I'm walking into a new school tomorrow to start 2015. With my colleague Amy, we've spent a lot of time getting our heads around how will we work together? In this environment? With these learners? What will the learning look like?
Our principal asked the HPPS staff to spend 2 days offsite getting our head's around the direction of the school for 2015 but importantly he asked that we attend with our Growth Mindset firmly on.
As a newby at the school, it would appear difficult to not have the Growth Mindset on, you're environment is totally different, you have a different group of students and you'll be team-teaching in a school which personalises the learning journey for each of its students. You'd be excused for thinking that this is daunting and it clearly will be at times. One of the first struggles that I have faced I think most would battle with when you start at a new school or any organisation. How do you suggest ideas, concepts and systems without feeling like you're the proverbial new guy, the one who has only been there 5 minutes and already they're full of themself.
I think it is a natural human response to therefore sit back, let others become comfortable with your presence before being a bit more forward in meetings. By not sharing are you accepting your position, ideas and suggestions are of low value and is this a fixed mindset?
However, HPPS staff discuss the mindset regularly, from the perspective of the children as learners, staff as learners and the organisation. As a newby, I've been encouraged to feel comfortable with sharing ideas but reminded that I need to think of the Why at every turn.
Within this school, professional reading is highly valued as a means of justifying decisions but also seeking innovative systems and practice. Since securing my position I have completed plenty of reading, Mindset was the first real chunk, but I've also had to get my head around Hermann's Brain, worked through the Daily 5, and am now looking at Nuthall's The Hidden Lives of Learners. On top of this the management at the school are regularly posting readings to our innovation community page and blogging themselves.
I have really enjoyed getting my head around this new position and the time spent with my new colleagues establishing the new learning common has been a great learning experience.
Tomorrow the children enter their new learning space and I get to truly experience what it is like to be team-teaching.
I have a lot to learn about being part of a team teaching environment, in this environment, with these learners. But as I left school Friday afternoon and while I write this I am so excited about what this year will hold and the learning that is going to occur.
My growth mindset is on. Roll on tomorrow!
I currently am employed at Hobsonville Point Primary School where I work in a year 5-7 learning common, this is my 8th year at HPPS. I teach, lead and learn. Previously, I spent 3 years teaching at Henderson North School with a class of Year 5-6 students.
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Interview process = Professional Development
"We'd like to offer you a job...."
The words I'd been dying to hear since completing an interview with Daniel Birch, his staff and students at Hobsonville Point Primary School (HPPS). A statement that signalled the journey I'd travelled and the slightly overwhelming one that was to begin. The application process was one of the most rigorous I'd undertaken and even if I'd missed the job it could be seen as great PD.
The application process included many aspects:
1. Information Evening
2. Application form, notably including 1 page to comment on the statement: “No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age as the current generation”.
3. Observation of you teaching in your own classroom.
4. 5 minute Ignite-style presentation about you as a teacher, presented to audience of other shortlisted candidates, HPPS staff and selected students.
5. Hermann's Brain session with staff and students at HPPS.
6. Teamwork & communication exercise with staff & students.
7. Formal interview.
Even on the face of it the HPPS application process (the high school follows a similar system, I believe) is quite exhausting and no doubt puts many potential applicants off. In my third year at Henderson North, I'd decided that this was the year to watch for schools where there would be significant learning for me as a teacher, this definitely fulfilled all the criteria. I wasn't going to be put off by the application process although once I was shortlisted I quickly recognised how daunting it was going to be.
As a relatively new teacher my first wake up call was when I approached my principal to ask for a reference. While she supported my journey, she was sceptical if I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Had I checked out the school? Did I want to take some release time to spend some time there? I was convinced as I'd already spent time there during the BYOD 2014 conference, an Ignite Evening and the #Edchatnz14 conference, as well as having attended an information evening. I can understand why a member of an SMT would express scepticism, naturally they don't want to lose people for any number of reasons.
Once shortlisted, I approached my principal to discuss the request for some release time to complete tasks 4 - 7, and permission for the observation to take place in my classroom. I wasn't aware about tasks 3-7 when I began the process, naturally I'd assumed that an interview would take place but the rest was a complete eye opener. Imagine my surprise when I told my principal, she was wowed by the lengths HPPS went to, as in her experience many schools wouldn't go to that length for any position other than a principal. As it happened I was incredibly lucky that my principal was very accommodating, permitting the in-class observation and the release time. During the appointment process to fill my position and others at HNS, as well as my own journey, we discovered that not all principals were as accommodating.
Being a typical teacher, I over-planned the observation that would take place in my own classroom at HNS. Daniel's emails outlined the purpose of the observation, the relationship between teacher and students. I believed that it wasn't quite so simple, I was inviting my prospective employer into my space so anything could influence their impression of me (I'd been in interview-mode since the moment I attended the information evening). This had me critiquing my wall space, desk and many other aspects of the class. I was also being mindful of everything in my digital profile, as I knew Daniel followed my twitter account. For the record, the observation went fine from my perspective, my kids showed their charm and the wifi went a tad slow.
Like most people I get a little nervous before speaking to an audience of peers, but these were genuine competitors for something I wanted. Extra pressure wasn't difficult to find! I managed to find myself presenting last too which just ramps up the nerves. The presentations were definitely a mixed bag and highlighted the need to practice, manage your time well and be confident with technology. The purpose for the presentations was that HPPS have hosted over 1000 visits in the short time since opening, if you aren't comfortable with being watched, teaching there may be difficult.
Next step was a small Hermann's Brain Analysis together with other candidates and students of the school, clearly this gave you a chance to relate with other people including children. Hermann's Brain takes quiz answers and uses them to illustrate your thinking preferences. As groups, including students, we sat down and talked about the results.
The small group exercise followed, groups of teachers working on an effective communication unit. Brainstorming ideas, thinking about assessment and teaching points, most importantly I felt this was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the HPPS way.
Then a formal interview with senior management, I hardly remember the questions now but I always find that I indulge in a lot of post-interview self-analysis. It has never been worthwhile as it leads to a lot of soul searching and 'what-ifs'.
Evidently, I must have gone ok as I secured a position.
Whilst I think some readers will benefit from understanding just how complicated some employment processes are becoming, I don't believe that HPPS is indicative of other schools and it appears that you really have to be prepared to put yourself out there. All opportunities to engage in PD and share your own learning are helping you towards that next position, I'd delivered several presentations by the time I delivered this one so it wasn't as daunting as it may have been. For new teachers especially, I think being involved in an interview process such as this has to be beneficial, it definitely challenges you and demands the growth mindset that we ask of our students.
If I hadn't secured a position there would still have been benefits for my PD:
The words I'd been dying to hear since completing an interview with Daniel Birch, his staff and students at Hobsonville Point Primary School (HPPS). A statement that signalled the journey I'd travelled and the slightly overwhelming one that was to begin. The application process was one of the most rigorous I'd undertaken and even if I'd missed the job it could be seen as great PD.
The application process included many aspects:
1. Information Evening
2. Application form, notably including 1 page to comment on the statement: “No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age as the current generation”.
3. Observation of you teaching in your own classroom.
4. 5 minute Ignite-style presentation about you as a teacher, presented to audience of other shortlisted candidates, HPPS staff and selected students.
5. Hermann's Brain session with staff and students at HPPS.
6. Teamwork & communication exercise with staff & students.
7. Formal interview.
Even on the face of it the HPPS application process (the high school follows a similar system, I believe) is quite exhausting and no doubt puts many potential applicants off. In my third year at Henderson North, I'd decided that this was the year to watch for schools where there would be significant learning for me as a teacher, this definitely fulfilled all the criteria. I wasn't going to be put off by the application process although once I was shortlisted I quickly recognised how daunting it was going to be.
As a relatively new teacher my first wake up call was when I approached my principal to ask for a reference. While she supported my journey, she was sceptical if I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Had I checked out the school? Did I want to take some release time to spend some time there? I was convinced as I'd already spent time there during the BYOD 2014 conference, an Ignite Evening and the #Edchatnz14 conference, as well as having attended an information evening. I can understand why a member of an SMT would express scepticism, naturally they don't want to lose people for any number of reasons.
Once shortlisted, I approached my principal to discuss the request for some release time to complete tasks 4 - 7, and permission for the observation to take place in my classroom. I wasn't aware about tasks 3-7 when I began the process, naturally I'd assumed that an interview would take place but the rest was a complete eye opener. Imagine my surprise when I told my principal, she was wowed by the lengths HPPS went to, as in her experience many schools wouldn't go to that length for any position other than a principal. As it happened I was incredibly lucky that my principal was very accommodating, permitting the in-class observation and the release time. During the appointment process to fill my position and others at HNS, as well as my own journey, we discovered that not all principals were as accommodating.
Being a typical teacher, I over-planned the observation that would take place in my own classroom at HNS. Daniel's emails outlined the purpose of the observation, the relationship between teacher and students. I believed that it wasn't quite so simple, I was inviting my prospective employer into my space so anything could influence their impression of me (I'd been in interview-mode since the moment I attended the information evening). This had me critiquing my wall space, desk and many other aspects of the class. I was also being mindful of everything in my digital profile, as I knew Daniel followed my twitter account. For the record, the observation went fine from my perspective, my kids showed their charm and the wifi went a tad slow.
Like most people I get a little nervous before speaking to an audience of peers, but these were genuine competitors for something I wanted. Extra pressure wasn't difficult to find! I managed to find myself presenting last too which just ramps up the nerves. The presentations were definitely a mixed bag and highlighted the need to practice, manage your time well and be confident with technology. The purpose for the presentations was that HPPS have hosted over 1000 visits in the short time since opening, if you aren't comfortable with being watched, teaching there may be difficult.
Next step was a small Hermann's Brain Analysis together with other candidates and students of the school, clearly this gave you a chance to relate with other people including children. Hermann's Brain takes quiz answers and uses them to illustrate your thinking preferences. As groups, including students, we sat down and talked about the results.The small group exercise followed, groups of teachers working on an effective communication unit. Brainstorming ideas, thinking about assessment and teaching points, most importantly I felt this was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the HPPS way.
Then a formal interview with senior management, I hardly remember the questions now but I always find that I indulge in a lot of post-interview self-analysis. It has never been worthwhile as it leads to a lot of soul searching and 'what-ifs'.
Evidently, I must have gone ok as I secured a position.
Whilst I think some readers will benefit from understanding just how complicated some employment processes are becoming, I don't believe that HPPS is indicative of other schools and it appears that you really have to be prepared to put yourself out there. All opportunities to engage in PD and share your own learning are helping you towards that next position, I'd delivered several presentations by the time I delivered this one so it wasn't as daunting as it may have been. For new teachers especially, I think being involved in an interview process such as this has to be beneficial, it definitely challenges you and demands the growth mindset that we ask of our students.
If I hadn't secured a position there would still have been benefits for my PD:
- Casting a slightly different critical eye over my own classroom and its machinations led to some changes in wall displays, teaching styles, and classroom management of some students.
- Representing myself as a teacher in a presentation was challenging. What do you include (or not)? In hindsight it was a great reflection tool and it was no wonder that it took ages to prepare.
- Visiting schools is always valuable, this process involved time at HPPS with and without students, did I have more ideas for my classroom? Absolutely.
- The Hermann's Brain analysis was interesting, although we didn't complete a full diagnostic test it did help me to understand my own thinking and that of others slightly better. HPPS use a full test to help staff but that's another whole post!
- Writing on the Industrial Revolution helped cement some of my own views on current teaching practices and made me question the direction that some units/topics take within the classroom.
- On a personal note, I found it invigorating to refresh my CV, meet others who were challenging themselves by applying and just talking with these people.
So I have a new job, I began the induction process shortly after being told I was a successful applicant as Daniel shared some suggested reading lists. We then spent two days doing induction during term 4, as well as a meeting or two after school. There are high demands, but that was part of the attraction. My growth mindset is definitely switched on!
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Rethinking a Twitter disaster
Picture a classroom with 14-15 devices with children busy taking part in a chat session with over 1200 tweets and 25 classes participating. Add to it their classroom teacher who is moderating the session, its the last 10-15 minutes of the day so the class is starting to pack up and those who have been in another part of the school are filtering in excitedly. Sounds like chaos! This is the situation I found myself in last Thursday as my colleague entered the room to expose a "F-bomb" that had just been launched by my class in the chat session. I scrolled to the top and there it was for all to see, lobbed casually into cyberspace with no other tweet content so the intent and meaning of the message were in plain sight.
With devices shut down and class packed I let my them know I was disappointed and angry. They left school knowing they weren't to bring devices the following day as a trust issue had arisen. I had quickly been able to rule out several kids based on duties or responsibilities that had them out of the classroom, but this still left a large pool of students.
After school I spoke with my colleague, our IT support and the DP. Removing devices, a renewed focus on digital safety and mention of hunting for the IP address would all be used to attempt to find the culprit. The kids had been in peers, there was hope that 1 would come forward. Talking with Stephen Baker, another Kidsedchatnz coordinator, he supported the tactics but didn't envy the position.
The next day, they were asked to write apology letters and discuss digital safety. No further progress was made as to a culprit. It's fair to say that I was bitterly disappointed for both Kidsedchatnz, the classes exposed to this, the innocent parties in the room and our school. We had misrepresented our class, school and enthusiasm for BYOD and eLearning.
That weekend as I reflected I decided that I should apologise to them. I had partly contributed to this situation through trying to do too much. Over time we had been using more & more devices during a chat session. By having so many participating it made it more difficult to monitor what each group was doing, it only took 1 child to push the limits. A lot of thought perhaps over 1 word, a word that is all over our television screens, but our RTC require us to keep our students safe. I owed my students and others participating honest reflection of my own role in this.
Monday morning I spoke to the class about my role in this and apologised but stressed that I was still disappointed. We followed this up by investigating the power of the internet by focussing on what takes place in 1 minute and then sent out a simple message to investigate the reach of just 1 tweet. We have have discussed Digital Safety many times, but this lesson appeared to really resonate.
When the class had a look Tuesday afternoon, the potential viewers based on 21 Retweets was between 25 - 35,000 followers. They were blown away by the magnitude and 2 astute children likened the spread of a tweet to that of a virus.
Tuesday night I reflected on 2 days of device-free learning that had gone very well with plenty of engagement, choice, learning and student voice, I reached a shocking conclusion. I am convinced that I had moved away from effective use of the devices! However, the shift was so incremental that I hadn't noticed and it was only a complete removal of devices that highlighted this. This begs a question that I can not answer fully right now and brings me to the purpose of this post. What are the symptoms of ineffective use of technology that I should have noticed?
Clues that I have identified in my reflection:
There is plenty of material discussing the point that eLearning should have the "e" removed, it is still effective pedagogy that drives the use of technology. I'm not a 'tool driven' user of technology and have experienced much success with technology so I am a little frustrated by this realisation. I'd appreciate some feedback on other indicators of ineffective use of technology, especially anything going beyond the 'why' a certain tool is being used.
With devices shut down and class packed I let my them know I was disappointed and angry. They left school knowing they weren't to bring devices the following day as a trust issue had arisen. I had quickly been able to rule out several kids based on duties or responsibilities that had them out of the classroom, but this still left a large pool of students.
After school I spoke with my colleague, our IT support and the DP. Removing devices, a renewed focus on digital safety and mention of hunting for the IP address would all be used to attempt to find the culprit. The kids had been in peers, there was hope that 1 would come forward. Talking with Stephen Baker, another Kidsedchatnz coordinator, he supported the tactics but didn't envy the position.
The next day, they were asked to write apology letters and discuss digital safety. No further progress was made as to a culprit. It's fair to say that I was bitterly disappointed for both Kidsedchatnz, the classes exposed to this, the innocent parties in the room and our school. We had misrepresented our class, school and enthusiasm for BYOD and eLearning.
That weekend as I reflected I decided that I should apologise to them. I had partly contributed to this situation through trying to do too much. Over time we had been using more & more devices during a chat session. By having so many participating it made it more difficult to monitor what each group was doing, it only took 1 child to push the limits. A lot of thought perhaps over 1 word, a word that is all over our television screens, but our RTC require us to keep our students safe. I owed my students and others participating honest reflection of my own role in this.Monday morning I spoke to the class about my role in this and apologised but stressed that I was still disappointed. We followed this up by investigating the power of the internet by focussing on what takes place in 1 minute and then sent out a simple message to investigate the reach of just 1 tweet. We have have discussed Digital Safety many times, but this lesson appeared to really resonate.
When the class had a look Tuesday afternoon, the potential viewers based on 21 Retweets was between 25 - 35,000 followers. They were blown away by the magnitude and 2 astute children likened the spread of a tweet to that of a virus.
Tuesday night I reflected on 2 days of device-free learning that had gone very well with plenty of engagement, choice, learning and student voice, I reached a shocking conclusion. I am convinced that I had moved away from effective use of the devices! However, the shift was so incremental that I hadn't noticed and it was only a complete removal of devices that highlighted this. This begs a question that I can not answer fully right now and brings me to the purpose of this post. What are the symptoms of ineffective use of technology that I should have noticed?
Clues that I have identified in my reflection:
- A group of students that were seeking every opportunity to complete a learning task, but still not completing it.
- Angst & disagreement between group members while completing tasks.
- Tasks that were getting little to no feedback/forward or teacher support.
- The tweet & inappropriate language suggests that they weren't being supervised or that I ought to have paired the students more effectively.
There is plenty of material discussing the point that eLearning should have the "e" removed, it is still effective pedagogy that drives the use of technology. I'm not a 'tool driven' user of technology and have experienced much success with technology so I am a little frustrated by this realisation. I'd appreciate some feedback on other indicators of ineffective use of technology, especially anything going beyond the 'why' a certain tool is being used.
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
#Kidsedchatnz special chat session for Connected Educator Month
To celebrate Connected Educator Month the coordinators at Kidsedchatnz agreed that it would be fantastic to host a twitter chat session to connect all of the amazing teachers who have their classes take part. It would also serve as a great tool to help any teachers who were considering having their class join us in our regular Thursday slot.I'm definitely glad that we chose to do this, there were some great answers that came through and definitely make us as a team think about some of the things we're doing. A couple of new tools will be added to our arsenal of resources to make Kidsedchatnz so useful for teachers and the best thing was learning that so many of our participants are using their children's involvement in Kidsedchatnz as part of their assessment and end of year reports.
The following is an archive of the chat session:
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Connecting as an educator
Are you staggered that we are now approaching mid-October, the T3 holidays are over and we're part way through Connected Educator Month? It's commonly stated that time flies when you're having fun, maybe it should read time flies when you're connected!
I'm just approaching the end of Carol Dweck's Mindset, this book was first suggested to me as I reflected on praise in my classroom and most recently has become required reading for a position I'll be starting next year. I've found it difficult to think about a review for this book as I've seriously tried to adopt a growth mindset in the classroom but think CEM14 probably summarises my mindset better than actually reflecting on the book.
T3 has been crazy busy for me, it started with EducampAkl and Edchatnz (both blogged here EducampAkld post Edchatnz post). I've applied for and secured a job at another school (Hobsonville Point Primary School), this was an intensive process and deserves a blog post in its own right as any other teacher at either the primary or secondary will attest. I then concluded the term with a visit to Rotorua for EducampMinecraft (blog post). Not satisfied with this level of professional development I've used the holidays to contribute to a Minecraft in the Classroom GHO, moderated the inaugural #Primedchatnz twitter session to support @mrjhopkins GHO with Graham Watts, taken part in the 1st KC4F chat (book review here) and watched several more webinars. I believe that I must have been rather tweety during this time and the Ulearn conference as I've secured close to 70 new followers over this time. As a virtual attendee, one of my highlights was +Juliet Revell presenting a Kidsedchatnz taster session and some of the many tweets we got afterwards about Kidsedchatnz, my favourite collaboration, hopefully it will be seeing an upsurge in participants this term.
This week, I've also facilitated a callback day at HNS based on the Educamp model, I believe that this also was quite successful as I am sure that I saw some teachers with more of fixed mindset start to shift by being able to reach 'low hanging fruit'. For some of our staff this was the first they'd heard of CEM14, but I was pleased that many furiously wrote down the website as explained it's benefits.
None of this would be possible or as close to as engaging without adopting a growth mindset that finds an outlet through connection and collaboration. Hence, so much blogging to reflect on all this PD.
On Tuesday I'll be hosting a twitter chat to support Kidsedchatnz during CEM14, we're hoping to attract current users of Kidsedchatnz as well as many more teachers who are interested in trying it out or just want to know more. I believe that we'll get a lot of useful feedback for Kidsedchatnz and make it an even better learning experience for students and teachers.
It has been a busy few weeks of connecting & collaborating, this will definitely continue throughout term 4 as Kidsedchatnz and #Primedchatnz both have lofty goals in the short term while my own class continues its own journey through twitter, blogging and minecraft. We have to make some more connections so that we can collaborate on projects but like everything, that's a work in progress too.
I'm just approaching the end of Carol Dweck's Mindset, this book was first suggested to me as I reflected on praise in my classroom and most recently has become required reading for a position I'll be starting next year. I've found it difficult to think about a review for this book as I've seriously tried to adopt a growth mindset in the classroom but think CEM14 probably summarises my mindset better than actually reflecting on the book.
T3 has been crazy busy for me, it started with EducampAkl and Edchatnz (both blogged here EducampAkld post Edchatnz post). I've applied for and secured a job at another school (Hobsonville Point Primary School), this was an intensive process and deserves a blog post in its own right as any other teacher at either the primary or secondary will attest. I then concluded the term with a visit to Rotorua for EducampMinecraft (blog post). Not satisfied with this level of professional development I've used the holidays to contribute to a Minecraft in the Classroom GHO, moderated the inaugural #Primedchatnz twitter session to support @mrjhopkins GHO with Graham Watts, taken part in the 1st KC4F chat (book review here) and watched several more webinars. I believe that I must have been rather tweety during this time and the Ulearn conference as I've secured close to 70 new followers over this time. As a virtual attendee, one of my highlights was +Juliet Revell presenting a Kidsedchatnz taster session and some of the many tweets we got afterwards about Kidsedchatnz, my favourite collaboration, hopefully it will be seeing an upsurge in participants this term.
This week, I've also facilitated a callback day at HNS based on the Educamp model, I believe that this also was quite successful as I am sure that I saw some teachers with more of fixed mindset start to shift by being able to reach 'low hanging fruit'. For some of our staff this was the first they'd heard of CEM14, but I was pleased that many furiously wrote down the website as explained it's benefits.
None of this would be possible or as close to as engaging without adopting a growth mindset that finds an outlet through connection and collaboration. Hence, so much blogging to reflect on all this PD.
On Tuesday I'll be hosting a twitter chat to support Kidsedchatnz during CEM14, we're hoping to attract current users of Kidsedchatnz as well as many more teachers who are interested in trying it out or just want to know more. I believe that we'll get a lot of useful feedback for Kidsedchatnz and make it an even better learning experience for students and teachers.
It has been a busy few weeks of connecting & collaborating, this will definitely continue throughout term 4 as Kidsedchatnz and #Primedchatnz both have lofty goals in the short term while my own class continues its own journey through twitter, blogging and minecraft. We have to make some more connections so that we can collaborate on projects but like everything, that's a work in progress too.
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