Term 4 Co-Construction

The last round of co-construction for 2018!! The format has slightly changed with the meetings being held today and a presentation of information given tomorrow in the Whare.

I have been given the roll as facilitator, which I don't mind - just not terribly impressed with having to do the presentation down at the wharenui on the 13/11 - how on earth is this going to look and how much extra time do we need to spend on preparing this?! 

3:30

FHO ENG: Discussed e-asTTle testing and Y9 collective; low level student needs; high level learner extension; management strategies; multi-modal learning opportunities.

RNA MAT: Students of concern; self-management improving; extending high level learners; identifying low level learners and strategies to motivate/manage.

CJA SOS: Took student's books as examples and discussed their work ethic/self-management and behaviour in class - big changes throughout each term. A lot of students are needing a second book; low level learner engagement and how that looks in SOS; my strategies to motivate; multi-modal learning structure.

We discussed what Maaori achievement looks like in this core class and how we can enable these learners to succeed. We all agreed that there are some high level Maaori students in this class as well as low level. We have a mix of strategies to engage and motivate these learners. In some cases lack of attendance is a hindrance to their success. 

Presentation: We decided to use adjectives to describe the class each term. The adjectives will all start with B because the core class is 9B. FHO trying to think outside the box for our presentation instead of just rattling off goals and anecdotes. We came up with a range of adjectives starting with B that we think fit the way the class evolved (academically and socially) throughout the year. Quite looking forward to seeing how other core groups are presenting.  

It's always nice to be provided with little snacks after a long day - the food was blessed prior to the start of the meeting as per the routine. 

Update: 13/11
The final Co-construction was held down at the Aratiatia Marae. We gathered in the whare kai for some afternoon tea and then headed into the Marae for each group to share their learning and knowledge of each Year 9/10 core group.
There were a range of presentations - was very impressed with the singing, rapping etc.!
FHO, RNA and I had a list of adjectives beginning with B to describe the class each term - we got a few laughs!
The Marae was a really nice setting to bring us all together.

Year 10 - Button Holes

Inserting button holes can be incredibly challenging for both the students and myself! Because there are two different types of sewing machines in the classroom, I decided that this group of Year 10's will learn how to use both machines to insert a buttonhole. The picture below is of the instructions the students copied down in order to use the Bernina 1008 - one of the older style machines in the class. 

There were mixed results - some successful, some not so. The students were in pairs and used a small piece of calico to practise. Some of the machines were cooperative and a couple of pairs produced three or four practise button holes, whilst other machines played up and frustrated the hell out of the students.

With 30 minutes of the lesson to go, I showed them the automatic buttonholer on the Bernina B330 - this is the quick method! They were astounded at the simplicity and the speed at which a buttonhole was produced!

In the past I have only demonstrated the automatic buttonholer, and students were not appreciative of the ease in which this method creates a buttonhole!

I have always got to remember to get the students to use iron-on interfacing to strengthen the area the button will be inserted, otherwise the fabric tends to get 'eaten up' by the machine!

Textile's EOTC

I was able to take a group of year 12 and 13 students up to Auckland to visit the Zambesi work room on Tuesday, 23rd October.

We left school just after 8am and arrived at the work shop by 10:30, after being stuck in numerous delays on the Auckland motorway. 

We were shown around the work room by Liz Finlay (owner/designer) and able to gain first hand insight into how the industry operates - and in particular how Zambesi functions. The students were able to see everything from office work to pattern drafting and garment construction.

Liz was a truly fabulous host. She kept it very real - she didn't sugar coat anything!

We were fortunate enough to get to view the Zambesi Winter 2019 collection and spend time looking over garments and discussing elements of design as well as techniques undertaken to construct the garments. No photos were taken during that point of the visit!

 Before we left Auckland, we went to The Fabric Store to peruse the range of fabric and notions they have. The store was much larger than we anticipated and we met one of the Project Runway NZ contestants!

If we were to do this again, I would leave a lot earlier than 8am - to ensure that more time is spent in Auckland - and possibly visit a Zambesi store.

This was an amazing opportunity for the students and they were an absolute pleasure to take. I'm looking forward to doing this all over again, and possibly visiting other NZ labels.

This is a pic of the blog post on the Textile's blog. I shared the link with the FFC staff and have been getting really positive responses. I'm also hoping they will look at other aspects of the blog!! 

This is the slide show of the photos taken throughout the day

Stars Guest Speaker - Rangi Pou

Rangi Pou - Guest Speaker

35 mins of Rangi talking about his experiences with drug addiction, choices he made at school; working hard; being clean 5 years getting ill (had a stroke - 6 months in recovery); relapse into drug use again. 

Interacted with students asking what they would like to do when they finish school. Rangi said a lot of inspiring quotes that related to the choices he made in life - how they could affect the year 9's. 

 "It's hard when you don't know what you want to do - you have no direction"

"Sometimes life throws a brick at you..." unfortunately he never finished this quote!

5 years of being clean and he went back to old bad-habits. Best mate used meth for 10 + years and then committed suicide. This affected him badly and he used drugs heavily again. Rangi considered taking his life - shaken coke bottle analogy about pressure - How do you open it?

Rangi's advice was to talk to someone about how you're feeling, especially when you're feeling low - deep down people want help - talk little bit by little bit and let the pressure out.

Rangi sang/rapped a really inspiring song he wrote about the suicide of his best mate. His lyrics were very confronting about his drug use and friendships. 

I think this guy was really great inspiration to some of the students and hopefully he resonated with the way they think, or the choices they are currently making in terms of friendships and behaviour.

Collaborative Inquiry Reading: What Research Says Abut Collaborative Inquiry

What Research Says About Collaborative Inquiry

Jane L. David

Teachers can make better use of data when they work together than when they go it alone. But creating the conditions for such collaboration is a tall order.

What's the Idea?

In collaborative inquiry, teachers work together to identify common challenges, analyze relevant data, and test out instructional approaches. The idea behind this approach is that such systematic, collaborative work will increase student learning.

What's the Reality?

Teacher collaboration does not occur naturally; it runs against prevailing norms of teacher isolation and individualistic approaches to teaching. Without specific training, teachers often lack the necessary collaboration skills as well as skills in collecting data, making sense of the information, and figuring out its implications for action. With little time and competing agendas, schools often hold unreasonable expectations for what teachers can accomplish.

Another common mistake is to make raising test scores the primary goal, displacing the more important goal of gathering rich data that suggest what adjustments are likely to increase student understanding.

What's the Research?

A growing body of evidence suggests that when teachers collaborate to pose and answer questions informed by data from their own students, their knowledge grows and their practice changes. Borko (2004) describes teachers who met regularly to review student work in response to a common assignment. From their joint study of students' strategies, the teachers gained greater understanding of their students' reasoning and adapted their classroom practices to this new knowledge. Gearheart and Osmundson (2008) report similar findings. They studied grade-level teams of teachers who created student assessment portfolios. As a consequence of sharing and discussing their students' portfolios, teachers not only deepened their knowledge about how to assess student understanding but also used the assessment results to guide their instruction.

Teachers could conduct cycles of inquiry individually in their classrooms, but they rarely do so on their own. Collaboration seems to add both motivation and value. In their study of nine high schools, Igram, Louis, and Schroeder (2004) report that teachers are more likely to collect and use data systematically when working as a group. When working by themselvens, teachers tend to rely on anecdotes and intuition.

The kinds of data available to inquiry teams matter. If teachers do not view assessment data as timely, or if they feel that it does not accurately measure student learning, efforts to get them to use the data fall flat (Marsh, Pane, & Hamilton, 2006). In addition, data sources must be rich enough to provide a basis for considering alternative instructional approaches (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999). Student work products or individual teachers' formative assessments are more relevant to instructional practices than standardized test scores are. Yet, district and even school initiatives to conduct inquiry often prescribe use of local or state standardized test data (Marsh, Pane, & Hamilton, 2006; Young, 2006). These data can point to problem areas, but they provide little guidance for improvement.

Several studies identify factors associated with effective inquiry teams. Two such factors are leadership and norms that support collaboration and data use (Marsh, Pane, & Hamilton, 2006; Young, 2006). Other factors that keep inquiry teams on track are sufficient chunks of time to meet, training in inquiry skills, protocols to guide data collection and discussion, and a skilled facilitator to keep the agenda focused on implications for instruction instead of "war stories" (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Gearheart & Osmundson, 2008; Ingram, Louis, & Schroeder, 2004; Nelson, Slavit, Perkins, & Hathorn, 2008).

What's One to Do?

Collaborative inquiry is among the most promising strategies for strengthening teaching and learning. At the same time, it may be one of the most difficult to implement.

The biggest risk in moving to establish collaborative inquiry is to do so without providing the necessary leadership and support. To start, schools and districts need to create a shared understanding of the purpose and value of collaborative inquiry among teachers and administrators. Other essential conditions include time for teachers to meet regularly and adequate investment in training and facilitation. Common lessons and student tasks that are meaty enough to merit collective investigation can serve as a structure for discussion.

Becoming an effective inquiry team takes patience and persistence. Collaborative inquiry is not for the faint of heart, but it can be well worth the effort.

References

Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational Researcher, 33(8), 3–15.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. S. (1999). Relationship of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24(1), 249–301.

Gearhart, M., & Osmundson, E. (2008). Assessment portfolios as opportunities for teacher learning(CRESST Report 736). Los Angeles: University of California, Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.

Ingram, D., Louis, K. S., & Schroeder, R. G. (2004). Accountability policies and teacher decision making: Barriers to the use of data to improve practice. Teachers College Record, 106(6), 1258–1287.

Marsh, J. A., Pane, J. F., & Hamilton, S. (2006). Making sense of data-driven decision making in education: Evidence from Recent RAND Research. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.

Nelson, T. H., Slavit, D., Perkins, M., & Hathorn, T. (2008). A culture of collaborative inquiry: Learning to develop and support professional learning communities. Teachers College Record, 110(6), 1269–1303.

Young, V. M. (2006). Teachers' use of data: Loose coupling, agenda setting, and team norms. American Journal of Education, 112(4), 521–548

Thoughts after reading: Under the heading "What's the Reality?" I don't agree with the statement "collaboration does not occur naturally". In my experience, collaboration has been a natural occurring part of my learning and teaching. As a student teacher, I had  three associate teachers that I collaborated with in order to meet the needs of students who Iwas developing relationships with. Collaboration has occured at every level I have taught at. It occurs when planning as a team, sharing resources, in meetings, and whilst teaching. Making sense of data is much easier when you are guided by a colleague with more experience. 

Staff Only Day

Staff Only Day Agenda

September 3 2018

8:30 – 9:00 – staff briefing and update of kawenata partnership and surveys

9am – 11am – Moana Brown – Restorative Practices training

11am – 11:30am – shared morning tea

11:30 – 12:15 – GHA – best practices for effective external moderation 2019

12:15 – 1:00 – COL update and the Collaborative Inquiries of - In school teachers

1:00 – 1:30 – Lunch

1:30 – 3:30 – Faculty Focus

Tainui  - Kauanata (our school was one of the first five schools to join)

Video: Waikato Tainui – Aaron Wetere

TCO – Tribal aspirations for Education and Pathways

-      80% Te Reo fluent – (Tainui). With each language comes its own Tikanga. The customs and the language are intertwined.

-      Connected to their Marae and know their pepeha.

-      Transition in to a meaningful pathway from education to employment.

Who are the partners that have a role to play in doing better?

Completed Waikato Tainui survey. 

Moana & Janine – Restorative Practices

Activities about learning and engaging students

LI:

Working together – Whakawhanaunatanga

Expectations:

-      Listening with intention

-      Being respectfully honest

-      Being aware of others wellbeing

-      Keeping track of my learning

-      Kaimoana activity handout

 

External Moderation Processes

GHA 11:35 - 12

Purpose: assurance that marking is consistent and students are getting a fair deal; to maintain consent to assess we have to participate; opportunity.

Assessment Plan

We get to choose the standards to be moderated.

Reports posted on NZQA

Review of reports (what changes need to be applied?)

Plan for changes (consistently taught)

November: We get to select the standards to be externally moderated – 10% of the standards – level 3 standards are chosen first.

Choosing standards – choose standards that are new to the programme. Can send these away early for feedback. Make sure there are sufficient samples of student work. Random samples are chosen by the HoF. The teacher is not to remark the work. Keep the work accessible to the HoF or the PN. Digital work can be stored in Teacher Shared. 

Make sure there is a mark chosen before publishing.

Physical Evidence

Stored in a faculty work area as determined by HoF. Access to the assessment task.

Moderation Website – this needs to be kept up to date.

Senior Subject Guide

                                                          

  

COL - update and the Collaborative Inquiries of - In school teachers.

Drivers of change - moderation 

Collaborative inquiry - coaching and mentoring other people. The programme is designed to build stronger relationships with FFC contributing schools.

How does collaborative inquiry look at FFC?

How are we culturally responsive?

Kahui ako - MCH

-      Purpose is to work collaboratively to raise student achievement

Research has proven that collaborative teaching and learning has many positive outcomes.

Kahui ako will receive specific training

Explain how you make the perfect cup of tea – with a partner.

The CI process – MMA

-      More minds, more experiences, more direction, more purpose

-      Genuine interest

-      Challenge and be challenged

Interested in finding the driver of change

GHI - Student Engagement
Where did we start? Narrowing down the process; finding the focus; where do we want to be?

SMA - Collecting Evidence and Data on Engagment

Focus is on Year 10. Engagement based on: cognitive; behavioural; emotional. 

1:30 Faculty - AFI & CBO

Stars-opoly

In their groups, the students and their peer mentors had the task of rolling a large die and going to the room/community group they land on to complete a task. I am representing Textiles, Hard Materials, and Food Technology. For Textiles, students need to stitch a button onto a piece of fabric and make sure it's secure; Hard Materials, they are identifying native trees, their leaves, and what the finished wood looks like, using a bunch of pictures; for Food Technology, they are separating egg white from the yolk. 

I was a little out of sorts for set up as it hadn't all been explained to me. I had to quickly gather the resources for the Textile's task and set everything up in C1 - a Food Tech room. 

Students are coming around in quite large groups. I have had four groups at a time and then one or two groups. It's quite hard to manage all the different tasks when there are a lot of groups in at once. I think one group pretended to separate the egg yolk and got the sticker from me in the melee that was ensuing!!! I'm trying to be vigilant. 
The kids all seem to be enjoying the tasks and mostly supporting one another!

Next time, I think it may help to have two teachers in here - not sure if that's viable in terms of relief.

This was the very quick set up that I managed to do in the time given. The Hard Materials task was on the teacher's bench at the front and the egg and button tasks were on the first two table groups.

Inter-Mountain Netball

It’s that time of year again!! Apart from the Sing off, this would have to be my favourite inter-mountain event. JHE has organised this year for student umpires and for V and I to step in where needed. Once again, I don't think I will participate in the staff vs students final - I'm too broken and cannot afford an injury!
As the lead Mountain teacher, I have been around to all the Maungatautari Waananga Akotahi to encourage students to participate and give them the details of the games. The lead students were awesome last Tuesday when I was away - helping to run Mountain assembly, handing out certificates and also talking about the upcoming games.
Maungatautari start off against Pirongia on Monday.

Professional Learning 30/7

Professional Learning - 30/7/18

BMA

Restorative Practises: Processes that we have at FFC

“If you want different results, make different choices”

Watched a short video: 9 quotes that will bring you peace when you deal with difficult people

Task: We had to choose a card from a deck of cards and sit with the people that had the same number/picture card.

Write down a behaviour/issue that we have experienced in class and pop it in the box - each group was then given three of these examples to discuss and identify ways to deescalate and manage.

 

PBIS: this is a website that can help you identify defiant behaviours and action you can take. The tiers would relate to our categories of mini/major/minor behaviours. 

A valuable lesson for a happy life 

In relation to our classes and the relationships/environment we create. If our classrooms are boring places and our lessons are boring - how can we expect students to show up??

Professional Learning, 6/6

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy                      3:30 – 4:10                      Cath Steeghs

What is the meaning of the artwork? The tiki is broken and lying on the ground; The mask of a white face is being held by a Maaori girl; whaanau is huddling in the background; Education is aimed at white people; She’s alone, whereas all the other people are supported in groups.

Cultural price for students at FFC? In comparison to other schools, I do not believe there is a lack of ‘culture’ at FFC. There are numerous opportunities for students to participate in cultural practices at FFC. The school culture is quite diverse, as well as the staff – How does FFC include culture in classes?

Where learning is interactive and dialogic (relating to or in the form of dialogue).

Te Kotahitanga (united with one purpose – enhancing student achievement)

New standards and enhancing student achievement.

What are the implications for my practice?

Student-Led Conferences                             4:20 – 5                           Richard Crawford

          What do effective learning conferences look like?

Why change the learning conference approach?

-          improving quality and quantity

-          strengthen relationships

-          moving towards student-led conferences

-          Moving towards Pouako centred conferences (?)

Staff Meeting

Staff Meeting – Professional Learning                                                 3:30 - 4:45

Increasing Student Achievement

Akotahi Pouako – coaching and mentoring our students by tracking student progress throughout the year and being able to inform them accurately.

Questions we ask ourselves: how can we coach our students through? How do we identify our students who are at risk?

SARONA - Students Are at Risk of Not Achieving

The data is collected from their level 1 and 2  - how many credits do they need to get across?

The Traffic Light 

Green - Passing

Orange - Requires a few more credits to pass

Red - Struggling to achieve any credits

These will be reassessed and updated every three weeks

Some students will gain credits through Wintec and Taratahi courses

The Power of Being Seen

"Students who don't form meaningful connections at school are less likely to succeed."

Research says they need to form a meaningful connection with one adult every day - SSU

Staff activity: moved about the room - four tables had sheets with the names of students from each Maunga - five columns, first one you ticked if you knew them; something personal; personal/whaanau story; academic standing; barriers to success.

There were definitely students from each Maunga that I do not know by name or at all. 

KMAR: students academic achievement tracking - estimating total credits at the end of the year. We had to give reasons for the estimates we gave, knowing that students would be able to view these - diplomacy but also transparency was required.

Whole School Staff Meeting

Staff Meeting 19/3                                              3:30 – 4:30

1)      Reviewing innovations – Waananga Akotahi - MCH

2)      Managing Assessment – GHA/AKU

3)      Strengthening Te Reo Maaori – TMA

4)      Planning for the year / PL and school committees- RCR

NCEA – Refresher – GHA

Consent given by NZQA or Industry Training Organisations to assess.

NCEA refresher

1. Consent : As a school, we must be granted consent to assess students against standards from NZQA. (Achievement standards, complete domains for unit standards)

2. Critiquing of assessment : your own or make changes an NZQA task, commercial ones need second pair of eyes checking the assessment task is suitable.

3. Internal Moderation Verification: no teacher works in isolation, credible grades, meeting the requirements of it consent:

·                     Student work selected purposefully (boundary grades), no set number of samples

·                     75% results goes to NZAQ

4. Authenticity: Publicly sourced assessment materials must be changed. No need to complete the same task or at the same time, Task can be broken into group components. Regular check points for students and teacher (monitoring, record keeping); submission of plans and drafts; oral questioning, requiring a repeat performance; use plagiarism software

5. Re-submission requirements: at grade boundaries, no further teaching and learning, soon after completion, 

6. Further assessment Opportunities: Only one further assessment in a year. Whole new procedure, Further teaching and learning, All students, Higher grade is reported. One more re-submission

7. Gathering evidence: assessed when students are ready, students can choose different standards, Different tasks or contexts can be used. Different ways of gathering (oral, digital, naturally occurring)

RCR – Read over and provide feedback to RCR about the possibility of joining a committee.

There is a possibility about Student-led conferences – however we need PD to manage that successfully. 

PPTA Meeting

13th March, 2018

Workshops you can be a part of - will see SSC

Meetings are only held when there is detrimental information that serves a specific purpose. SSC will decide if there are important things to discuss and will notify us.

Chair Person's report - 

Finance Report - No income for the year of 2017. No regional grant received. You have to apply - treasurers report. 

Autonomy in terms of controlling our own funds?? - Absolutely

Chairperson replacement - still SSC (love his swiftness with passing motions); Secretary the same; FO the same - LJA; H&SO the same - GSN; Maori Rep the same - KTU; Pasifika rep the same - MAN; NETS rep - ME!; Women's rep; Regional Rep remains the same; Men's rep - SSC.

NZEI have started negotiations for pay rises - fingers crossed. Negotiations are going on later in the year. Discuss with SSC if you have any ideas in regards to pay increases. 

3:30 this Thursday at WDSC the PPTA president and vice will be in attendance. 

5min bell warning - are we meant to let student's in? Discussing the communication between staff and colleagues. No we do not have to let them in, they can use this time to go to the toilet or get a drink. Discuss experiences across the school and hopefully come to a happy medium...

Meeting closed.