Positive Relationships

Positive Relationships @ FFC

14th November, 8:35 - 10am

Facilitator Belinda (former FFC student)

We began by introducing ourselves and sharing three facts - this was enlightening! 

Positive change office is in Greenwood St close to highly addictive Takeaways.

Started with Belinda discussing what she does and who she works with - a range of kids and adults who are in a various situations where they need support.

They learn about recognising where in their body's they 'feel' anger. Strategies are given to acknowledge their anger and recognise that they are in unsafe situations - "unsafe for me and unsafe for others".

Physical signs match up with their emotions such as throwing, punching, kicking, fast breathing and swearing (verbal abuse/harassment).

For our students, they need to find out where their safe place is. They need to know that they have a safe place and take some time out to work on the way they are feeling.

How well do we know I students? How do we manage that? Assert the boundaries, but also show love and offer a safe environment. Learn about their backgrounds and the environments where they come from/what they are going through.

Going on this course, students learn that their beliefs are what determine who they are, how they act etc. Their beliefs are what determines how they react in unsafe situations and what they are protective of. If for example, Whaanau is really important they will go to any length to protect their Whaanau.

Learning to understand that their beliefs can change and this is OK. O0ur beliefs may not align with a students or their whaanau. As a group we discussed what is our beliefs are and why they are important.

Communication Styles:

- Passive: Compliant, submissive, talks little, vague non-committal communication, puts self down, praise others.

- Assertive: Actions and expressions fit with words spoken, firm but polite and clear messages, respectful of self and others.

- Aggressive: Sarcastic, harsh, always right, superior, know it all, interrupts, talks over others, critical, put downs, patronising, disrespectful of others

Students identify their traits from each category and decide what percentage of each they are and what they need to work towards.

How to be assertive/submissive/stick to the facts: lowering your body position and sitting by the person. 

Use a compliment sandwich: Bread, something they did well - filling is the concern/complaint - Bread - something else.

We were given little bits of paper with scenarios - deadlines not meant/silly behaviour

Agree to disagree is something they need to be taught and discuss that it's ok to have an opinion. Accept that sometimes people won't reason with you - just work on not responding with aggression

How do alcohol and drugs affect our lives/whaanau? The kids were asked these questions and wrote their thoughts on a big piece of paper. Belinda shared the fact that so many kids smoke weed and so many of their home environments are immersed in drugs. Also discussed with the kids, especially the girls, how vulnerable they are when they are intoxicated and how they can look after themselves.

Te whare tapa wha. Both the negative and positive effects are discussed with students. Because this is also taught in our school, the kids clicked on straight away.

Power and control - domestic violence. This session is heavily monitored because of the sensitivity and impact on kids. Identifying that it is learnt behaviour - perpetrators are 80% males, 20% females. Abuse, family violence affects the whole family and also their pets. Discussing with the kids how this is not the norm in every family and how to ensure they are safe.

There is a increased chance of becoming a perpetrator if you are male and the male role model in your life is abusive and also becoming the victim if you are female and a female role model is being abused.

A safe environment is so important to these kids. 

Healthy Relationships at FFC

Negotiation and fairness

Non threatening behaviour

Respect

Trust and support

Honesty and accountability

Responsible parenting

Shared responsibility

Economic partnership

We filled in our thoughts on a triangle piece of paper with different titles from the list above of healthy relationships. Interesting thoughts from each group!

Dealing with the spectrum of attitudes and behaviours in our school can be challenging, so this type of PD is AWESOME!!

Healthy teachers and healthy students = a healthy FFC

Akotahi - Mahi Tahi

3:30 - 4 Meeting with RCR, RCE, MWI, CMA and I - JFE away

Discussed what we know - what is happening in Akotahi. 

"We need to ask good questions to get good answers!"

What is the goal of Akotahi?  It would be very interesting to see how staff and students answer this question.

We shared information about what we know about Akotahi, as a Pouako, Dean, HOF, Timetabler, and Principal.

Hunches - what we investigate

- Structure

- Academic/Pastoral/Mountain focus

- Support

- Attendance

- Tikanga Maaori

- Cultural 

RCE will be creating a questionnaire based on the hunches we had - to collect data.

Staff PLD

FHO – Write that essay

-      2 year plan

-      Target group: Yr 9 & 10

Post writing Strategy

After writing, introduce two rules (sentence with 18 words; reading aloud). This is based on evidence from research.

They need to think about the size of their sentences. Helpful for reluctant writers and ‘over’ writers.

Reading aloud you can hear your pauses and often come across errors.

The perfect student: these strategies won’t work with students who already write well.

Activity Ideas

Series of short sentences that they can recraft using the two rules- needs to be relevant.

Use work from previous students - apply the two rules.

Use an example of their work to develop as a class - split sentences up; count how many words (highlight them); recraft; highlight first two words; look at sentence starters...

Success Criteria: Develop the control of a sentence

Term 2 Target: All year levels

There are more workshops coming up. At this point in time teachers from ENG and SOS will be given this opportunity. 

Further development opportunity for another teacher to focus on level two.

Another workshop on paragraphing will be available later in the year - maybe one teacher from 

What do we do now - use these two strategies in our classes!! Discuss with our HOF's if we would like to participate in any workshops.

BMA
Pastoral entries.
We need to input pastoral notes correctly - we need to make sure we are putting the note into the correct category and including the correct teacher code/s. In group entries, make sure we do not use the students names - initials are OK. Professional language needs to be used. 
I feel like my KMAR entries are done correctly. 

MCH

Collaborative inquiry - second one can be moving on from the first (digging deeper).

We are using the six standards and links to Mahi Tahi.

Gathering evidence for our teacher appraisal. We have been sent the appropriate docs by email.

Gathering evidence shows that we have participated. Evidence that demonstrates how we meet the standards we keep ourselves.
Everyone will be observed twice, there will be PD on how to do this. Observe for 5 mins; write furiously for 10; observe once more,  note any changes/extra info.
Gathering evidence; making sense of the information gathered; discussed with the person you have observed.
Term three and four - digging deeper.

Updating the Textile's Blog

This is the image that I am trying to upload as the title on the Textile’s Blog. I'm having trouble with the size of the JPEG/PNG and resizing it to fit. I've spent some time trying to alter it, but definitely need help! 

Teacher Only Day - Write that Easy

TOD 6/3

Write that essay programme – Sentence Workshop

Andrew - His job is to give us strategies to help our students demonstrate understanding on the page.

“Put the child at the centre of it”

What do our students struggle with?

-      Spelling – inventive or just terrible

-       Focus – disinterested

-      Confidence (giving up because they don’t feel like they get it -

-       Articulating – vocab – subject specific vocab

-      Structure – lack of grammar – surface or deeper

-      Retention

-      How to start – confidence and interest - fear of failure – task is too daunting.

-      Understanding – comprehension

-      Deeper thinking

-      Writing style

-      Organising ideas – paragraphs – blocks – sequencing information – logic

-      Repetition

-      Paraphrasing

We were given the task of writing for five minutes on any topic, and then share our writing with a partner. There were common experiences that our students go through - unsure what to write – change topics halfway through – terrible spelling.

Precision, focus, knowledge

Concentration of simple sentences – we want our students to have an arson to show they are fluent.

We analysed our own writing, putting a double line by full stops and counting how many words were in each sentence.

The best way to change a short sentence is to introduce different styles

-      A very short sentence – 5 words or less (use this in the middle or the end of their paragraph)

-      ‘W’ start sentence - Use a comma after the W phrase – the start of analytical writing.

-      Adverb Start Sentence – write the adverb then add a comma! ‘Interestingly, the chicken is not the smartest animal.’ This helps them bring their own voice to their writing. Adverb start: Interestingly, desperately, surprisingly, calmly, and solemnly.

-      Em-Dash sentence – use 5-6 words if not listing. Adds ‘colour’. The All Blacks – fierce, determined, unbeatable – had a bad day at the office. Helps you bring in your voice.

-      Explore the Subject Sentence – double comma rule. Introduce an idea: The road, which was a popular route with tourists, was only crossed by stupid chickens. This is an analytical sentence.

“It’s not just what you say, it is teaching your students how to say it…”

Recrafting – empower them with multiple opportunities

-      Read aloud

-      Count the words in isolated sentences

Conversation - communicate in phrases – complete thoughts.

The burden of content should be removed from the child – isolate the skill (application of different styles) – use a model and ask how they would recraft…

Collaborative Short Story – CJA, SWR, BMA, MMA

Federico Elf, who was the star football player for Melville United, was struggling because he had lost his “football undies”

Surprisingly, this agitated his mother Jayne on route to Gower Park.

Whilst arguing aggressively, Jayne’s inability to multi-task became evident.

She ran a red light.

“BANG”

With a sudden jolt, Frederico’s dreams of beating the Pink Flying Elephants team were shattered.

Calmly, Jayne – with a Y – rang an Uber and fled the scene, along with her screaming son.

Uber came through, along with Lone Star “Redneck Ribs”; successfully getting Frederico Elf to his game on time.

Moral of the story – there is no such thing as can’t!

RECAP
Providing strategies and the 12 ways will enable consistency across the board.

Encouraging student collaboration when writing is a useful starting strategy.

Break down habits in order to relearn new ones – high achieving students are less likely to fell failure.

Staff Meeting - PLD 18th

FFC NCEA Achievement Data 2018

RCR Goal – To achieve the “national standard”

There’s been a decline

What do we know about the students who did not achieve Level 1/2

-      Who are they?

-      Where are they now?

-      How can we help them to achieve these levels now?

Collaborative process – Co Construction - is now called Mahi Tahi

In groups of five…

Four seasons in order – no particular ‘order’ was given so we popped them into alphabetical order.

Firm, friendly fair – what comes first. We all thought about what our classes look like and

JHE – Fair, friendly, firm

SKE – Friendly, friendly, friendly

CJA – Firm, friendly, fair.

MVB – What does it look like as they enter the room? Friendly.

Inquiry – what does it mean?

Data; cyclic; wondering; evidence; questioning; building on weaknesses; deliberate action; reflective; collaborative;  

Individual vs collaborative - Regular reflective conversations in a collaborative inquiry has proven to be the best.

Genuine vs Determined – Was there pressure to succeed? is it still authentic?

Compliance vs appraisal – Inquiry is something I do to tick boxes rather than be intrinsically driven – increasing our capabilities as teachers; choosing an inquiry that is unknown;

Timely or last minute – setting a goal for the inquiry and managing your time effectively; create checkpoints to support and maintain.

Value added – Something that I meaningful and helps you develop your kills/understanding.

The Spiral Model – Scanning (as an individual); focusing (come together as a group to discuss); developing a hunch about the focus (why I that? How do I know that? What should it look like? Digging deeper (come back and collaborate throughout your investigation – readings/assessment); taking action (deliberate and purposeful action to improve); checking (have I made a shift in my practice or in the learner’s ability?

Checkpoints – catching up with the group or facilitator. There are specific ‘points’ to check when you meet up – there are templates we can used.

Scanning – Junior classes.
- Group formations
- What needs to be completed prior to the final group meeting?

Respond to email about which group by Wednesday morning.

Templates can be found on Teacher Shared.

Professional Learning TOD 2019

29/01/19

MCH – discussed briefly about taking a 10MAT class once a week as I am one hour under. One 90-minute period extra, a week will entitle me to one day off a term. This will be discussed with RCR and a binding document written up.

RCR as a principal his primary focus is Student Achievement:

“Deliberate policy of what are we going to do about this – marketing and leadership. This is up to us as individuals.”

Enrolment based – Roll based data

Balloon blowing up 'game' - four participants with a card each, only one can talk (clubs). lungs (hearts), left diamonds, right spades. The person with the clubs card instructs the others on how to blow up a balloon and tie it up. The winner was the one with the largest balloon.

 

Scavenger hunt - in the same team, we were given a sheet with 13 pictures. We had to locate each of the items in the pictures and take a 'selfie'. This was quite amusing as there was some sabotage from other teams involved.

morning tea 10 - 10:10:40

BMA KMAR

“Uniform approach” to pastoral incidences - minor, major, crisis entries – this is to more accurately represent what is going on in our school. We need to make sure we are including our teacher code at the end of the note. Professional language is to be used at all times.

EOTC

Make sure the forms are completed early for the EOTC committee to review.

We have a generic permission slip, with a range of categories, to be filled out and signed by students and their caregivers. This will enable students to attend minor EOTC without having to fill out multiple forms. Anything over night still requires permission slips. 

First Aid certificate for staff. Could possibly take place after school or on a Saturday.

There are activity free weeks where we cannot take students out of school.

MCH Appraisals

Will be linked to collaborative inquiry - co construction. Two peer observations will take place. Docs can be found in Teacher Shared. Electronic links can be used. 

Learning Support at FFC - GHI
Identifies and supports students with high learning needs. Engages and support students, teachers and Whaanau. 
Autistic Spectrum Disorders now replace the term Aspergers. Take the Autism Test here.
RTLB: Resource Teacher for Learning and Behaviour
KMAR: profiles outlining students learning needs will be on KMAR. The little omega (Ω)

 symbol indicates they have particular learning needs along with recommendations etc. ORS funded students are required to have an IEP - Individual Education Plan. A mini IEP is also in place for other students. Any concerns need to be recorded on KMAR. Any concerns also need to be discussed with HOF's. 

Lunch 12:35-1:30

MCH - Pouako
Make contact with home asap in the first couple of weeks. Use this time to discuss attendance concerns with students - notify CBE when needed.
Senior leadership is going to be stepped up this year - Utilise their strengths!

RCR - Strengthening Culturally responsive pedagogy at FFC
Collaborative Inquiry - "has more impact on making greater change". 
Poutama Pounamu
Rongohia te Hau - A measurement tool that shows us where we were at any point in time.
Maaori achievement has declined. It is really important that we can tell the story of those that did not achieve. Where are they now?
A survey was conducted last year - observations of the data have been put into a report. "What is this data telling us and what questions does it raise?"

Mind Lab - Lisa
Postgraduate Certificate in Digital and Collaborative Learning
Their goal is to get young people in touch with creative technology. Student led, resilience, failure, confidence. 

"Gives students a lot more agency. building relationships with students because you are learning alongside them." 

To see testimonials click here

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.