8/12: 2017 Inquiry Overview

2017 Inquiry Overview

8th December 2017

As the year draws to an end it is time for me to share the findings of my 2017 inquiry. This year's inquiry was based around creating independent learners within my Level 2 class. I noticed early on that as a whole the group was quite dependent.  More information explaining the start to my inquiry process can be found here. A further post outlining the progress I had made can be found here.

What progress did I make?
I really struggled to find my way and start my inquiry. I was unsure where to start. Soon after I realised I was struggling to start was because I was unsure what an independent learner looks, sounds and feels like, therefore unsure what I needed to change in my practise. After starting to look into techniques I realised a lot of things I had been already doing in class were forms of strategy, for example the use of rewards and punishment for motivation. However, these weren't proving very successful.

From here I ensured to use student voice more. This was done through collating student voice via Google Forms on my teaching style and the learning activities I was using. This was to let them show preference of how they like to learn, what they like and what they want to change. From here when we were completing activities I was able to link these back to the feedback and why I was doing something in a certain way. This proved to be slightly effective but it also helped students to realise they didn't actually know how they like to learn. I started to reiterate why we were doing certain tasks. Students said they found more purpose in the activities when they understood why we were doing it. However, I soon learnt that this also meant that only if it related to the assessment that they would find it important.

Example of student results from Google Form

 I also introduced the use of Google Classroom. This allowed students to find all resources and notifications in the one place and receive email notifications about them as well. This meant students were able to spend more time completing their work rather than creating copies etc. Upon reflecting on this yes it made it easier for both myself and the students - yet it did not help create independent learners.

Another strategy I trailed was the Release of Learning. I completed this process when preparing students for their 2.7 assessment. This was completed as follows:
Part 1 - break down of assessment with teacher, what certain words mean, what are the questions asking us to do, what sentence starters could we use, example answers. Students can use this information to answer questions and complete PMIs
Part 2 - Students working with a partner to brainstorm answers to questions & PMIs
Part 3 - Students completing the questions and PMIs individually
Part 4 - Students are able to complete the assessment
I found this strategy one of the most effective. By starting with breaking down what questions are asking and what answers look like and slowly building independence students were able to see more clearly what was expected of them. I believe that this strategy and the authentic learning environment of snow camp helped to create the high grades achieved by the students.

The checklist strategy was starting to become effective but too late in the year. Only got the the point where I was creating checklists for them to ensure they had completed with assessments and learning tasks, not co-constructing or them creating their own.

Certain strategies I trialled I felt weren't successful as I brought them in too late in the year, such as  as ask 3 before me and checklists. I was trying to get students into these habits in Term Three. I feel like if I had brought them in earlier on in the year and set them up as a part of the classroom culture and expectations that they would have been more successful.


So what did I learn throughout my inquiry?

As my inquiry tracked along I found that I was already using a lot of strategies in the class that I was unaware of. In short some worked and others didn't. I learnt that by instilling these strategies as expectations and making sure they were very clear and consistent helped to create greater success. This is something I know I personally need to work on.
I believe overall it would have been more effective using these strategies from the start of the year and building them into the culture of the class as a expectations. I believe that it was harder trying to start half way through the year when students already had set ideas of these expectations.

Where to from here?

I really enjoyed this inquiry and felt a sense of achievement seeing it start to pay off in the classroom. Because of that I am going to ensure that I continue this inquiry next year with my IGCSE class. By learning from past mistakes and starting right from the first class I am hoping that the results will be more effective.

30/11: PD - Flipped Learning

PD: Flipped Learning

30th November 2017

This morning I attended another optional PD course as apart of the schools end of year initiative. This session was about flipped learning and was run by Lauren Lethbridge, a Classics & Languages teacher. She started off the session by explaining what flipped learning was and how she does it with her classes. Below are some notes and key points that I took away from today's session:


How to give content?

Lauren explained that her flipped learning journey started partially because she didn't like standing up and talking in front of her class as a teaching style and also because Classics is very content heavy. She created iBooks and Keynotes for her classes and then proceeded to turn these keynotes into videos. When flipping her classroom Lauren focusses on the students learning the content at home before completing the higher thinking of that content in class. This content is accessible in two different forms via the class iTunes U course - written notes or a video. This helps to provide students an opportunity to work with their preferred learning style. Each task is accompanied by questions to help guide students with their note taking.


How do you get students on board?

• Started the year by explaining what they are doing in regards to the flipped classroom and why they are doing it e.g. why it is worth while, receiving student feedback
• Used a Blooms Taxonomy task in regards to skills and levels of thinking and related it to A, M & E
• Students are given all info upfront so they can organise themselves e.g. if they are busy they can complete prep earlier etc. 10-15 min chunks of prep per lesson (80% of lessons). This can be completed can do it on one large chunk or small bits e.g. nightly prep
• What you do in the lesson needs to be thought out carefully and needs to be worth them doing the prep - higher level thinking rather than content, answering questions that arose from the prep and create your own questions. These were discussed this at the start of each lesson
• Up to the teacher if they want to police the work done at home. Whether you want students to answer questions in a Google Form or a worksheet that is handed in through iTunes U, a quiz at the start of the lesson focussing on the prep the night before or check notes. Lauren said that those who didn't complete there prep were excluded from the class activity until they had completed it and caught up

How to create a video?

There are a few different options of how to create a video. There are some apps and sites that allow you to create flipped videos such as - Screencastify or Edpuzzle. Lauren has even made a video to explain how she creates her videos in Keynote here (similar function is also available on PowerPoint.
Another list of apps can be found here & sites here.


How might I do this next year?

I am aware that the IGCSE Physical Education course is a very content heavy course, as are all IG courses. I like this idea that students will be able to be introduced to new content by learning about it home and bring their questions with them to class. This also gives me more of an opportunity to differentiate learning (one of my goals for next year) and also apply it practically in class.

17/11: PD - Quizlet

PD: Quizlet

Friday 17th November

As the year is coming to an end, we start to prepare for 2018. School has brought in the initiative of optional PD courses that are run over numerous periods in weeks 5-7. The courses are mainly e-learning themed and focus on a variety of different apps. These include; Quizlet, iBooks, Turnitin & Notes. Each staff member needs to attend a minimum of two courses, but as per usual I find more than two fascinating and have the time so I have signed up for five. 

This morning I went to my first session on Quizlet. I was interested to find out more about Quizlet as I am a lover of Kahoot and have heard they are similar. In short Quizlet is used to learn terms and definitions and has just brought out a new function of being able to label diagrams. As a teacher you can find, adapt or create 'sets' of flashcards. These are just sets of terms and definitions that can then be played in multiple ways for students to learn. These can include the following:

• Live - work collaboratively with your team to gain points, the trick is that the term that matches the answer might be on a team mates iPad
• Gravity – more game like, need to write the definition or term to try and blast the meteors as they fall towards earth (individual)
• Write – type the answer, term or definition (individual)
• Test – written, multi choice, matching etc
• Flashcards – creates flashcard sets
• Match – mix n match (individual for time)

Steph who was running the session, suggested that live may be the best form to introduce Quizlet to the students. It brings a collaborative and competitive approach to learning simple terms. The main differences between Quizlet and Kahoot is that Quizlet's live form is collaborative and unlike Kahoot if you get a question wrong all of your team's points are lost. This brings less of an influence on time and more towards getting the right answer. Sometimes with Kahoot students focus more on answering the questions quickly, rather than getting the question right. 

All of these functions could be used as a great form of introducing new terms to students, revising and also collating informal feedback on the learning area. As the free version of Quizlet does not allow you to collect data, this could be used for informal feedback or copies of the tests could be printed and collected for evidence.

So what are my thoughts on Quizlet? Overall I like that the more formal feel of Quizlet. It still has the fun competitive side like Kahoot but can be more collaborative and information can be reused in different forms. It can also be accessible for students when revising for exams. This app could prove really useful with the IG PE course next year and I am planning to use this throughout my course next year.

28/8: PD - Student Advisory Panel

PD: Student Advisory Panel

28th August 2017

As a part of today's Staff PD we had a group of students from various year levels who are members of our Student Advisory Panel present to us. After students from Kaipara College came and presented on what student led initiatives they were running throughout their school, staff and students alike were inspired to start here at King's College. As a result a Student Advisory Panel was created and approached one of our Senior Leadership staff to come and talk to staff about Student-Teacher Relationships. Throughout this presentation students covered the importance of; getting to know your students, feeling comfortable enough to ask questions,  getting to know your teacher on a more personal level, rapport in the classroom & staff participation in school or house activities.

Hotene started by giving us some background as to how the Student Advisory Panel was formed, who is represented and their inspiration. After the creation of the Panel they decided to discuss things that they all valued and what messages they wanted to portray. Key points that were highlighted were; students knowing that any mistake is fixable, feeling comfortable to ask for help and knowing teachers will approach you if you are stuck. He then introduced the students who would be speaking in today's session and what topics they will be addressing.


Importance of getting to know your students

• Students who learnt more felt more comfortable in their environment
• 4 main results due to having a student-teacher relationship:
• academic success
• less behaviour management by developing a relationship with disruptive students as no student wants to fail, instead you just need to find out what makes them click 
• development of self worth
• more productive environment
• How to develop:
• knowledge of names & pronunciation, ethnicity/cultural background, day student vs boarder
• Showing interest in students life outside of school - how was your day/weekend?
• Students felt that a stronger relationship with teacher resulted in better classroom environment, homework handed in on time and students felt they listened more in class

The importance of feeling comfortable to ask questions

• This particular Year 11 student felt like since she was new to the College that she wasn't up to speed. She included that she felt behind in regards to relationships with teachers and other students & teaching styles and platforms. This resulted in her feeling left behind and judged for having to ask questions
• She explained that since she was new people were more lenient in regards to certain aspects of school life such as handing in homework was late. This made her feel confused as she liked the extra help but also felt it was unfair that it was not being offered to the whole class and felt uncomfortable about her special treatment
• Another key message of hers was he importance of being open to allow all students to ask questions. E.g. don't single out new students, expect questions from everyone and specify when extra help is available outside of class (can students email, ask for help, have extra time, extra sessions etc.)

The importance of knowing your teacher on a more personal level

• This speaker addressed the importance of his teachers opening up about their personal life as he feels that he is able to develop more respect for his teachers and sees them as more of a mentor in their life
• Although stories may not be relevant to what they are learning they helped develop respect
• Sharing information about themselves on the first day helps to break the ice and show that we are all human
• Using personal experiences to help show practical examples
• Spending one on one time with students - sharing personal information/connection with students to help them through

The importance of rapport in the classroom

• Strengthen general collective respect for the teacher, individual rapport through conversations, have an environment in which
• Finding a common ground, maintaining eye contact throughout conversations

The importance of teacher participation in house/school activities

• Teacher involvement in school activities such as swimming sports & athletics
• Teachers showing interest in student lives outside of class

The idea is not to tell us what to teach, since we already know that but they are showing us how they like to learn

The aim of this session was for students to feel valued and get there points and feelings across on certain points. They stressed the importance that this session was not for them to tell us what to teach them as we know better. Rather, they were hoping to show us how they like to learn and feel in the classroom.

Some points really stood out from this session for me. An example is the idea that the more you give of yourself to your students, the more you are likely to receive back from them. I also liked the reminder that no student likes to be seen as disruptive or naughty and they don't purposely fail. Instead it is our job to try and connect with our students, to build a relationship and find the style of learning that works best for them.

Link to blog post regarding Student Agency from Kaipara College students found here.

19/7: Reflection - National PENZ Conference - Past, Present, Future

Reflection: National PENZ Conference - Past, Present, Future

19th July

From 10th - 12th July I was down at Papamoa College attending the National PENZ conference. The conference is made from a wide range of educators, from Primary to Tertiary, along with other external providers from the 3 key organisations of Physical Education New Zealand, Education Outdoors New Zealand & Health Education Association New Zealand. This year's theme was around celebrating the past, understanding the present and looking forward into the future. 

Across the 3 days I was able to attend a variety of sessions, present my own session with Georgia & continue creating many new connections. Like last year, I had many great takeways from conference and hope to share some of my highlights.

The conference started off with 3 key note speakers - Professor Ian Culpan to represent the past, Cameron Smith to represent the present & Helen Tuhoro to represent the future. These 3 speakers were a great way of captivating the theme right from the start of conference and are my first highlight. 

Ian is one of the creators of our current New Zealand Curriculum document. He emphasized he would be to trying to address the influences of what is happening in our learning area. This started with the idea of HPE being the hostage of politics, ideologies and cultural concepts through key themes of controlling and discipling the human body and normalisation of behaviour. However, he wanted to remind us that HPE is a learning area based around humanism and the development of people. Throughout his Keynote Ian got us thinking about how we ensure we challenge these 'norms' we are faced with everyday.

Cameron's key theme was putting the emphasis in the value of Physical Education not physical outcomes. He got me to reflect on what the role of a Physical Education teacher is, ensuring that we are putting the learning and sociocultural thought at the forefront of our subject and whether we are doing enough in our junior curriculum to cultivate critical thinking. He also gave fun practical examples of how our students could learn, in, through and about movement rather than through theories in a classroom. One example was how Deb Robertson is trying to get away from formal standardized assessments, so is instead getting her students to reflect throughout the units.

Helen finished off by inspiring us all through Tarawera's journey. Helen spoke about the importance of relationships and giving students hope. To do so at Tarawera three things needed to change; the people, the environment & the curriculum. This involved the creation of the MANA (Manakitanga, Ako, Ngāku-pono & Āwhina) acronym and asking the questions of what are we here for, what do we want from them and how are we going to do it? Key points that I am going to take away is ensuring that my students see the point in every learning activity and where it is taking them in the bigger picture. Key quotes I am also going to take into my practice include:

• "Great teachers engineer great learning that put the students in the driver's seat"
• "The first step to raising achievement is by raising engagement"
• "If it is not tough and doesn't challenge you it won't change you"

Tracey Clelland along with Rachael Dixon & Jenny Robertson's presentations also stood out to me. I decided to go to these as I am currently trying to rewrite the Year 9 Health programme. Tracey's presentation was around building resilience. She gave us some activities that we can take into our classes to get students to truly think about who they are through using 'the power of vulnerability' and how we can put the '5 Ways to Wellbeing' in action not only within our classes but our own communities. Rachael & Jenny's was around teaching and learning activity ideas around the topic of Alcohol & Drugs. This 90 minute session gave us ideas on what we may want in the unit and activities that can allow us to challenge our students thinking. These activities included; continuums, scenarios, identifying influences & PIPS. Look out for a future blog post to see how my unit planning is going and how I have used these ideas. 

Another highlight was Sara Hayward's 'Engaging the disengaged' presentation. This session stood out to me as it closely links through to my inquiry for the year of how to create independent learners.  Sara's improvements were made over 3 years with the same cohort. These findings were inspiring and being able to talk to others in the session helped me to brainstorm new ideas. Not only was I able to pick up on some new ideas, but it also allowed me to acknowledge that I have been on the right track in what I have currently been doing and that maybe all I need is extra time. Keep an eye out for a future blog post on specifics that I took from Sara's presentation and how it has helped my 2017 inquiry. 

Other highlights included Lesley Park & Alison Schofields presentation on troubles with marking and moderation surrounding Level 2, Mike King's closing Keynote and presenting my first ever PENZ presentation with Georgia on our BT Journey and the part Twitter has played (see her post on this here). Georgia and I also won a prize for our costume (pictured below) and of course we were both humbled when we were awarded with the PENZ award of Outstanding New Professionals!

Overall it was another successful conference in which I am walking away with new ideas and inspiration, new connections and having finally met other educators that I have been previously connecting with!

20/6: Reflection - Life as a BT Presentation

Reflection: Life as a BT Presentation

20th June 2017

Last night Georgia and I had the awesome opportunity to go and present at Takapuna Grammar. The presentation was to a group of HPE students who are just finishing their study at AUT. The presentation was based around life as a BT. The opportunity arose as Hayden Viles (teacher at Takapuna Grammar & tutor to the AUT students) contacted the pair of us via Twitter. He thought it would be a great opportunity to have his students' questions answered by current BTs. 

In the lead up to the presentation we were sent 10 different questions which had been collated by Hayden, covering key points from his students. We started by writing our ideas down on a Google Doc before transforming them into key points in a Google Slide presentation. 

In some ways the whole presentation was a bit of a surreal experience. Students were taking notes throughout the session and asking extra questions. Some were even asking for advice! By being able to share my teaching journey so far, along with my learning curves and experiences, I hope others can take away tips and learn from some of my own mistakes.

Overall the feedback on the presentation was postive - even receiving a tweet from one of the students who was at the presentation last night thanking us for the presentation.

So what was the relevance to my own professional learning by taking this opportunity? 

By answering the questions given to us it actually forced me to stop and reflect holistically on my first year and a half of teaching. Not all of these were questions that I had previously thought of myself. 

A second part was being able to give back. By sharing my experiences I hope that it may help others in the PE community. I would have loved to have received an opportunity like this before starting teaching. To be able to question a BT and ask them about their experience, it would have helped me feel more prepared. Knowing how much I would have valued the opportunity as a student myself, why would I pass the opportunity to do this for someone else? I realize that everyone's experiences will be different but at least you can enter your first year of teaching with some advice and answers, rather than unknowns. 

6/6 - PD: Student Agency

Staff PD: Student Agency

6th June 2017

For our Staff PD session today we had two students and a teacher from Kaipara College talk to us about their recent journey to include student agency within their school. They started a student agency group for Maori students with the key idea of being culturally responsive. They started with a student agency day to discuss what this would look like. What is it? What do they want to achieve? When they will meet? Key themes of what student agency in action would look like are:

• building relationships
• group work
• controlled but fair environment
• humor
• positivity
• fair work pace - not too fast
• having activities that allow students to move

Students organized a Whanau evening. They sent letters to family so they could come in and learn about NCEA. What is it? What are credits? How do you pass level 1, 2 & 3? The evening was fully ran by students. They also included a session based off Kamar results. 

They then held a PD Day for staff. There were multiple sessions which included:

• deficit theorizing
• this was confronting & uncomfortable for some teachers as they gave examples such as  a teacher growling a student for not having a pen even though they had pens on there desk, a student was missing for 2 weeks - didn't ask where they were and they had been attending a funeral
• Amazing Race for staff where they were graded A, M & E
• Whanau evening #2 - rang parents rather than letters, greater success
• Awards evening/success assembly - PRIDE awards, Ruben Wiki also attended, students MCed the night

They continued their journey this year and just last week completed their first Whanau evening for 2017. They rang parents again as well as sending emails.  They found the phone calls were more effective & drew in more parents. This night included 5 Pods, ran by students, and made sure to include upcoming events at school.

So how has implementing a student agency program implemented staff & students? Some examples of how they have been going are below:

• students interviewed teachers from different facilities to provide a range of different voices. They were asked what effects and impacts have worked for them:
• increased relationships including greater respect & partnerships
• helped gain extra knowledge & Maori students were more engaged
• cultural language = more involvement
• impacts on students included:
• Maori are more engaged and participating in class
• students personal excellence was being acknowledged even if that was even just an Achieved or Merit
• Interview with the Principal
• Why did you let the group happen? - stepping back from leadership to allow students to have more of a voice, in turn parents became more involved after seeing the development
• Effects of staff - teachers were more open to change. They sometimes knew that change was needed but they were unsure of how this would happen

So a key question is where do you even start on a journey like this?

Kaipara College started by addressing the needs of the students. It is vital to make sure students have the biggest voice, because after all it is all about them. They then ensured they focussed on pedagogical development. This was mainly through co constructing holistic strategies with both students and staff. This included what does it look like and how is it visible? They did acknowledge that having a new principal and faculty leaders may have helped to have created more momentum for change.

This PD session left me feeling inspired. It reminded me that although I may not be able to change everything in the school, I can at least ensure ALL of my students feel included and valued within my classroom. 

22/5: Reflection - 12 PED Lesson Observation & 2017 Inquiry

Reflection: 12 PED Lesson Observation & 2017 Inquiry

22nd May 2017

Today I met with Melissa to review the lesson that she observed on the 16th of May. She observed me teaching my Level 2 class with the purpose of giving me some sort of starting point for my 2017 Inquiry. The lesson observation can be found here.

So for my inquiry this year I have decided to focus on my Level 2 class and how to create independent learners. One problem, I have been stalling and have been unsure about where to start. I thought that Melissa's observation would be a great start to identify strategies I am already using in class and to make any suggestions of what to try or what I can change within my classroom and my own practice.

Melissa identified that I already have some great strategies in place such as making my students working for the answer and finding it out for themselves, rather than telling them. This was something I had not even considered before!

A couple of days after my observation I had my regular meeting with Alex. We spent this time focussing on my inquiry for the year. She helped me to realize the reason why I was stalling and struggling to start was because I was unsure myself what I was hoping to get out of my students. I knew I wanted them to be more independent but was unsure what an independent student might look like.

So where to from here?

Obviously before I can start applying strategies to my students to help create independent learners I need to figure out what an independent learner might look like, sound like & feel like. I will start with a spiral inquiry researching this. This could be through readings and also talking to other teachers about independent learning and observing their strategies in action.

After reading into what an independent learner is, I will research strategies to see what I may already be using and what other strategies I can try applying. I will aim to find 2-3 new strategies to apply within Term 3. 

22/5 - PD: Stress & Anxiety

PD - Stress & Anxiety

22nd May 2017

For Mentor Period today the girls had been asked to go to the Lecture Theatre for a talk on Stress & Anxiety. Staff had been asked to accompany the girls for help with crowd control. I was unsure of the buy in that this talk would get. I feel that when stress and anxiety is a key focus in Mentor Periods or Health classes some students find it hard to buy into conversations surrounding these topics.

It was our two school counsellors Karen & Paul that were running this session with the girls. Paul started the session by talking about what stress is and the difference between acute and chronic stress. I found this very interesting as no one had ever explained this to me before. Chronic stress is the type of stress that I feel the most. It is the build up of stress over a longer period of time. They then went through some of the impacts that stress may cause or ways that we might recognize that we are stressed.

After looking at what stress is and how it can impact you they went through the four preventative actions for stress. These included:

1. Good organization & planning - included planning your free time to ensure you get some time to relax
2. Analyze how you are using your time - this may show you that you aren't as busy as you think you are and you may find that you have more free time than you thought
3. Look at taking something out of your cluttered life
4. Practice self-care

I like that not only did they touch on the need to practice self-care but they also put a list of different ways this could look like. They also emphasized that self-care could look different for each individual. 

Other key points of the talk was how to deal with stress. They confined these to four ways:

1. Check the Balance in your life - the self-care vs stressors
2. Talk to someone
3. Keep the big picture in life - is it going to be important in a year?
4. Avoid over-thinking and negative self-talk 

To finish off today's session Paul took everyone through a simple guided breathing technique. He told us that if we focus on breathing in a stressful time it can help to trigger the nervous system and help create a calming feeling. The breathing exercise started with noticing the air going through nose and your hand moving up and down on your tummy. This was followed by seeing if you could hear the air going in and out your nose, allowing thoughts to enter your mind, acknowledging them and then return back to your breathing. Then you could start to notice your the emotions you feel and then return back to your breathing (can be done by counting 5 breaths). The idea is that your breath acts as a physiological barrier. When you notice what you are thinking or feeling and then return to your breathing it helps you to acknowledge these thoughts/feelings, while still feeling calm.

To also help encourage students to take control over their own stress levels school will be running a Mindfulness course. It will run over 4 weeks in an after school session. They encouraged students to try practicing mindfulness to them them to live in the present without having life being overrun by your thoughts and learning to control these thoughts rather than feeling trapped in your own mind. 

Personally I found this talk to be a great reminder that sometimes in life we do need to slow down and take some times for ourselves. I managed to take away tips to apply to my own life to try and minimize future stress levels. I also hope they open the Mindfulness course to staff!

Well heres to a less stressful future - hopefully!

A handout from today's session can be found here.

1/5: PD - Term 2 Staff PD

PD - Term 2 Staff PD

1st May 2017

Today's Staff PD was based around the idea of inquiry and appraisal. For a lot of staff the idea of inquiry was new last year and this is the first year that the school has built up an appraisal system, through the use of the Interlead system. The aim for using Interlead is that staff will be able to complete their inquiry and appraisal in the same place, while collecting a portfolio of evidence for PTC criteria. 

The day started with Judith, from Interlead, coming in and introducing the system to the staff as a whole. Before jumping straight into the basics she went through some key points as to why inquiry and appraisal are important. 

Interlead was created to be "a tool for growth"by intrinsically motivating yourself to improve rather than being told. It was based off a book called 'An everyone culture'. Judith also covered Professional Capital and the 3 parts it is split into:

1. Human Capital - the talent of the individual teacher comprising their knowledge, skills & ability
2. Social Capital - the ability of the teacher to learn with and through their professional relationship
3. Decisional Capital - the wisdom and expertise of the teacher to make sound judgements about learners (cultivated over many years)

She used this diagram of Tātaiako to explain certain points of inquiry and appraisal. An example is the accountability circle - self assessing around the King's Pillars in our appraisal questionnaire to create goals. She also said that due to us as teachers having more data is means that we will be able to lead the discussion with our appraiser in terms of how we are tracking and our needs. This could include you setting the scene and telling our appraiser how we want to be appraised. Whether you want an appraiser who is appreciate (which is 96% of NZ teachers), evaluative (gather data and observe for about 5 mins and then give the data back), a coach or a mentor who is good in the area that you want to improve on.

She also compared teaching as inquiry to coming 'upstream'. Important questions could include:

• What are you doing & changing? 
• Why are you getting the results that you are?

Judith explained how judgements are dangerous and gave some examples of how we may want to improve our own practice. These included:

• observing others to learn
• getting others to observe you in areas that you want to learn
• how can be open up to receive open & honest feedback
• final evaluation at the end/completion 

So what is the difference between an inquiry & a goal? An inquiry can also be known as "action research" as we research the unknown. Goals are the completion or the 'destination' and could be dependent on a school target for you and your department. Judith recommended setting goals & inquiries in the 'Health Anxiety' zone as we can then push ourselves outside of our own comfort zones.

When writing a new inquiry/goal make sure to write a question and end with a goal. This helps you to envisage the destination or end point. Then ask yourself 'what steps do I need to take'? Possible steps could include:

1. Collect student voice as much as possible and then taking their voice back to them to see how they want you to improve
2. Relevant research/professional readings
3. Visit other teachers
4. Invite someone to observe my practice
5. Get feedback 
6. Engage in professional conversations with a coach/mentor

Remember: "It's not about the person giving you the feedback, it's about how you react to the feedback"

She recommended the book 'Thinking fast and slow' by Daniel Kahneman. Judith explained how it gets inside the teacher's head where we have a fast brain and a slow brain. A fast brain is based on intuition & instinct (school's are a fast brain place). The slow brain is based on evaluating, analyzing, planning, reflecting & inquiring.

For the next part of the day we moved into department time. This time was allocated for us to focus on appraisal & inquiry. Our departments aim was to brainstorm possible inquiry ideas and then look at how we might go about some of them or why. Here is my brainstorm of possible inquiry topics:

• 21st century competences
• Visible learning
• Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
• Higher order thinking
• Literacy/language of learning
• Self regulated learners/creating independent learners

Unfortunately we didn't get to spend too much time on this as a department so hopefully this will be too be continued.

20/4: Reflection - The Power of Twitter

Reflection: The Power of Twitter

20th April 2017

Today was a really showed the power of Twitter and how great it can be for networking and professional development.

After waking up this morning I was lying in bed scrolling through Twitter. I came across a post about #ohedchat and that they were having a chat based around partnership. Since I have been putting extra effort into building three-way partnerships I thought what a great chat to try and involve myself in. After figuring out that 9pm EST was 1pm NZST I set a reminder and got on with my day.

My reminder went off (thankfully otherwise it would have slipped my mind!) and I got comfy to start participating in #ohedchat. The chat started and it was cool to see people over in the States introducing themselves. It was obvious that a lot of them must be regulars in the chat but I felt welcomed in as a newbie. I spent the next hour networking, connecting and discussing with others in the same profession just on the other side of the world. 

Key points covered in the chat included:

• why partnerships are important
• why & how students and teachers can and should learn together
• how students can lead their own learning that involves the community
• what factors can harm partnerships and how can they be avoided

What what did I leave the chat with? Not only did I pick up on interesting opinions and ideas surrounding partnerships, I also recognized the importance of community in these partnerships. Although I have increased my partnerships and relationships with students, parents and housemasters I have not really included the wider community. This inclusiveness of the wider community was a strong theme throughout the chat as well as the idea of schools supporting and giving back. I also was able to share small parts of NZ through the chat such as introducing the term of ākonga to others on the other side of the world. 

Overall it was great to be able to participate in a new chat with others that I wouldn't normally get to chat to because of different time zones. I was able to takeaway some tips and widen my connections.

Now that my friends is a snippet of the power of Twitter!

My Storify of the chat can be seen here. 

4/3: PD - University Entrance

PD: University Entrance

4th April 2017

Today's Staff Professional Development session was around University Entrance. The main aim of covering this in our PD session was to make teachers aware of the University Entracne requirements for both pathways and some of the complications or 'fish hooks' that can let students down. As a Teacher Mentor I also thought that it was important to up-skill myself to be able to help my Student Mentees, especially as last year I didn't have any Year 13 Mentees so I didn't really need to worry about it.

So here are some of the key points that I took form today's presentation:

Cambridge

Firstly I found the talk on Cambridge interesting. I still feel like I don't know too much about this pathway. Having only taught NCEA and having taken that pathway myself I feel quite familiar with the University qualifications so most of the information surrounding Cambridge was new to me today. Key points included: 

• UE generally available at the end of year 12
• Minimum of 120 points over 3 subjects with no D grades
• Numeracy = D or higher in IG Maths or Maths passed at AS
• Gained in Level 1 – if gained under IG and then swap to NCEA they loose this
• Literacy = E grade or better in AS English (D or higher for AU)
• Gained in Level 2 – if gained in AS and then swap to NCEA
• Tables for AU entry with CIE - one subject from each side of the table (tables are different for both NCEA & CIE)

NCEA
As mentioned above having gone through the NCEA pathway as a student myself and having to look into Universtiy Entracne this was much more familiar to me. However, there were still 'fish hooks' to look out for. Key points included:

• Numeracy = 10 credits at level 1 or higher
• Literacy = 10 credits (5=reading, 5=writing) through specific Level 2 standards
• AU = 17 English credits at L2/L3
• What standards in your subject can be counted?
• Subject requirements = 42 credits in L3 subjects & 14 in 3 approved
• Minimum of 60 L3 credits (+20 from L2 = 80 credits total)
• Rank score calculated – E = 4, M = 3 & A = 2
• Max of 24 credits per subject from a max of 5 different subjects

Upon the completion of this PD session I feel more comfortable in regards to helping to track my mentees. I feel as though I will be able to question some of their subject choices more in future one-on-one meetings. However I do still realize that I am not an expert in this area and will ensure that my Mentees know that to. I will still encourage them to seek support from our Careers Advisors.

A hand out from today's session can be found here.

8/3: Reflection - PRT Meeting #1

Reflection: PRT Meeting #1 of 2017

8th March 2017

Today was the first chance to meet with Melissa in regards to the PRT program. We have both identified that as a second year my needs are slightly different to a first year. As I am the only second year teacher in the school I am having individual meetings with her rather than joining in with the first years. We have also acknowledged that there will be certain times in which I could be an asset to the first years and provide some of my own advice or knowledge from my experience as a first year.

In todays meeting it gave us the opportunity to chat about the following; this year’s inquiry, last year’s inquiry, stress management and goals for the year.

Currently my idea for this year’s inquiry is to get my Level 2 Class to become more independent with their learning. Throughout the term I have felt like I am trying to pull them through their assessments and theory work. I am aiming to find a way to ensure they feel more responsible for their own progress and learning so I don’t feel like I am chasing them for not having done their work all the time. As to how I am going to do this - I’m not entirely sure yet. However she gave me some pointers on trying to connect my inquiry to things such as the school's strategic goals and pedagogical model, 21st century skills and other components from my inquiry last year & key competencies. 

In regards to last year’s inquiry Melissa was interested to find out what my focus was, what key areas where and the evidence that I collected. We discussed different aspects I looked into in terms of building classroom rapport such as culturally responsive pedagogy.  She said it was a great inquiry for a first year teacher and that I need to ensure all my evidence is collated onto my blog.

As for stress management Melissa asked me to recall times when I felt stressed as a first year. I was then to compare them to how I have felt in those situations this year and to try and identify new challenges I have noticed this year. As we had so much to cover in our meeting she suggested I work through the pages in my Induction & Mentoring Programme Year 2 booklet so we can discuss the things I identify in our next meeting. These activities include:

• time management e.g. what takes up my time (tasks and time wasters)
• stress management - causes & relievers
• impact on wellbeing
• extended support

And lastly we discussed some of my goals for the year. I informed Melissa of my main goals for the year which are becoming more confident on my iPad, greater parent contact and ensuring I continue to put relationships first. we spoke briefly as to why I choose these goals and then talked more about the parent contact. I told Melissa about improvements I could have made in regards to parent contact such as getting in touch with parents after interviews to give them an update on their child or to ensure I give parents warning before getting in contact with them about their child failing an assessment. Melissa agreed and also emphasized the need for checkpoints. She suggested as many as possible to help keep track of student progress. She also suggested that by sharing these check points with parents and keeping them up to date with how their child is tracking it will help to minimize surprises if they do not do so well and can increase support from home. 

Overall I thought it was a great opportunity to sit down and discuss multiple topics with Melissa and it was exciting to see the outline she has created for the year. It was also nice to know I had some direction as to where our next meeting would be going and some things to do before that meeting.