things open and transparent from the get go. The SLT also gathered learner and whānau voice on hopes and aspirations for their time at HPSS and beyond.

2. On-going whole school communication is continuing in newsletters, emails from school, keeping whānau up to date of up and coming events and points to note. Also, Maurie has ensured ongoing links to reading for whānau are a part of these newsletters, to provoke what it is to shift education and innovate.

3. We held an orientation day, where learners were introduced to their staff, communities, and different aspects of the HPSS curriculum. The learners prepared food in a mini project activity, for their whānau who came in that evening. Also meeting, coaches, communities and with visuals and displays of the HPSS curriculum in action.

4. Furthermore, we had an awesome school and community event on Waitangi Day, organised by the amazing Sarah Wakeford who is in charge of big projects and partnerships at the school, working alongside Sharon Afu (Deputy Principal at the Primary). The two schools worked closely alongside each other, involving learners and their whānau across the day. Read more here… https://sallyhart72.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/ma-pango-ma-whero-ka-oti-te-mahi-with-black-and-with-red-the-work-is-completed/

5. Acknowledgement of my communities in our school learning model is important to note. See more about these three aspects:
Manaakitanga
Whanaungatanga
Whenua, on this post here… https://sallyhart72.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/ma-te-whakaaro-kotahi-ka-ora-ai-the-cohesion-of-perspectives-will-strengthen-the-kaupapa/

6. In addition, we have our hubs, influenced by the advisory model of big picture schools. One coach, guide on the side, who is the main point of contact with whānau. The coach has had regular contact with whānau in a variety of ways. Email contact home has occurred fortnightly, with information about learner pathways, goals, how they are going and more…See here for more details on our coach role…https://sallyhart72.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/ma-te-whakaaro-kotahi-ka-ora-ai-the-cohesion-of-perspectives-will-strengthen-the-kaupapa/

7. HPSS also had the opening of the school and the open day where whānau and community were invited and attended. Again opening the doors and strengthening the connections.

8. We have held a parent information evening that was a huge success. Taking parents through stations of learning and engaging them in the aspects of the HPSS curriculum. With hands on activities, information to support their learning around the school model and question and answer time. This was extremely beneficial in helping parents to also shift their understanding of and allowing them to engage in the way that we are doing things here.

9. IEMs (Individual Education Meetings)
These have been held at the end of the term. A type of student lead conferencing, allowing the learners to bring where they are at, what they have learnt and where to now, to the table. Evidencing the learning, but leading the way…informing parents/whānau rather than being reported on. See more details on IEMs in on-going work here that Megan has lead…http://mrsmeganpeterson.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/individual-education-meetings/

10. We have also looked to gather data from our whānau, further connections with the whānau to ensure we are engaging them in their child’s learning. Here is a copy of the information we collected. https://docs.google.com/a/hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/forms/d/1p9y0wKwjJNhFlp4-_jpyTnHXlHyt5BFVb3cqNFuRE0U/viewform

WHY?
Why are whānau connections so important?

The importance of creating educationally powerful
connections with family, whànau, and
communities is an extremely important component of: School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why Best Evidence Synthesis Developed by Viviane Robinson, Margie Hohepa, Claire Lloyd [The University of Auckland] in 2009.

Synthesising the data to look closely at answering…

• What kinds of connections make the biggest difference?
• How can school leaders build educationally powerful connections with families, whànau,
and communities?

Here is a summary of the data that answers this…

Equally as important as the research, we hold strong to our school values of connectedness, collaboration, innovation, inquiry and excellence. In doing so connectedness and collaboration is not just with the learner in mind, also with the teachers as learners and the whānau as learners.
This is why we are engaging whānau and will continue to develop this with our values in mind. Always coming back to the why?

SO WHAT?
So what has been the outcome so far?

Anecdotal evidence and feedback suggests that the powerful partnerships we are forming with whānau at HPSS, have already had a positive impact on learning and the engagement in and with the school community has had an excellent start, in just one term at HPSS. Parents have really enjoyed the fortnightly contact home form the learning coach and also great feedback was received in relation to Orientation day, Waitangi Day, Parent information night and IEMs. This is a great start and I look forward how we develop these relationships further in the future. Ensuring that we are informing and engaging parents in their child’s education, rather than just reporting to. Learner voice has also given us valuable data of the connections we are making at a hub level, with their whole school learning and their feeling of community that we are developing and whanaungatanga at HPSS.

More in line with this shift…

(via EvaluationAssociates ‏@EvaluationAssoc on twitter)

NOW WHAT?
Now what? Where do we go from here?

To ensure the best student outcomes at HPSS we are very aware of the importance of powerful partnerships. We will work towards inclusion of some of the proven ways to do so via research such as the BES.
We will also endeavour to look for innovative ways for furthering this as a community. Ensuring that the powerful partnerships are nurtured to their full potential. This involves whanaungatanga across the whole community. With the Senior Leadership Team in ongoing dialogue with the whānau and community. With Sarah, Pete and their team looking at powerful partnerships with the whānau and beyond with the wider community. With Ros and her focus on culturally responsive pedagogy, which must include whānau connections. With relevant authentic connections being made and action taken with our big projects. With learning coaches and their connections to the whānau.

We want to take a new line of connection with whānau this term, we would like to look to developing the on-going communication with whānau. This can be student lead, involving their own way of driving this… potentially use of social media, such as twitter with hub twitter accounts and blogging, with hub blogs, newsletters or interactive information on apps eg padlets, i-movie, etc.. the potential is endless, we will wait for the learner voice on how we could continue to evolve our whānau connections in a way that each hub sees fit. Allowing for ownership and autonomy. We have excellent role models on this at Hobsonville Point Primary School, The blog written by Amy about how they are using these ideas at the Primary already… http://amymmcc.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/a-peak-inside-hpps.html

Watch this space as we continue to ensure powerful partnerships with whānau at HPSS…

The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile…

“The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.”
― Paulo Freire, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change

With this in mind, it is important that we (teachers at HPSS), in our focus on student-centric learning and personalisation, use creativity in our use of the learning design model. We do so collaboratively, exploring natural connections found across key concepts. The quote from Freire holds a very important message around guiding, not dictating, not filling empty vessels, but allowing the learner to become themselves. Across the last term, our very first one at HPSS, we have attempted to do this by exploring the key concept of “identity” across the Specialised Learning Modules. I would like to reflect on the learning and guiding that I was involved in across the term. From here, I would like to look forward to the new natural connections we are exploring in the Term Two key concept of “space and place”.

During term one as well as my role as a hub coach and big project guide, I have been involved in two learning modules. The first is a “big module” that I worked alongside SOLO and assessment guru, Megan-see her blog here… http://mrsmeganpeterson.wordpress.com/ and also the Specialised Learning Leader, creativity and inquiry expert Steve-see his blog here… http://stevemouldey.wordpress.com/. Our module was called the Museum of Mihi and the intent of this module was to…explore how people represent themselves and their identity through the artefacts that can represent you.

Key Concept: Identity
Threshold concepts: Identity, Heritage, Creativity, Culture, Engagement
Key Learning Areas: Social sciences, arts, health & physical education
Skills: Movement Skills, Curation, Analysis of Text, Resource Interpretation, Digital Citizenship, Exploring and Interpreting elements, conventions, techniques.

Our development of the module could have been possibly been considered by Friere as being created by artists…but the focus was on guiding through exploration and making sense, then allowing learners to generate and share “themselves” through their “Museum” in their own autonomous way. Learners explored some generic aspects, including their Pepeha, family tree, connections to whenua, own timeline of life events, passions and interests, pathways and possibilities from past, to present and on to future self. They then experienced an awesome day of provocation of possibilities. A day trip to the Auckland Maritime Museum, Auckland Art Gallery and onto the War Memorial Museum. The focus for learners was on the artefacts, the stories, the exhibitions, the curation and was set to provoke and inspire learners on where they could take their own museums. A picture tells a thousand words, so here are some to show the day…

Auckland Maritime Museum

Intro to artefacts and exhibitions at the Maritime Museum

Interactive exhibitions

Sir Peter Blake, the story from his daughter

Lighting and artefacts

Voyages, stories to be told

Auckland Art Gallery

War Memorial Museum

The day was a great success and provided food for thought in the next phase of the learning journey. Learners set about generating, refining and sharing their “museum of mihi” and many of them put into action aspects of curation, story telling and exhibiting they had learned about on this day. Here are some of the final exhibitions…

Aubrie and her Cultural Heritage Tree

Antonia and her story of her…

Tia and her netball story

Connor and his story through soccer and magnetism

James and Hamish and their focus on technology

Paige, swimming and olympic aspirations

Paton and her artwork of present, past and future self..

Tyalr, Whanagamata, surfing, home and me

Petra and her explore the locker to find my identity exhibition

Lola and her environmental focus on trash to fashion

Katherine and her exploration of whenua and whanau

Sheena and her story of butterflies and identity

After the exhibitions had been shared, learners and their peers, self and peer assessed using awesome SOLO rubrics that Megan had developed to consider and make visible their learning…

SOLO rubric, for self and peer assessment

I look forward to using this type of assessment with the learners (as we are heading) next term and into the future. The learning was made visible and was quite easily married up with the levels, showing those who had gone deep with their learning and those whose museums could have been developed further. The rubric was used upfront with the learners and so allowed for development and refining to occur. I believe the module was a huge success and this was confirmed through learner feedback on reflections. Most got to a deep level of thinking, however, there were a few still working at a surface level also.

I also taught a SPIN this term on my own. This was called P.A.S.S (Physical Activity, Sport and Society). While the big module lasts a whole day each week, a SPIN class is 90 mins once a week. The description of the intent of the module was to…explore influences on identity for you, others and society through a variety of sports and physical activities.

Key Concept: Identity
Threshold concepts: Identity, Engagement, Influences
Key Learning Areas:Health & physical education
Skills: Movement Skills, Socio-critical skills, Interpersonal skills, Thinking Skills

In this module while wanting to explore identity, I did not want to take away from working in “the physical”. The start of sessions was used to “explore” influences on identity, then the session worked to “make sense” of the influenecs through practical contexts and finally the debrief set to “focus” the learning. The learning was through practical as opposed to generating an outcome as many other modules did, where creativity was a focus. Influences on identity explored included…passions, interests, inclusion, fair play, socio-economic factors, role models, media, stereotypes etc… On reflection I believe that the learning was surface learning rather than deep as with the big modules. This was caused two fold, time on SPINs and also the number of influences I explored. I do wonder if I did justice to the learning. However, it made more sense to me (my concerns), when Lisa taked to me about how she had similar thoughts and so had limited her focus and gone for more depth, on reflection I feel I should have done this. I believe that Bryce got to a deeper level with his module as his focus was in on “gender and sexuality” in sport so he went deeper. This is a good thing to note and I will definitely consider depth over breadth in the future. The other impact on the depth is that created by the tension in PE between practical and theory. I held firm to the fact I wanted learning through the physical. I could have spent more time on just the theory, however, this does not align with my philosophy and so I need to continue to explore how I keep this as practical as possible, but still allow for depth of learning to occur.

This is an example of some triggers in this module…

Term one was an amazing experience in a school breaking silos, connecting and personalising learning. Full on at times, the hard work involved in ongoing reflection, collaborative planning, responsiveness and student centric learning is so important to our vision and values. I feel proud in the steps we have made as a school community, engaging both learners and their whanau in education and look forward to the up and coming term.

I look forward to my Big Module next term called the MASTER behind the chef…MASTER standing for…
“Mountains, Arithmetic, Science, Through food, Exploration and Rotorua”

Learning objectives: Explore by deconstructing the processes and different perspectives in the nature of science.Focus by synthesising knowledge of maths and science through food.
Key Concept: Place and Space
Threshold concepts: Measurement, ratios, decimals and percentages, fit for purpose, rocks, soil, volcanoes, tectonic plates, water, nature of science
Key Areas of Learning: Mathematics, Science and Food.
Skills: Accurate measuring and estimation, carrying out scientific and mathematics investigations, involving, concepts, knowledge, nature and practice, design skills.

I am teaching this module with the infamous, creative and future focused Danielle from edchatnz-see her blog here… http://missdtheteacher.blogspot.co.nz/ and the amazing and inspiring Pete- see blog here… http://petefoodtech.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/d-is-for-dunce/ watch this space for on-going reflection on here…
I am also teaching a small module with awesome Specialised Learning Leader and another SOLO guru, Lisa. We are teaching “thought in sport”.

Learning objectives: To explore by investigating ‘Thought in Sport’ in a variety of contexts. To test the potential of your mind by applying a range of strategies to improve performance. To reflect on the effectiveness of your performance improvement.
Key Concept: Place and Space
Threshold concepts: Physical Activity, Making meaning, Communication
Key Areas of Learning: English and Helath and Physical Education
Skills: Critical Thinking, Evaluation, Paragraph Writing using PEE structure, motor skill learning

The most exciting thing that has occurred so far is as we began collborative planning our Hobsonville Habits naturally arose out of the planning. We are going to explore… “Purposeful, resilience, collaborative, adventurous and reflective” as habits used in the context of “thought in sport”. Again watch this space for where we proceed here…Back to the teacher as an artist…we need to use our school values and vision to continue to innovate, enagage and inspire…we can be a creative artist…however, we also need to continue placing the learner at the centre to co-construct what their “masterpeice” in life may be, as…

“If the structure does not permit dialogue the structure must be changed”
― Paulo Freire

Mā ngā huruhuru ka rere te manu … It is the feathers that enable the bird to fly

Mā ngā huruhuru ka rere te manu … It is the feathers that enable the bird to fly…

I feel like this is on the nose for our ongoing use of distributed leadership and teaching and learning at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. I also feel like this relates well to the building the plane metaphor that our leader and mentor uses, to describe our ongoing development of our “place” through reflection and action… http://principalpossum.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/building-airplane-out-of-21st-century.html

We have not got everything right, but we are trying dam hard!!

I feel like we are practicing what we preach, we are shifting education pedagogically as is explicitly intended in our vision and values. This is not always easy, but we are all here to make a difference for our learners and the bigger cause which is … “to create a stimulating, inclusive learning environment which empowers learners to contribute confidently and responsibly in our changing world.” http://www.hobsonvillepoint.school.nz/

I see the whakatauki above really aligning to our school in a two-fold manner. The school can be seen as a “bird” and the feathers are belonging to all of us in the school community. This involves, learners, teachers (also learners), whanau and the wider community. It is how the feathers all align and work together that will allow the bird to fly. This is of course reciprocal as if our learners can fly then so too will the school. If the staff and the whanau can fly, then so too can the learners fly. We can all exemplify the feathers at some level and we can also support and awhi the bird to fly.

Allowing our learners to fly should be what I believe is our evidence that we gather in terms of accountability. This does not mean just the usual achievement in “high stakes assessment”. For learners to fly they must thrive mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. This is why their hauora of our learners and our “Hobsonville Habits” are a strong focus in our learning model.

We are currently working through processes of conferencing and assessment that may measure some of these aspects for accountability purposes. This is a difficult thing to get your head around and truly work out why, what and how to measure. The reason this is tricky is that we are doing education differently, we want these processes to align to our school vision and values. Not just to revert to “what we have always done” because it is easy.

We are personalising learning, allowing and empowering student voice throughout our curriculum in three integrated aspects of our curriculum…

Hubs

Mā te whakaaro kotahi ka ora ai… The cohesion of perspectives will strengthen the kaupapa.

Specialised learning Modules
http://stevemouldey.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/monday-module-magnificence/

Projects (Big and passion)
http://www.screenr.com/z1HN

This is very different and therefore alignment of curriculum, assessment and pedagogy is always an ongoing concern and point of reflection. We are lucky to have on board Megan http://t.co/9hihlBDiJ7
who has expertise in assessment, assessment for learning and more… she has helped to exemplify and scaffold out processes for gathering evidence of learning, goal setting and feedback. This involves new processes for all and we as staff are constantly learning and shifting what we are doing. With the end goal in sight. Always reflecting on positive student outcomes for all learners. We need to ensure this analogy does not come to fruition for our learners…

We are only in our first term and we do not proclaim to have all the answers and all the models. We are constantly modifying, tweaking through reflection and action. However, we should be happy that we are developing the cohesion, use and lift of our feathers always looking for the learners to fly and hopefully this will also allow the plane that we are building to stay in the air. Sometimes we may need to stop to refuel and pick up new passengers along the way. I hope that the nature of our reflection and action will allow for longevity of our vision and values for future learners. It would be wrong not to try…