UNLEASH
ED
I saw this photo on Facebook today.
I saw Shag’s tight grip and white knuckles not letting go of that cup and could only imagine what is going through that World Cup winning mind.
Hekia Parata must have thought she had won the World Cup herself judging from her smile. But there is no way Steve is letting that baby go!
This year I was asked to write a guest article for EdBookNZ 2015, which is an initiative started up for the Connected Educator month of October each year.
Check it out here
The silent classroom is a thing of the past. Long days at your desk, all facing north, with the teacher’s desk aligned in the opposite direction at the front have been relegated to the storage cupboard along with the typewriter and cassette tape.
Instead, the class is a buzz. Students, while individual and unique, are working together to achieve a common goal. The key competencies of ‘Relating to Others’ and ‘Participating and Contributing’ both get ticks in their boxes. Motivated by their own choice, students are inquiring into the affects of bees or lack thereof on the environment.
The Collaborative Classroom has come about to closely align with ‘Modern Learning Environments (MLE), and seeks to align the physical aspects of the classroom environment with the collaborative philosophy of today’s education standards. It is one thing to get students to work together, to have collaborative practises, to have a teamwork based curriculum, but if all the classroom isn’t set up for students to work together, then they won’t. Certain aspects of the ‘Collaborative Classroom’ leads students naturally to work together.
But with the environment there needs to be shifts in the teaching that allows students to work together, to search, struggle, challenge, and extend each other, and hopefully, grow a deeper understanding in the topic, their peers, and themselves. In essence, the teaching environment leads to modern ways of reinventing the way we acquire knowledge.
I do not think there are many modern day teachers who don’t incorporate some collaborative tasks into their daily programme. We are constantly reminded of the value of strategies like ‘Think, Pair, Share’ and ‘Reading Jigsaw’. Certainly, having recently gone through training college, the idea of ‘group work’ and collaboration are well ingrained in the pedagogy of how we were taught to teach.
Now there is a move to ensure that such activity is not only expected, it flourishes and happens naturally purely because of the classroom layout. As this Government rolls out a selection of funds for schools to ‘modernise’ their learning environments, the collaborative classroom is immediately considered as the way forward. Larger open spaces which are customisable are favoured for this, as different tasks require different needs.
Working in groups is not a new thing. As we can see in this old classroom photo, whilst individual desks are set apart, all facing the front, we can see the children of the class in a circle, participating in a lesson. Everyone doing the same thing so that they all left school fitting in a particular box was the aim.
In the 1990’s, desks were somewhat modernised, along with individual trays that have multiple uses. Large, often bulky ‘personal computers’ were all the range, and it wasn’t uncommon for each class to have at least one that sat in a corner, just waiting to be played with during a wet lunch time, or if you were lucky, publish a piece of writing.
The introduction of a mat area also became popular, inviting students in closer to see details, but also participate in a lesson that was separate from the daily grind of staying in one place all the time. For the first time we see a dedicated wide open space in the classroom.
Enter the year 2000, turn of the century, and educators are looking for ways to encourage student talk, real life learning, and discourse in the classroom. But without a budget, schools had to use what they had. Individual desks were kept, but placed into groups. Each child would still have their belongings, but they would also be part of a group to work with, discuss ideas, and work together as a team.
It is around this time that the idea of a collaborative classroom came into play. Hubs of tables fill wide open space. The clutter is generally gone, but there is space for learning to happen. The walls are adorned with linked up screens that can be viewed from anywhere in the room.
The role of both the student and the teacher has changed along with the physical space. In the 1900’s, the role of the teacher was that of a preacher. The fount of knowledge to fill the empty minds of the students. Repetition, repetition, and repetition was the key to learning, and if you didn’t get it first time, you’d keep doing it until you got it right.
Take this through to today, we have a teacher who is a facilitator for learning. They pose questions that challenge and encourage wonderment. They inspire and engage. Students are the driving force for learning. They pick up an idea and take it further in the direction they want to take it. They work together to co-construct their success criteria, and figure out the how themselves. They rely not on the teacher for information, but on their own ability to go and find out. They are both collaborative, but independent, and the balance of these happens seamlessly. In an article written well before it’s time (1990), Tinzmann, MB et al. state that
“Effective communication and collaboration are essential to becoming a successful learner. It is primarily through dialogue and examining different perspectives that students become knowledgeable, strategic, self-determined, and empathetic. Moreover, involving students in real-world tasks and linking new information to prior knowledge requires effective communication and collaboration among teachers, students, and others.”
The environment is only one part of the Collaborative Classroom. What is more important is the learning going on inside it. Rebecca Alber states:
“Learning, and higher-level learning such as synthesising information from several documents or analysing scientific data, can hit much deeper when done collaboratively. Let’s not forget Lev Vygotsky and his educational theory that proposes learning as a social process. And if he were alive today, he would most likely agree with the saying, Two minds are better than one. He might even add, “Better yet, how about three or four?”
It doesn’t matter if you are stuck in a 1960’s classroom with cupboards and storage, old flip-top lidded desks, and steel framed chairs; the way you go about teaching (or facilitating learning) is key.
Is it any wonder then why the subtitle of this article spells out Teamwork with each first letter?
3. Write a blog post about your favourite movie/song/piece of art including how it relates to your life as an educator.
As an artist, musician, and movie lover, this challenge is a hard one. Having studied Art at tertiary level for three and a half years, and Art History for three, I owe it to myself to reflect on an artwork and explain how it relates to my life as an educator.
The issue for me is finding my favourite. I have so many! Even choosing a favourite artist, I’m torn between McCahon and Hotere, J.M.W. Turner and Constable, not to mention Duchamp, Mondrian, and Pollock.
So I’ve stayed close to home and gone with my first love; Colin McCahon. Now just to select one artwork from his ourve. Where do I even start!?
Elias series? Otago Peninsula 1946? Urewera Mural?
For me though, there is one expanse of a canvas that eclipses all of the rest.
Victory Over Death 2 is a massive painting, over two metres in height, and five in length. White text scrawled across the blackened background. The words “I AM” dwarf anyone and everyone viewing the piece.
Having stood in front of this monumental artwork myself, watching other paintings shrink into postage stamps, it leaves an impression on you; speaking a little deeper to some than others. The pixels on the screen in front of you now certainly don’t do it justice.
Regardless, it links into how I view myself as a teacher. In particular, a male, primary school teacher.
I can not escape the fact that in 2000 while on the lake shore of Lake Rotoiti, I heard my calling to be a primary school teacher, at a time when, as a sixth former, spending any longer in school than I had to was pure madness. Yet there it was – as clear as the shimmering lake was infront of me, the desire in my heart to become a teacher.
You see, Victory Over Death 2 quotes a series of verses from various translations of Scripture. Regardless of my personal faith, they encapsulate my role in education at this time.
The crowd standing by said it was thunder, while others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus replied, ‘This voice spoke for your sake, not mine.’ – John 12:29, 30;
Quite clearly, as I’ve said, this is almost the Lake Rotoiti experience in a nutshell, just a non-audible voice…if that makes sense?
‘Now my soul is in turmoil and what have I to say? Father, save me from this hour. No, it was for this that I came to this hour’ – John 12:27
Since beginning my teaching career 6 years ago, many things have changed for me. Most of all, I’ve been fighting with depression since 2012. It takes a lot of energy to get to work each day, and while the kids drive me madder, somehow, they also keep me going.
The light is among you still, but not for long. Go on your way while you have the light, so that darkness may not overtake you. He who journeys in the dark does not know where he is going. – John 12: 35
It is a well known fact nowadays that there are fewer and fewer male role models out there for kids growing up. Divorce and separation statistics continue to grow, and whether it’s because they’re trying to hold down two jobs, or doing night shifts, or they’ve moved away or even been locked away, the male influence for kids is limited, and for some, non existent.
For me, that keeps me going. I am that light in the darkness for these kids – especially the boys. Because besides me, they may have no other male role models in their life. This is summed up by the next verse on the artwork:
While you have the light, trust to the light, that you may become men of light. – John 12: 36
I am a teacher. I am a light. I am meant to be here. I am here for those kids. I AM.
Hopefully that sheds some light on why I became a teacher, why I still am a teacher, and why I try my best day in and day out for the kids. Its why I work in the school I’m in, despite numerous professionals encouraging me to get out and ‘spread my wings’.
It’s partly for their education. It’s partly for the financial security (that doesn’t always come by being an artist!). But mostly it’s to make a difference. It’s mostly to be the light in the darkness and to show the kids that they write their own futures, and that they can make of it whatever they want if they apply themselves. It’s to bring them hope. Belief in themselves. A backbone and a spine. It’s to engage them. Inspire them. And then Unleash them. And thus, my teaching motto is born, and this blog and its articles are the extension of that into the online community.
How well students perform in the classroom will soon play a part in how much funding a school gets.
Source: Student achievement to be used to fund schools under new model | Stuff.co.nz
Here we go. All the haters out there get ready. This isn’t going to be pretty.
Essentially this has been on the tables for a while.
Now, before all the scaremongerers get going; this is not Teacher Performance Pay, so we’re safe for now. As soon as Teacher pay is based on student achievement, we will see a both mass exodus of teachers, and a massive push of teachers towards ‘successful’ schools with ‘successful’ students. It will also lead to a complete demolition of the National Standards, as teachers will be forced to resist temptation to inflate their own results. What teacher in their right mind is going to mark students as well below, when that could affect your pay?
An interesting side note, as I check out the glorious photo of the Minister in mid speech, I can’t help but notice the Public Achievement Information (PAI) in the background. These have been recently released, and I have it on relatively good authority from someone in the profession who has gone through the data with a fine tooth comb, that the data in the PAI are inaccurate with that which schools have sent in. Go figure!
As has come to be expected from the Minister’s office; a big contradiction 18 months after making this statement:
“This morning, Parata said there was no shift to performance-based funding, instead it would be a “recalibration” of the decile system.” – 17 March 2014
I’m guessing, by “no shift” she meant “no shift today”, and “recalibration” should have been “complete removal”. Can we believe anything the Minister says, if in 18 months time she’s going to renege on any decision she’s made?
There is an incredibly beautiful editorial in the Listener that was written around the last time the idea of performance pay came about, back in March last year.
It puts forward the arguments much better than I could ever hope to. So I’ve picked and chosen some of the key points below:
With the changes still hypothetical, it’s important not to lose sight of the brick wall such a policy would have to hurdle: the dearth of appropriate data. As Treasury warned Bill English in 2011, if we want to go down the performance-pay route, we need to collect a different sort of data. At present, “the ministry cannot identify which schools add the most value to their students”.
Unless Parata has some secret assessment system waiting in the wings, she will be relying on NCEA and National Standards.
Both are unusual in that they are largely set and marked by teachers. The OECD’s highly influential education frontman, Andreas Schleicher, whom Parata bounced the last performance-pay policy off before it was publicly announced, has flat-out said they can’t be used for anything resembling performance pay. Doing so would “distort” the assessments, he warns.
…
There’s a good reason why police, lawyers and judges, for example, are not incentivised on the basis of securing convictions: it would make a mockery of the justice system. The same precautions need to apply in education.
Stumbling blocks abound. How to compare a school where all the students sit NCEA with one in which half the kids opt for Cambridge or the International Baccalaureate exams? How to compare a school where a large proportion of NCEA credits come from exams and traditional academic subjects with one that leans heavily on less-demanding vocational courses?
It is possible that this is what PaCT will essentially become for the Ministry – a way of quantifying National Standards and the “OTJ” to make it an “OCJ” – or Overall Computer Judgement. This might be the “secret assessment system waiting in the wings”.
One gets the impression from Ms. Parata’s statements today, that the “Performance Pay” she is hinting at is to give greater support to the schools that need it. This is actually one thing that I as a teacher can agree with; possibly the first thing she’s alluded to that I can say that since she has been in office. But the Minister did not come out and actually say it. But by reading between the lines, she alludes to how they can support students to do better.
“You can’t have a funding review of a New Zealand education system where how well kids are or aren’t doing wouldn’t be a part of it,” she said following the conference on Thursday.
“Obviously where we end up might be a very different place but my desire absolutely is to take count of how well our students are doing in the system and how we might support them to do better.”- 1 October 2015
It is definitely interesting times in education. We all need to be aware of the decisions being made, (or not being made) and be careful not to assume too much. As Parata says, it is still in it’s infant stage of being developed.
Who knows, in 18 months she might change her mind again.
2. Write a blog post about why you blog professionally and some of the things you blog about. Share it using the #EdBlogNZ hashtag so the newbies can get further ideas to blog about.
There are a number of reasons why I blog about my profession.
Firstly, I enjoy writing. I like to think that I have a way with words.
Secondly, I need to vent. In this job, no doubt, there are a lot of frustrations, and while one must be very careful to keep professional, it is also quite okay to explain your opinion on matters.
Finally, I’d like to think that by writing about education, that awareness would be raised regarding issues facing us. It is also a great way to connect with other professionals, and share ideas and resources within the profession.
There are a huge variety of topics I write about. In general however, I write about things that affect me. Usually I gather inspiration from the latest education news by trawling through Stuff or NZ Herald. Other times, politics makes it pretty easy to come up with something to write about.
More often than not, Professional Development also leads to many posts and resources that trigger my interests.
I also enjoy making tutorials for others, especially regarding ICT, computers, and Google Apps.
Generally most of my blog posts fit within the categories of my site. They are:
I also have a few categories for ‘pop-up’ type events, such as Teacher Wellbeing, and this, CENZ15.
At the end of the day, as with everything, I highly recommend you make it work for you, not you work for it. Write about what you’re interested in, and what gets you going, and you will be able to maintain it. If you try and write about other things that are meaningless to you, chances are, you’re not going to be able to keep it up for very long.
Best of luck!
So you’ve thought about getting started with getting your teaching stuff out there in the wide wide world of the internet?
Well done! You’ve taken the first step.
It’s not easy. Keeping motivated, finding what to write about, finding time to write. These all get in the way and can stop you from blogging.
But there are huge benefits. Sharing ideas. Working collaboratively. Commenting and discussing. Researching and proffesional development. All at the ends of your fingers.
There are a bunch of suitable blogging platforms out there. WordPress, Blogger, Weebly, and Tumblr, just to name a few. Edublogs is also an option which is based on wordpress for teachers and schools. WordPress is fairly comprehensive. Blogger works well if you already have a Google account and want to keep all your things Google related (Google Docs, Sites, Drive etc). Weebly and Tumblr are great for linking in all sorts of media and different sources.
I personally, highly recommend WordPress. I have used it extensively for many of my website designs since Version 2.1, which was released in 2007.
Step 1: Go to WordPress.com and ‘Create Website’. (You can go to WordPress.org if you already have your own server and know how to set it all up)
Step 2: Choose your theme. There’s a HUGE range of these available, and even more if you have your own server set up. Even more if you’re prepared to pay for professional them.
Step 3: Choose the name of your site, or at least the domain name you want to choose. Type in a keyword, or the name of your site in the first box, and WordPress.com will come up with a list of available addresses for your site. You may not get your first choice, given that wordpress.com has been around for quite a while now!
Step 4: Unless you’re fairly sure you’re going to be making a thing of this, you’re probably going to want to go with the free option. This is fairly straightforward set up, and while it does have some limitations, these won’t (or shouldn’t) get in your way just yet.
Step 5: So, that’s pretty much it. Now you just have to create an account. Use a personal email address (because you’ll want to keep the blog going should you move schools and change work email addresses), and select a username and password that you’ll remember.
So now it’s time to get writing. Say hello to the world!
On the left hand side of the dashboard, you’ll see a menu. You can go to either the ‘WP Admin‘ which is where you can change some of your settings, as well as write posts. We will use this to start with, as it will be how you will make most of your posts.
Further, down the list, under ‘Publish’, there is ‘Blog Posts‘ with an Add button next to it. Clicking on this will also create a new blog post, but we won’t use this way for now.
So, go ahead, click on “WP Admin“.
Alternatively, whatever web address you set up (for this case I’ll use “example”), you can go to “example.wordpress.com/wp-admin“.
Once there, on the left there is your main menu where everything is.
From here you can create pages, posts, upload media, create links, approve and moderate comments, change settings, and modify your appearance. Have a play around with any of this later. It’s pretty straightforward, and reasonably difficult to break – so go wild!
For now, go to “Posts -> Add New“.
A brand new post will be created. Give it a title at the top, and then get writing! That’s pretty much all there is to it. The URL will be created automatically for you. You can give the post some tags, and a category, and on the right, there is the option to save it as a draft (useful if you’re working on a post over several days, or you start an idea and don’t quite finish it), or publish it to the wide world of the internet.
There you have it. Your first blog post.
As a teacher, you may like to set up different categories for your posts. These can then be made into a menu under “Appearance -> Menus” and will just display the posts that you put into the particular category. Of course, posts can exist under more than one category as well. This post for example is in four categories; Digital Learning, Resources, Teaching, and CENZ.
The categories I have on my site are:
Whenever I have a new idea, I think about what category to put it into. I use each category differently.
Education is for anything education related, but not classroom related. This often leads to media articles, National Standards, politics, NZEI stuff and all the things we deal with that is not to do with teaching.
Teaching is everything related to the classroom and me as a classroom teacher. It includes ideas for the class, lessons, musings, learning, classroom management, and anything else.
Satire is a series of drawings and cartoons, often political, that explore issues in the education system as a whole. They are often sparked by discussions in the staffroom, or cynical musings of my experiences in my school. I have to come up with a better title for this category, but for now, Satire will do.
Teacher Wellbeing is a category set up for the pop-up videos that were made in 2015 as a part of a social network initiative for teachers. I decided to collate all of these and write a short thought around each, based on the short video clip. By making each into a blog post, I essentially archive it on my site so that I (and others) can always find them and refer to them again and again.
Resources is as it sounds; any teaching resources I find, or use, or make, that I think others will find useful.
Google Apps is essentially for thoughts around Google Drive, Google Docs, and all of the other Google Apps. Essentially these are a list of tutorials, but also includes other documents or articles that I’ve written regarding the use of Google Apps in the classroom.
Digital Learning is a category I use for anything ICT and Education related. This includes the use of iPad’s, Chromebooks, or other devices in the classroom, BYOD, twitter in the classroom, and other related ideas.
Finally, CENZ is obviously for the Connected Educator posts that I make, such as this one. This category will keep them all in one place.
Obviously you can choose your own categories. You may have more, or you can have none. You may find that you start with a couple (as I did), and create more as you write more and more articles that don’t fit anywhere in the few categories you initially create. Themes might come along, such as my ‘Teacher Wellbeing‘ category, and may only include a few posts from a specific time, but are valuable regardless.
To create a category, click on ‘Post -> Categories‘. Then it’s as easy as adding a new category. This will then appear in a list on the right of the post text box when you publish a post. Another way to do this is to do it from within the post, by clicking “Add New Category” in the Categories box on the right (above ‘Tags’). The only issue doing it this way is not being able to create the slug – but you can go back and edit this from the main menu as described above.
Be aware however, that the slug (URL) you create needs to be unique. For example, if you have created a page with a particular name, such as “Teaching”, and you try and create a category called “Teaching”, with a slug “teaching”, WordPress will rename this slug to “example.wordpress.com/category/teaching2” which looks horrid. A way around this is to set your category slug to “teaching-articles“. This will then appear as “example.wordpress.com/category/teaching-articles“.
So there is sometimes some confusion about pages and posts, especially when you first start in WordPress. Here’s how I got my head around it.
Posts are like posters that go up on the staff noticeboard. They go up, they get read. They are somewhat temporary and short-lived, and stay around until someone takes them down and files them. They may then get archived (even if it’s in the round filing cabinet in the corner!).
Pages are like signs. They’re built, and set up reasonably permanently. They have important information that you want read by those that are new to the site, and while they need updating, this only happens once in awhile – if at all.
In wordpress or blogging terms, Posts are your blog ‘articles’. Pages are your permanent pages of your site – such as ‘About’ or ‘Education History’.
Other than that distinction, Posts and Pages are nearly identical in the way WordPress manages them. When you create a page, it’s done in the same way that you create a post. This is probably why many get confused when starting out on wordpress. They will appear differently on your site though, with pages appearing at the root of your site (i.e. example.wordpress.com/page), where as your blog will appear within a category or date archive (i.e. example.wordpress.com/2015/09/post).
There are many, many more bits and pieces to get set up over the next few weeks, and I’d recommend having a look through the tutorials over at wordpress.com.
Codex.Wordpress.org also has a great knowledge base to hunt through for a more comprehensive run through. Be aware though, that many of the settings mentioned here may be restricted in your free account version at WordPress.com.
Source: edblognz: Connected Educators #EdblogNZ challenge: Week 1
This year I’ve decided to get my thoughts out there, and get out there more with commenting and collaborating. I’ve enrolled myself to take part in #CENZ15 and #EDBLOGNZ ‘s challenges. Each week there will be a set of challenges for bloggers to engage, think, motivate, and discuss with others.
From the site:
“EdBlogNZ is issuing a challenge for New Zealand teachers to blog. Whether you’re a brand new blogger or have huge experience the challenge for you is to develop your blogging over the 3 weeks of Connected Educators New Zealand 2015.
There are 3 levels of challenges:Absolute newbie – e.g. “I don’t even have a blog set up yet”Casual blogger – e.g. “I blog occasionally when I remember or feel I have something useful to say”
Blogging legend – e.g. “I blog regularly (at least once a week) and have great interaction/contribution on my blog from commenters”.You can do the challenges from any or all of the levels if you wish. For example, if you’re new to blogging start at “Absolute newbie” but don’t feel like you have to stay there if you think you can work on the next level.There are 3 challenges per week, per level. In week 2, four challenges are listed—Challenge 3 is for those at Ulearn; Challenge 4 is for those who aren’t at Ulearn. Pick whichever is appropriate for you.The challenges for each week will be posted on the EdBlogNZ blog on the Monday of each week.Please register for this event by completing the form on this page: http://bit.ly/edblognz15“
Last month I wrote about the true cost of charter schools, after getting infuriated by the decision by the government to continue pumping money into embattled charter schools, which are failing miserably. The reality is, this government turned down the funding for food in schools, leaving kids hungry all around the country. Thanks to the likes of KidsCan, rumbly tummies are not an entire reality just yet.
Today it has been announced that the “Red Peak” design has been accepted as a fifth option going to referendum in November. This is on top of the four that has already been agreed upon by the selection panel. It turns out that any design with enough public sway will be allowed in.
Now I know that this is an education blog, so I better tie this to education some how; but the mere fact that this is going ahead is a complete joke.
Firstly, to put together the referendum, promotional material, holding TWO referendums, is costing the country $26million $36million.
In comparison, $14 million would allow the Feed the Kids bill to be funded for a year.
It is obvious to some, and others need to wake up and see the writing on the world. John Key is about to move on from politics. He has pretty much done everything. He’s become Prime Minister. Defeated Helen Clarke. Defended the role successfully twice. He has hosted a Rugby World Cup, met the rich and famous, hosted the Prince and Duchess of Cambridge, met with the President of the United States, got on the Letterman show, and countless other ‘achievements’.
But this is his swan song. The Prime Minister who changed a nation. Well… changed it’s flag at least.
No matter the cost. $26million 36 million. Thirty Twenty six, with six 0’s following after it.
And because it’s his swan song, he wants to make sure that it’s his legacy he leaves. Red Peak has been allowed through, not because John Key likes it, but because it has public support. And it’s not even that it has public support for that flag, but that it has public support for a change. That’s all that John wants to be remembered for.
Personally, I don’t want to let John Key have that acknowledgement. He hasn’t done anything for this country other than provide a bit of people skills and a beaming smile.
He doesn’t care which flag, as long as it’s changed, and so if “Red Peak” has a selection of people who will vote for a change, he wants them on board – hence the inclusion of it as a fifth option.
In addition to this, people are saying that they will vote for a change just to ensure that the whole process is not a waste of money. Regardless of if there is a change or not, lets get this straight; its a waste of money. Full stop.
But to help highlight the waste of money spent, it will of course be better to vote for no change. This will call into question why such an exorbitant amount of money was spent.
John Key should always be remembered in history for the muppet who in the spotlight of a world wide event coined the term “Troaty” and followed this up by trying to be a third hand in a handshake. And who can forget his ponytail pulling antics.
