Category: Archived

All the old posts from years gone by.

  • The Impact of Daily 5

    Introduction

    I have seen first hand the benefits of Daily 5, as have the initiators of the programme when they first started it.
    In this article I focus in on one particular student in my class this year.
    For privacy, I will call this student Jake.

    Jake is a student that many classes will have. He is a Māori boy from a relatively large family. While he experiences a degree of poverty each day, he is well kept, well clothed, and generally has lunch. At times he is truant from school, but generally enjoys his days here, and has a good mix of friends. He gets along well with everyone, and treats others with respect. He can get angry at times, but doesn’t over react.

    Academically, Jake has struggled with Reading since starting school. Over the years he has been a part of various different literacy initiatives to try and get him up to a sustainable reading level so that he can keep up with his chronological age, and his peers. His Writing ability is similar to that of Reading, and while he has reasonably good spelling, he wouldn’t be considered a ‘confident writer’.

    What is Daily 5?

    Daily 5 is based completely around five activities linked directly to improving student’s Literacy. They are: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work. The combination of these five activities provide a solid foundation for all students to work independently and at a suitable level for them. The ability for students to choose their own activity allows for intrinsic motivation for learning, and sets these students up to become independent learners.

    In Daily 5, there are ample opportunities for students to read and to practice reading. Using the CAFE menu (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expand vocabulary) as a structure, teachers can provide students with strategies to help them with their reading specifically tailored for that student.

    Daily 5 also provides opportunities for students to write, and write, and write. Students are motivated by choosing what they write about, and then whole class teaching focusses in on general trends noticed in the class, or specific lessons on different genres.

    Full Article

    Screen_Shot_2016-10-08_at_5.05.06_PM
    Read the full article here:
    [icon name=”file-pdf-o” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] The Impact of Daily 5.pdf (401kb)

    If you enjoyed this article, there will be another one published next week with the findings from this year (2016). Keep an eye out for it soon!

  • Learning and Teaching and Learning

    This week, the Minister published a new announcement through the media. The headline: “Hekia Parata – Let’s make learning better.”

    For whatever reason, this completely grated with all sense and sensibility within me. Something just didn’t ring right grammatically.

    I’ve heard “Let’s make teaching better” before (all the time) as the powers that be whip and flog teachers who are already doing their darndest to keep a level head, and keep it above surface level (at least once in a while so they can take a breath).

    But I don’t think you can just switch the verb to learning and it make sense. Someone with

    The term switch

    Learning is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something : the activity of someone who learns.”

    Teaching is defined as “the job or profession of a teacher, and something that is taught : the ideas and beliefs that are taught by a person…”

    Learning is therefore the acquisition of knowledge, while Teaching is the imparting of knowledge. The two are direct opposites and so when used in a sentence such as “Let’s make learning better”, we start to question what is actually meant by that.

    How on earth?

    How do we make the acquisition of knowledge better? Sure – imparting knowledge in different ways is possible, but to change how knowledge or experiences is acquired – is that even possible? Are we not, as humans, limited to how we can gain knowledge, through our 5 senses? Touch, Hear, Sight, Smell, Taste? Is this not the extent of how we can learn? And how does one make this better? Obviously, vision and hearing impaired students have glasses and hearing aids to assist with these learning facets we have.
    Is the Minister asking for schools to increase the rate of so-called evolution so that we can learn better?
    Or have we now resorted to student bashing instead of teacher bashing?
    Is the emphasis shift all part of making the student at the centre?

    Is ‘ako’ to blame for this?

    For decades now, the way to make what you have to say more authentic and culturally sensitive, it has become custom to translate certain words from English into Māori. Whilst that may be a very cynical view of things, and possibly the initial use of such terms was genuine, we have built a series of terms that we now use in common New Zealand speak. Terms such as whanau, mana, and in education, akonga and ako.

    Ako itself means “teaching and learning”, and educationalists around the country jumped on it and spread it amongst the myriads of documents. It was one of the first Māori terms introduced in our university papers when learning about teaching and education.

    Does this mean that teaching and learning are synonymous?

    Not at all. Whilst the Māori use the same term for both, the context in which they do is what provides the meaning (as it does for other terms as well – for example puku can mean secret or silent, as well as, fasting, to swell, or to intensify a quality such as pukuriri which means “furious” – riri means angry.) There are terms in English as well that we know to mean different things.

    No. Teaching and Learning are not interchangeable just to sound smart. They are opposites. Like inhaling and exhaling. Up and Down, Square and Circle.

    The minister and others should stop trying to sound smart and stop confusing the matter.

  • Hekia Parata: Let’s be better learning

    I do love it when the Minister writes an open letter. It means she says what she thinks people want to hear, rather than what she actually does when people aren’t looking, taking the leadership stance of “Do as I say, not as I do”. In it, the minister harps on about providing better learning – a term that is so contrary to it’s original use. To learn is to aquire, receive, be given knowledge. To teach is to give, present, or to pass down knowledge. But there seems to be this trend to use “learning” instead of “teaching” which I disagree with; probably in an effort to degrade the skill required to be a teacher.

    The legendary Boonman took to his usual satire in response to this article, and as can be expected, didn’t hold back with the comedy; which although is somewhat hilarious, is also true – which is why we laugh (because if we didn’t; we would cry).

    However much I would like to be as satirical, I figured I would merely provide some teacher feedback, some next learning steps on the writing sample provided to us from Ms Parata’s pen. I hope that she will take the feedback on board, and work with her teacher to address some of the errors in her writing.
    Read the original letter here: Hekia Parata: All ears to anyone ‘seriously committed’ to improving kids’ learning.

    Let’s begin learning.

    New Zealand has a very good education system. That’s beyond debate. Can we make it better? Yes, we can and we must.

    We need to either work on your use of tense, or your spelling. You’ve used “has”, where as you need to have used “had”. Your sentence should read “New Zealand had a very good education system”. In addition to this, I’d probably shy away from Bob the Builder quotes, and rely more on tried and true cliché such as “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

    As a passionate New Zealander and as a mum, I want to see an education system that delivers quality learning for every child and young person every day. Their achievement matters, to their families, their communities – and to me.

    There is a chance that this paragraph may come across as bragging or somewhat arrogant. I am a New Zealander (and one might question my passion for the title under the current government) but I am not a mum. But I still want to see a quality education system in this country. Is my opinion not as important or passionate as yours because I have not been with child? Yet becoming a teacher without this does make my level of passion for education and learning far greater than most given most don’t want anything to do with schools unless they have children.

    As a teacher, I can safely say that if we have a “very good education system” that you stated in part 1, then we have very good quality “learning” each and every day for each child or young person. However, to presume that their achievement matters to their family is a bit much, unless you have personally interviewed them all. Likewise, communities usually don’t focus around the achievement rates of their young people. From my experience, families are focussed on raising young children to be the best they can be in all areas of life. Sometimes sports become more important than achievement rates, as much as overseas holidays or trips do. They tend to want to provide experiences that will assist with creating well rounded individuals. Communities also tend to focus not on achievement rates, but solutions to keeping the young people off the street, running groups, clubs, or catching up with the latest gossip or what not. They tend to focus on them as people, instead of as data, numbers, and test takers.

    I visit schools right across New Zealand on a regular basis, seeing for myself what’s happening in our classrooms. I speak to teachers, principals and parents about what I, as the Education Minister, can do to support them to ensure our kids are achieving. 

    It’s refreshing to hear that you get to travel around the country visiting schools. It would be such a wonderful experience to go around and see what a hard job teachers actually have, and what a great job they are already doing.

    I would suggest the use of a wider vocabulary instead of “speak to”, you could use the term “ask”. However, as I know, you have very little interest in hearing what teachers, principals, and parents have to say about what you can do to support them. I suspect you would just tell them what you will do, and leave it up to them to change what they do so that what you’ve decided to do will be of benefit to them.

    The proposed changes that we’re making in education are all about putting our kids at the centre of the education system, lifting the educational success of every young New Zealander. 

    Once again, this is an incredibly presumptuous statement, that a) kids weren’t at the centre of previous education systems, (which would be somewhat bizarre if that weren’t the case) – and b) that the changes that you’re making with or without the support of the education sector will lift the educational success of every child, more so than what the current system is and has already been doing before you stepped into power.

    This means ensuring we get the right funding for the right children at the right time. That there are a wide range of education options that reflect our modern era, and that schools are supported in the best possible way to ensure that every child is learning the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life.

    I applaud your efforts in providing the right funding for the right children. However, your actions speak louder than words, and so far, you’ve shown a tendency to waste money on failing charter schools rather than investing in children. I suspect also, that the “right funding” that you talk about will, in turn, mean more funding, which your fellow minister in finances may wish to have a few words to you about.

    Schools also need to be supported to know this learning is taking place to make sure they’re doing the best job they can for our kids.

    Another presumptive statement Hekia. You are obviously not very aware of your audience when you write, a skill taught and learned in Level 3 of the curriculum by 9 and 10 year olds. Schools are already very aware of the learning taking place and the knowledge and skills required of students in this modern age. However, the basics of reading, writing, and maths are unlikely to change, and while you continue to maintain the expectation that schools assess against the National Standards, schools will unfortunately be forced to spend their time teaching and “learning” in these three curriculum areas.

    Our education system is well funded. At $11.04 billion this year it is the biggest ever investment in early childhood education and schools. That’s more than we spend on police, defence, transport, conservation and foreign affairs combined.

    Please refer to my earlier comment regarding charter schools. Maybe that might free up some of these funds for police, defense, and transport all of which are asking for more government funding.

    As I’ve often said, “that’s a shipload of money”.

    A very good attempt at the use of a familiar phrase or “kīanga”. However, it is not a ship full of money that is coming into harbour, because ships can carry a full load worth a lot more than $11.04b in notes alone.

    And that “shipload” is growing. Funding hasn’t been frozen. Schools’ operational funding has increased by $12.3m for next year taking it to a total of $1.35 billion.

    Once again, please refer to previous comment about ship load. It’s “shitload”; meaning a heck of a lot of excreetment.

    Also, I’m not sure coming out with fictional information in such an open letter is appropriate. Please read this article re: funding freeze.

    Spending has also increased by more than inflation, and I’m not expecting that to change any time soon.

    Yet the teachers who teach the children who you have now put at the centre of your education plan and the support staff who help them are given minor increases that do not keep up with the increases of living? I strongly suggest rewording or even removing this statement from your piece.

    The Funding Review currently taking place is focussed as much on whether we are getting the best for all these taxpayer bucks, as well as what more we might need.

    I’m not sure if using the colloquial term for “money” is the best use of your Thesaurus, Hekia. By using “bucks” it makes it seem unimportant, unvalued, taken for granted, or even rudimentary to your audience. Once again, you should consider your audience when writing this, considering the majority of them will be taxpayers themselves and probably would like you to respect their hard earned money a little more than calling it “bucks”.

    There are seven proposals being looked at as part of the Review and leaders from right across education have been included in the early development of these potential changes.

    The legislation currently making its way through Parliament is about providing more flexibility, not only to schools and early learning providers, but to parents as well.

    That is one thing it is providing – more flexibility. However, you need to add more details about the other things that it will bring. Details such as larger class sizes, more work for teachers, a national database of students that will track them through every year of their schooling. It’s details like these that your readers are interested in, even if you are not too keen on them yourself.

    New Communities of Learning, or Kahui Ako, are also helping schools and services to work together for the benefit of their students.

    Once again Minister, you need to add more details to how this is happening, and how it is benefiting the needs of individual students in their individual schools. Maybe alluding to the fact that this will lead to one principal and one board running multiple schools. No doubt this will free up some more of that “shipload” of bucks the education uses.

    I’ve consistently listened to the teacher unions since I came into the education portfolio, regularly meeting with them and working with them on a number of important initiatives.

    For the first time you have considered your audience, though it is important that when you do, you come across as sincere and truthful, rather than making things up. Also; I don’t believe you come “into” a portfolio. I suspect you were given it. Maybe you could reword your sentence to be a little less fictional by saying “I’ve consistently listened to the teacher unions bleating on since I received the education portfolio, regularly seeing them banging on my door, and ignoring them on a number of important initiatives until they give in and I do what I want anyway.”. I also find it ironic that hours after writing this letter, you leave on a trip meaning, for the third time in five years, you have declined the invite to said teacher union (NZEI Te Riu Roa) conference. That’s another example where actions speak louder than words.

    I will work with any groups or individuals that are seriously committed to improving children’s learning and raising achievement. 

    This sentence is somewhat contradictory. I would say that it would be almost impossible not to work with yourself or your team on this. Will you have to demonstrate to yourself that you are, in fact, serious and committed to improving children’s learning before you will work with yourself? I know for one that the under-secretary of Education has no commitment to improving children’s learning, and if he does, it’s certainly not serious.

    Everything I’m working towards is about putting children and their achievement at the centre of the education system.
    It’s about lifting the learning potential of every child, so we can continue to grow as a nation, and prosper. It’s about preparing young New Zealanders for a contrary, challenging, exciting world.

    I’m not sure you have to continue to make things up and over-exaggerate about child achievement. I also think you should further consult your thesaurus regarding the words to describe the world. Contrary for example is a word that I would have thought you would be all too familiar with, especially with the number of backing down you’ve had to do in your time as Minister of Education. Maybe a “better, challenging, exciting world” might read better, especially as it provokes some sort of inspiration or hope for the young people who are lucky enough to be able to read this far into your letter without drifting off to sleep.

    Kids learning to flyI want our education system to ensure that every Kiwi kid can fly!

    That is a bold attempt with the use of metaphor  in your writing, Hekia, and definitely a great concluding sentence that really brings a climax to your points. However, I suspect that this will lead to some confusion as to the literal meaning of your sentence.For instance, if you’re wanting children to fly, they will need to evolve into a creature with wings, or maybe you are intending to use some of the shipload of bucks to subsidise the cost of airline tickets for children? Your intentions are not clear.

    * Hekia Parata is the Education Minister

    I suspect with Writing this poor with so many clinical errors, at this time in your political career, that in due course, you should be prepared to amend this line, using the past tense “was” instead of the present tense “is”.

    Teacher’s Note: I apologise for the over analysis of this Writing sample, though as you and your advisors have said in the past; data is the key to success. The more data I have on this Writing sample, the better success you will have. Though at this stage, you are still falling well below the expected level and unfortunately, this will result in you being required to find another school who are prepared to put up with your poor achievement rates. Maybe the charter school down the road will take you in.

  • Gold medals for all

    Global (Bulk) Funding

    In the weekend just been, I caught up with Ms Parata’s latest palava regarding schooling and in particular, the funding of it. Needless to say, there was lots of conjecture, and I found it hard (yet again) to agree with much of what she has to say.

    Olympics

    At the same time, we saw the wind down of the 31st Olympiad in Rio De Janerio. I was able to make some links between the two. I’ve tried to get my head around the idea of what success is, and what it looks like; both in education, as well as in life, and using the Olympics as a starting point On what success looks like for New Zealanders.

    Assessment

    Ms. Parata signalled the intention to have a never-ending assessment system throughout every year of a child’s schooling, so that we can track and monitor student achievement, and thus be able to allocate funding more accurately to children who need it as soon as we begin seeing them to fall behind.

    But how robust are these assessment systems? The National Standards are full of holes and have long been criticised for their lack of National moderation and lack of Standard measurement. Yet, as we know, the Government continues to set the expectation that 85% of students will be At or Above their corresponding level across the country according to those National Standards.

    To University and Beyond

    In her statements, Hekia also mentioned that the aspiration for her assessment and data driven school system is to monitor students at each and every level so that they can go on to finish school, go to university and get employed.

    I have a series of problems with this.

    Don’t get me wrong; University definitely expanded my worldview, my knowledge and skills as an artist, as a photographer, and as a teacher. I met my wife at University.
    However, my personal view on this point is that if everyone has a degree, then that degree becomes less valuable, or even meaningless. The more people that get it, the less rare it is, and the more people are expected to get it or achieve it, and therefore starts on a never ending downward spiral in worth or value. Even take, for example, the status a Ph D. It still holds a lot of value because it’s a whole heap of hard work and not everyone can achieve that level of study or knowledge. If they started handing out Ph D’s to any Joe Bloggs who shows up, then the value of it decreases.

    The Value of Gold

    Much like at the Olympics, if we were to hand out gold medals to all who attended, then the value, the meaning, and the hard work that is represented in the gold medal would become completely meaningless. Gold medals become worthless, and suddenly don’t mean anything to anyone. They may as well be medals for participation.

    The New Zealand Olympic committee seemed to have a more realistic view on success rates. At no point did they expect everyone to get a Gold medal. In fact, some weren’t expected to medal at all. Some achieved that Gold medal who were expected to achieve it (Bond & Murray, Drysdale, Burling & Tuke, Carrington). Some missed out who we expected to get it (Adams, All Black Sevens), but we certainly don’t see them as failures. We also had some athletes get medals with non-gold shades on them who we expected to do so (Ko, Willis). And then we had others who we never expected to medal, but who shone on the world stage to get a medal around their necks (Walsh, McCartney, Rooney).

    There’s more to Education

    Like I say; don’t get me wrong; University is great and is a huge expectation and motivator for many of our students. The high expectations of teachers these days assist students to surge on to extend their learning at university; and somehow we manage to correlate this with success.
    However, that’s not a good picture to paint, especially if you look at the employment depletion in the area of trades. You see; some students might not be wired to go on to university. Some students would and will make great road workers, builders, plumbers and electricians without having to attend University. Some students show great natural talent in sports and university simply gets in the way of them making the most of their younger fit years. Are they any less successful, just because they don’t go on to university?
    No.
    So why are we making university the be-all-and-end-all of our education system? Surely it should be aimed towards making each student the best they can be to make the most of what is before them and give them the skills they need to be successful in life, regardless of what that life may be?

    Failure or Success?

    What’s more, just because you go to university it does not mean you will succeed. I know of many people who have got a degree and haven’t been able to use it to gain employment at multi national companies making lots of money or otherwise being deemed as successful. They’ve ended up pushing trollies at the local New World, or working retail on the city mall.

    In addition to this, I know of cases where folk who have never set foot in university are having an incredibly successful life. My brother is one of them. Never been to University. Got a job pumping petrol for a year while he studied automotive electrical at polytechnic, and at 26 was owner operator of his own workshop in that industry. In more, seemingly substantial terms, the likes of Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates all dropped out of University. One could not say that these people were not successful.

    Success Never Looked So Good

    Nikki Hamblin made international headlines these Olympics, not because she won a race or achieved a Gold Medal in her time at Rio, but because she stopped and assisted an injured runner who had toppled over Nikki only moments earlier. Both runners finished stone cold last. No medal. No glory. But both women went on to achieve sporting greatness and success in a different way – in Olympic spirit (as opposed to worldwide trending – just type Nikki into Google and see what shows up! ).

     

    Likewise, take the story of nineteen year old Eliza McCartney, who against all odds, found herself in medal contention with a few jumps remaining. In the following moments, the look of success, the sense of achievement could not be hidden from McCartney’s face as she took out the Bronze medal.

    A massive achievement for the 19 year-old, and a successful Olympic campaign, even though it wasn’t a gold medal.

    Success at the Olympics is not just about getting a gold medal. It’s about so much more than that. Likewise, being successful in education isn’t just about heading off to university after you’ve finished high-school.

    In Conclusion

    We need to broaden our definition of what we consider success. I’ve said it all before. This continuing narrow view that all students should go to University as a measure of success is stifling the entire education system of this country as we measure and measure again the weight of the pig at every opportunity. To use an Olympic analogy; a runner, rower, pole-vaulter won’t get any better by continually going for personal bests and trying to set records. Strength training, fitness, endurance, mental coaching, and more is needed for any athlete to perform at their best when it matters – on the world stage, at the Olympics.

    Students need to see that they can be successful in life without that pressure of having to go to University. Going to polytechnic, learning a trade, or even going to work in retail can all be successful pursuits in life. Let us not forget, that just because the All Blacks were not at the Olympics, doesn’t mean they are not the world champions who can embarrass Australia given the other sporting event on this weekend just been. We can hardly call them failures just because they do not have a Gold medal around their necks.

  • The Answer to everything is not an App.

    It’d seem that there is a reliance on tech and apps to meet the needs of students with learning difficulties.

    While there are apps and assistive technologies to help students with their learning, the reliance or focus on one particular app is not what the likes of RTLB or Special Needs teachers should be using to “solve” the learning needs of ‘problem’ children. It may be appealing because of a one off price that seems to satisfy the powers that be as a successful outcome for the student and signs off the intervention.

    But there is no way that any app, no matter how developed, how much money has been poured into it, that it should ever be “the answer” for students’ learning difficulties.

    Why?

    Because there is never ever one reason for students struggling in their learning. There are usually a myriad of issues, and strategies that address these are not going to be encompassed in an app.

    Don’t get me wrong, tech can be incredibly supportive in assisting students with with their learning; but in my experience it is much less about the apps you use, but the process that the technology makes and allows for in the classroom.

    Furthermore, teaching ‘an app’ is restricted to using that app and the limitations of it. Teaching a process opens up the student to other possibilities for using the technology (or not) in the future. Take for example Writing. You could teach a student how to use Microsoft Word and it could help them to write. But teaching them how to write is actually better (or more to the point – what is needed), and there are any number of apps that could assist with this, including Word, Google Docs, or Collabrify Writer.

    Somewhat ironically, I know of a case where a student diagnosed with dyslexia received the support of using the Chromebooks in the classroom to do her writing. This was the recommendation from the specialist that was providing the support for the teacher, and supposedly the student.

    However; talking with the student; she preferred to do her writing by hand because she didn’t have to ‘find’ the letters on the keyboard when she could just write them with a pencil when she wanted.

    Sometimes technology doesn’t have the answer that we’re looking for.

  • Wharf Jump

  • ERO strikes again. Seriously!?

    In their latest document of propaganda, ERO have made the following recommendations for schools to work towards improving the way they deliver education for their students. It is, however, only in draft format in it’s present state, but makes pretty clear the direction that they’re heading. It’s called “Effective School Evaluation”. Within it they have a table which includes examples of shifts in practice that schools have made to improve outcomes for learners. Their words, not mine.

    In it, they have different headings and different recommendations within each one. I’ve had a quick perusal through them, and there are a few that stand out that I wish to bring to your attention.

     

    Educationally powerful connections and relationships

    FROM: 15% attendance by parents and whānau at interviews – TO: 85% after introducing a whānau tutor system and giving parents and whānau a 20 minute interview with one teacher.

    Shifting from 15% of parents and whānau turning up to 85% turning up is not as easy as writing it down in a statement and assigning a “whānau tutor” . I’m not sure where ERO get their 15% of parents turning up for interviews, but I can only assume that it was from a school who was REALLY struggling.

    15% of a class of 28 (the current funding ratio for class sizes) is 4.2 families. At a meeting of 10 minutes each, this impacts on a teacher of…, wait for it,  42 minutes of additional non-contact time expected of teachers.

    ERO would like to increase attendance to parent-teacher interviews to 85% through the use of ‘whānau tutors’. Who will these tutors be? You guessed it – teachers. Who else is there?
    What will we be expected to do? And how will that ensure that parents come to teacher meetings if they are busy, or can’t make it, or are sick or looking after the tamariki? Seriously. It’s almost like ERO have no touch on reality.

    ERO also mentioned that the expected length on such meetings would be 20 minutes so that discussions can be in depth and meaningful.

    85% of a class of 28 (the current funding ratio for class sizes) is 23.8 families. At a meeting of 20 minutes each, this impacts on a teacher of…, wait for it, 476 minutes. That’s a total of 7 hours and 55 minutes additional time expected of teachers.

    Now; let us assume that in an alternate universe where teachers would be paid by the hour, and the pay rate would be on par with other trades at $80 an hour. We can safely assume that this would happen after school hours, so we’d have to pay time and a half. However, let’s be generous and just charge out the usual rate (That is the usual treatment of teachers time these days anyway!).
    So at $80.00 an hour, for 8 hours, that is $640 per teacher. That’s just for the interviews. That does not take into account the “whānau tutoring” that will also be expected of teacher’s time. I’m not sure when I last had 8 hours of additional time in my already jam packed schedule. Or are we expected to come back on the weekend to meet with parents?

    This goes along the same lines as a PacT Tool Workshop that I attended, in which they said that it’d probably take 25 minutes for each child when you first start doing it. I worked that out at the meeting and it was the turning point in my support for it. It worked out to be an additional 11 hours just to create an OTJ for every student in the class; something that should take no more than 30 minutes in my opinion.

     

    Responsive Curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn

    FROM: Teaching Writing – TO: Teaching Writers

    Move from Teaching Writing to Teaching Writers.

    They think that this is a clever statement to cause thoughts and shifts in thinking. There are a few flaws however.

    To be a writer, you need to know how to write. Many new entrants do not know how to write, and yet we probably should teach them something about writing?

    Secondly, let’s look at the language being used.

    Writing – noun. The act of writing. A subject of study.

    Writers – noun. A person who writes.

    The shift ERO want us to make is from teaching a subject, to teaching the people. However, as a teacher, what am I doing when I teach Writing? I’m teaching students how to write better. What am I doing when I teach writers? I’m teaching students how to write better.

    Well, it would seem I can tick that one off the list of things to do.

     

    Responsive Curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn

    FROM: Deficit thinking and blaming students for poor outcomes – TO: Teachers recognising the need to improve their teaching.

    Finally (for this post anyway), the last recommendation I’ll touch on is this. ERO wish us to move from deficit thinking on why students are failing, and instead, focus on how teachers can teach better.

    Go on. Bash away. We know you don’t respect us enough to give us credit, or even acknowledge that some of us (if not all of us) are actually doing the best we can with what we’ve got. They also forget that most of the students we teach are doing the best with what they’ve got. But the truth of the matter is there are other impacts on a child’s learning beyond that of their academic ability and the teacher’s adequacy in being able to teach. Poverty, hunger, broken families, abuse, violence. Need I go on?
    No. It couldn’t possibly be any of these mitigating factors. No. It’s because we are not teaching them well enough that there are poor outcomes.  Pffft. To suddenly start blaming ourselves for why students are not progressing is just as counter-productive as saying it’s the student’s fault that they aren’t succeeding.

    It’s enough to make my blood boil.

    At least I’ll stay warm while the educational winter is setting in.

  • Te Reo Māori Wallpaper

    So last week I came across a neat little graphic someone had made with some Te Reo Māori requests / instructions on them.

    I was thinking tonight, that there has to be a way that can be a quick reference for me in class to access these. I realised that a graphic on my phone would sit in my photos album and I could remind myself of them every now and then.

    But I wasn’t happy with that.

    No. I needed somewhere more accessible.

    Like on the lock screen.

    So I downloaded a template for the right sizes (for my iPhone 5S) and set about converting the original graphic into something somewhat pleasing to look at, all with the Te Reo kīanga (phrases) to jog my memory until they become part of my every day kōrero.

    Because I’m a bit of a geek, I like having the same (or nearly the same) background for my lockscreen and home screen, as the icons appear to zoom as you unlock. To help with this (but removing confusion of overlapping text from app icons) I’ve created a ‘home screen’ background as well, which contains the same background, less the Te Reo Māori phrases.

    Hopefully many of you will also find some use for them.

    iPhone 5S
    744x1392px

     

    Lock Screen

    		  
     Home Screen

    Note: I have the intention of making these for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in due course. Android users may just have to make do with the sizes that are a closest match.

    Enjoy!

  • Inherit Racism in NZ Education

    Time and time again, we are told about the ‘long tail of underachievement’ and the hideously stereotyped over representation of Māori students within it.

    And because there is a ‘problem’, it seems that everyone is solely focussed on the achievement rates of Māori students. Ministry advisors visit principals and ask how their Māori target students are doing.
    Upon visiting ERO’s website, we see that they have a new approach for accelerating Māori achievement. Their major focus on any school they visit now is ‘How effectively does this school respond to Māori students whose learning and achievement needs acceleration?’
    In addition to this, we’ve heard from the Auditor-General that the supposed answer is more data on Māori students. All of this in an attempt to address the ‘problem’.

    It amuses me that ERO state that their reason  for targeting Māori student achievement is in an attempt to achieve ‘…equity and excellence of education outcomes for all New Zealand’s children and young people.’
    In other words; by targeting and singling out the failing Māori students, we are making schools more equitable for all students.

    This itself is incredibly insulting, and does nothing but reinforce the already very presumptive notion that Māori students are failing, as well as implies that Māori students are not intelligent, and aren’t achieving.

    What began me thinking about this was this video. It is a reaction towards the racial unrest happening in the US today.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj19qIgkJUs

    It was very eye opening for me, especially when she says that there is only one race, and that is the human race. Races are just a construct that people have made to  over others.

    For years, ever since entering the classroom, I have rarely ‘seen’ the colour of my students. Obviously, some are white, like me, and others are brown; being Maori, Samoan, or other ethnicity where the pigment levels are higher than my own. But internally, in the way that I treat students, in the way I talk to them about their learning, their behaviour, their life; the colour of their skin has not even come into my consciousness. Interestingly, as I reflect on this fact – the students themselves don’t distinguish between being Māori, European, or Pasifika. They’re friends with whoever they want to be friends with; they work with whoever they want to.

    However, I’ve been made to feel bad about this. Evidently, by not noticing the colour of their skin, I am not addressing THEIR needs as a Māori student; even though I am treating them on an equal and level playing field as the many other students in my class. 

    Jane Elliot (of the prior video) illustrates why we should not say “we don’t see colour”. She has two people from a group come to the front, one white female, one black male, and asks what is the first difference the group notice. Someone says “male”, and Elliot asks if being a male is important to the man at the front. He responds appropriately. She asks if he would want others to see him as male. “Of course” he says. The next difference is his skin colour. “Is being black important to you” Elliot asks. 

    “Very important” he states.

    “And do you want others to see you as black?” 

    “Absolutely”. 

    It’s a part of who that man is. It makes up his identity; it’s part of his story of who he is, and he would want it to be valued by others just as he values it.

    We should absolutely see colour and value it as a factor in what makes up an individual’s identity; but that should have no bearing on the way that we treat them.

    Each child has their own culture, background, family situation, background, living environment, demographic, and world view (even if that has been constructed mostly by their parents and whanau at their age). Each child has their strengths, each child has their weaknesses. Being good at Mathematics, or succeeding in Reading, or creating amazing work in Writing has little to do with the colour of their skin or their whakapapa (genealogy), just as it has nothing to do with being right or left handed, which gender you are, or if you have blue or brown eyes. Intelligence, or educational achievement is not determined by the level of pigmentation that students are born with.

    No doubt; being of Māori descent has a lot more to do with a person than the colour of their skin; just as having Irish, Japanese, or African origins would as well. We’ve been told to “help Māori achieve as Māori“, and there has been endless discussion as to what this means, and what it looks like in the classroom. In a nutshell, teachers need to ensure that each child is valued for their culture. In particular, this statement refers to our Māori students. However, it is my belief that teachers already are doing this – certainly all the ones I have been in contact with over the years. Valuing a student’s culture, and treating them as important is completely independent of their intelligence or educational achievement. No matter the ethnicity, there is no evidence to suggest that a person’s culture or ethnicity has anything to do with their level of intelligence. There’s no evidence, because it simply does not exist.

    Of the many classes I’ve taught, there have been many, many students who have succeeded. Many, many of my best students (in academic regards, as well as all-round individuals) have been Māori, and despite the ongoing stereotype that they ‘should’ be struggling, have left other students, some Māori, some non-Māori, in their wake. In addition to this, many, many of my students have fallen short of the farcical ‘National’ ‘Standards’ level for their year group. Many of these students have not been Māori, and many have been girls – even though the presumption is that those that struggle most are Māori boys. Many of the best students in my class have had blue eyes, and some have had brown. Others have been left handed. And all of them have had some other random categorical anomaly that we could use to put them in a box.

    It wasn’t that long ago when children attending school were discouraged heavily from using their left hand to work. Starting back in the middle ages, left handers were believed to be of the devil, and “…discriminatory practices and attitudes against left-handers persisted well into the 20th Century. At mid-century, eminent American psychoanalyst Abram Blau was still suggesting that left-handedness was merely due to perversity and the result of emotional negativism, on a par with a child’s obstinate refusal to eat everything on its plate.”

    Yet now, it would seem completely ludicrous to begin collecting data on left handed students and pouring over their academic results in an attempt to prove or disprove their academic ability. Likewise, if blue eyed students were disproportionately making up the ‘long tail of underachievement’, then you would say that it would be a complete waste of time to begin targeting these students, over-testing them, collecting and analysing data to see what kind of teaching is going to best suit students with blue eyes. These two examples both seem ludicrous because a) they are, and b) we KNOW (or assume) that neither left-handedness or iris melanin levels have anything to do with a person’s academic potential or ability.

    maxresdefault

    So what is the solution? Well, if you can answer that, then you could probably make yourself quite a bit of money.

    All I know is that there are a myriad of things that allow students to achieve well academically.

    • Sometimes it may be their ability to focus and remain on a task.
    • Sometimes it may be their ability to retain information, whether from visual (pictorial, or words), aural, or kinesthetic.
    • Sometimes it may be the support they get at home to assist with their learning, or the development and engagement they get from adults in the household.
    • Sometimes it may be their ability to overcome distractions, health issues, or learning difficulties.
    • Sometimes it may be the amount of food they have to eat each day.
    • Sometimes it may be their ability to deal with stress, depression, or other mental struggles.
    • Sometimes it may be their ability to lead others, or work with others in collaborative ways.
    • Sometimes it may be their ability to use their own experiences to inform and make their  learning personal to them.
    • Sometimes it may be the importance or priority that education has in their family.

    Very few of these have anything to do with ethnicity. Regardless if you are left handed, blue eyed, Māori, Samoan, Irish, Japanese, African, or European, your ability to have academic success is largely based on things other than your culture or ethnicity.

    But most importantly, let’s abandon this construct of race. Regardless of who you are in New Zealand, we cannot change the past. Yes, there have been some atrocities carried out by the European’s upon arrival and colonisation – but none of them are alive today. Likewise, those that these acts were carried out against are no longer with us. Instead, it’s about time we begin moving on as one nation – together.  We are New Zealanders. We live in Aotearoa. We’re in this boat together.
    We cannot keep separating ourselves, and we cannot keep ‘targeting’ Māori students because they’re susceptible to failing. That merely provides and enables the box to keep them in – the very box we are trying to get them out of! It puts Māori in an inferior place – even if only subconsciously – and keeps them there by continuing to revisit, deliberate, collect data, analyse and otherwise pull apart every aspect of any test students sit. Instead, we need to see each student as individuals. If they need help academically, we provide them with the skills they need to hopefully succeed, regardless of their race. We value students of any nationality, ethnicity, culture, or eye colour. We consider this as an important part of each child’s character, and we use it to their advantage wherever possible. We ‘target’ the students who need help, and we celebrate the success of students, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, and eye colour.

    This essentially gets rid of the box.

    This essentially creates “…equity and excellence of education outcomes for all New Zealand’s children and young people.”

    Ki te kotahi te kakaho ka whati, Ki te kapuia e kore e whati

    Alone we can be broken. Standing together, we are invincible.

     

     

     

    Please note; as I write this, I want to maintain a very independent view. However, being of NZ/European descent, I have a certain point of view which may be different to others. I do not wish to speak for Māori when I say ‘get rid of the box’ – though I would very much assume that Māori wouldn’t want that box anyway!

    In all seriousness though, I cannot and will not speak for all people, and the views I share are my own. I am not an advocate for racism and sincerely hope that none of my statements have caused offense in regards to race. I am also not an advocate for ‘anti-racism’ or ‘reverse racism’, such as being annoyed or disgruntled at the priority placed on Māori students and not students of other ethnicities. Such a view is not helpful and shows a distinct lack of understanding of key issues relating to race and ethnicity prejudice.
    The statement of ‘Māori achieving as Māori’ has very much been difficult for me to get my head around over the years. This is mostly because I don’t see the relevance of defining a person’s culture with anything related to achievement.

    Please comment below, or get in touch with me if you would like to discuss any of the points raised, or to put me right in any of my statements.

     

  • Coding in the Curriculum

    In 2018, the New Zealand Curriculum is destined to have a new addition to its subjects.

    From the age of five, children will now be taught about coding, logic, problem solving, if-else statements, app making, social media analytics, and probably hacking as well.

    But there is a lot, a LOT, of apprehension about this, even as a techie myself (for instance – I design websites, and have coded for much of my adult life). Put it this way; I’m not jumping up and down about this announcement.

    Who?

    I don’t know about you, but the first thing I asked was who is going to do this? I have met many a good soul who dedicate their lives to teaching students, but who’s computer literacy is extremely limited.

    And while the content knowledge required to for Level 1 of the curriculum will be very basic, it still requires a great deal more teaching knowledge to be able to teach it effectively. What are students getting stuck on? What are the next steps? How do I solve the next problem?

    Take for example Level 1 of the Reading curriculum. It’s fairly straight forward. Most, if not all (fairly presumptive, I know) adults could achieve this. Now think of the teaching knowledge you would need in order to teach it effectively. The sounds, the blends, the phonics, digraphs, vowel sounds and rules around their usage, the common pitfalls and sticking points as well as the various strategies required to assist and help students to progress to level two. And that’s just scraping the surface of teaching students to read.

    Imagine the level of teaching knowledge that is going to be required to effectively teach digital literacy.

    And now take that to level two, and level three of the curriculum.

    My current estimate, based on my current place of employment and the various other schools I have worked in, would be that about 10% of teachers would have the skill set required to teach digital literacy if it was introduced tomorrow. And that 10% is probably generous. Most of what makes a good programmer, coder, or even just a ‘tech guru’ is the ability to solve problems. When something goes wrong, you need to know what to do to fix it, systematically, step by step, eliminating variables as you go. From experience, many teachers struggle to problem solve why their projector isn’t connecting, or why the sound isn’t working on their laptop. How do we then get to a place where teachers are teaching students even more complex problem solving when you introduce if-else statements that don’t work!

    Many non-tech-savvy people turn to one demographic for help. Young people. Why? Because they’re already up with the play on technology. Their desire to explore, to learn, to develop skills with technology seems to happen automagically, and I can only see teachers and schools getting in the way of that. As well as this, I read an interesting post about ‘future-proof’ learning, predicting what the future holds for our students, and how we can’t and shouldn’t be including things in the curriculum that are a phase, or a fad.

    (Note: I realise that schooling exists past primary school; but we already have specialist subject teachers at Intermediate and High School level, and so schools would merely employ a specialist ‘digital literacy’ teacher.)

    How?

    Another aspect that may or may not have been considered is how schools are going to teach it. You know, the practical side of it. You see; I’ve only once had to write down a piece of code on paper (during a Comp101 exam I took in Uni). It was nigh on impossible not being able to check and edit the code to improve it or to see if it worked. A lot of coding is trial and error.

    Essentially, if digital literacy is to be taught, then students will need devices. Doing it with pencil and paper will only last so long.

    Now I’m not sure about your school; but our decile 2 school has only just got to the point of having 1 device between 2 in the senior school, and 1 to 4 in the junior school. Yes; we can combine sets of these devices to allow every student to have access to one, but my point is, there are lots of schools out there who wouldn’t have this level of technology in their school yet.

    With more devices comes more problems. More students who run into connection issues, which in turn requires the teacher to know how to solve that problem (many of which once again, don’t know how to go about doing this on their own laptops as it is).

    When?

    Ultimately though, when are teachers going to fit this in? Or is it going to be integrated throughout the day? I guess that comes down to the individual teacher. But I know for one, I would love to spend more time teaching students how to use the Chromebooks, how to code a website, and more; but the reality is that I have a hard enough job covering the rest of the curriculum sufficiently, as well as the ever increasing demand on Maths, Reading, and Writing, without adding more to that workload.

    Gripe

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m not having a go at my colleagues or other teachers. They all have strengths and are all marvellous teachers. I merely see a massive gap between adding a subject to the curriculum and the current knowledge of those that have to deliver content about that subject. Massive gap.

    I can see my job as a tech-savvy teacher becoming more than it already is, as I can see me having to assist with other classes tech problems more than I already do, provide support for when tech devices go wrong, and provide ongoing P.D. as teachers encounter problems or inspiration that they want to explore.

    Once again – not sure when I’m going to actually get to teach my own class.