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:

• 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! 

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.

Leadership, Kidsedchatnz & Sharing Knowledge

Three qualities that describe me perfectly are passionate, hard working and reflective but I must admit that there is a healthy dose of red-blooded kiwi male ego that is mixed in amongst these qualities and the many others that make me who I am. As one of the coordinators of @kidsedchatnz it's success has been a great source of excitement and reflection but it has had many hours of my life poured into it. It's similar to the time the time that goes into my Miss 2 really and as such, is a source of much pride. 

It's with these qualities that I have viewed the introduction of other chat sessions for children and when these people have turned to @Palmyteacher, myself and the other coordinators, all three qualities have been boosted. But @kidsedchatnz success hasn't come without great effort. Bouncing ideas the other day, Stephen reflected on one of the factors in this success - it's the team.

  

I've recently enjoyed the intrinsic rewards of spreading the knowledge I've gained from Kidsedchatnz. I've presented at the Edchatnz conference, helped Amanda Rogers set up USAKidschat and shared Kidsedchatnz with #EducampAkl and WAPA. We've been getting lots out of these sessions to help us improve Kidsedchatnz for the benefit of the students, this ultimately helps the teachers who use it as a tool in their class.

One of the most valuable lessons was that chat sessions with children on twitter need to be very carefully managed. A chat session that was attacked by the spammers would cause all sorts of trouble and if you're running hashtags, this is always going to be a risk. Hence, we use a subscribed list with Kidsedchatnz. Amanda Rogers, responsible for #USAkidschat blogged about her hiccups, including spam and it prompted my first foray into producing infographics as I attempted to share our knowledge. This feeds both my passion and reflective nature (and the ego).

Stephen and I have been sending emails, tweets and DMs back and forth over the last few days as we discussed other ideas and how to translate these ideas into what we hoped could be a go to resource for creating successful kids chats using twitter (How to Run a Twitter Chat for Children, attached). The result, we shared with the world earlier today (September 14th ) and we were stoked as it quickly found popularity amongst educators. It is a fantastic example of the leadership that is to be found in teams and what can be done when people are wanting to share their knowledge. My experience in life (not just teaching) has shown me that this isn't always the case.

The Kidsedchatnz leadership model has been highly beneficial to my development as a teacher, not just within the confines of the chat sessions and its planning, but throughout my professional and classroom practice. Keeping this thought uppermost in my mind will be an easy mechanism for ensuring that my students, peers and wider school community can all be kept empowered, involved and engaged.

It's too easy to hold knowledge close and not share, but there are so many others that have shared their knowledge with me that it is only fair that this favour is returned tenfold. Hopefully, I'll inspire a few others to share too and that would be a fantastic form of leadership.

Kidsedchatnz & USAkidschat

Kidsedchatnz is a great learning tool and as coordinators we’re always trying to spread the word to attract more classrooms to take part. Recently we were visited online by a US teacher who was interested in what we were up to. Amanda Rogers (@mitchellrogers) was so convinced by Kidsedchatnz that she has recently initiated USAkidschat (when referring to both they can be called Kidschat).

I’ve been asked lots of questions about how to introduce Twitter to classrooms and have blogged about it. But when Amanda begun the process of setting up a chat program for elementary children in the US I instantly recognised that I would have questions too as there would be a new set of answers due to the different environment she was operating in. While Amanda is responsible for creating the US version, I can’t take credit for that in NZ and instead owe my own involvement to @Pascaldress. My own role is as a coordinator & promoter though with 6 others, including Pascal.

This blog post is written by both Amanda and I, with her answers italicised before my own non-italicised answers. We hope that this post will help to inspire more teachers to integrate twitter into the classroom and provide you with some assistance for starting that journey. If you have any other questions about twitter chat sessions please feel free to comment, tweet or email.

Why did you first get involved with the Kidschat sessions?

Some of my system’s tech specialists shared an article with me highlighting Kidsedchatnz.  I had recently starting participating in professional Twitter chats myself, and thought it was a brilliant idea for connecting students.   I asked for access to the chat so that I could “lurk” and see how it all worked.  I was so impressed with all the authentic learning I saw there that I decided to try to organize a chat for US classes.  Our district celebrates “Cyber Safety September,” so I decided to experiment with a weekly chat for the month of September just to see where it would take us.

I was doing PD as part of the beginning teacher program at the Learning Network in West Auckland. They ran a session on integrating technology, Twitter and #Edchatnz were mentioned, so I quickly came to learn about Kidsedchatnz which must have been just after Pascal had started it. My role as a coordinator came about soon after Pascal needed to pass the responsibility to others.

How do you promote the twitter chat to other classes around the country?

I started promoting with Twitter and a Google form.  I wrote a brief description of what I was trying to do and tweeted the link to the form.    After a few people had signed up, I developed a website (usakidschat.weebly.com) to house a blog and all the needed information for participating. The Edutopia article that Stephen (@palmyteacher) wrote has also had excellent reach.

Kidsedchatnz uses Twitter predominantly for promotion, but we also use our blogsite Kidsedchatnz.blogspot.co.nz to post the weekly topics & questions. The blog gets an incredible amount of traffic every week. We have also promoted Kidsedchatnz at PD sessions across NZ such as Educamps, conferences and there will be a taster session at uLearn 14 also. Our blog includes lots of information on how to set up twitter and subscribe to the lists as well.

What was the topic for the first chat and why was this chosen?

Our entire purpose for planning this chat was to incorporate it into our digital citizenship curriculum.  Therefore, our first chat topic was digital citizenship.  This was also a good opportunity for the classes to get to know one another.  It went very well and we had a lot of great discussion.

I’m not sure about the very first chat ever, but this year we chose to talk about our holidays and what each child brought to the classroom. It was a great chance for each child to voice what they bring to the classroom and think about what they wanted their class to be like this year.

Have you targeted a particular year/grade level and why?

We target grades 3-5, however we invite everyone.  There were some 2nd grade classes involved in the first chat.  This is the age many students begin to express an interest in social media.  This offers a purposeful opportunity to guide and teach them how to use it responsibly. I also wanted to keep the age group focused enough that the students would share similar interests and be able to communicate effortlessly with one another.

We concentrate on years 0 - 8, the primary school years. There are other chats starting to evolve for high school ages in NZ. We have thought about running sessions that are more targeted but we’re not sure if there is the demand.

Why do you think the Kidschat model is such a great learning tool for children?

The major draw for me is that it gives students an audience and a voice.  Writing is not effective unless you have someone to read it.  Students are empowered when they realize there are people out there who value their opinions.   It also encourages fluency, as the chats move quickly and students are forced to read and comprehend quickly.  It gives them a purpose for being a fluent reader, rather than just because they are being tested on it.  Another wonderful facet is that the students have a sense of control.  They choose the topics and their answers guide the discussion.  This chat is preparing them for the global workplace and teaching them how to collaborate beyond the walls of their communities.

Real world literacy, children are reading and writing with a real audience. Blogging is fantastic but a chat session allows for instant feedback as their work gets retweeted, favourited and replied to. The topics change every week, which allows for children to engage in the topics that fit their personality or learning interests. We also use flipped sessions so that children are getting plenty of learning from each chat.

How popular are the chats and how many tweets can be sent in a session?

We are only a couple weeks in.  Our first chat had 10 participants, but quickly drew interest from other educators.  We currently have about 20 members, so hopefully it will continue to grow.

Kidsedchat regularly has between 15 - 25 classes taking part and can attract between 500 to 1100 tweets per session. It can be really fast-paced, but that’s what makes it so engaging.

How does the size of your country impact on a chat session?

Obviously, the US is large and connecting over 4 time zones is tricky.  We set our time for late in the day on the East coast to ensure that West coast schools would be in session at the same time.  There are conflicts with lunch times, recess, etc.  One of our classes ate lunch in their classroom so they could participate last week.  Some join in late or leave early.  We just have to be flexible and understanding.   At this point, most of our participants are in the Eastern and Central time zones, and localized to a couple of different areas.  Hopefully as we continue to chat and share about what we are doing, our reach will spread out to the West coast.  

NZ is quite small, with only 1 time zone. Even so, we’ve found it really difficult to find a timeslot that fits everyone’s needs.

How does your chat session fit within the curriculum?

With the adoption of Common Core standards in the US, students are expected to publish writing in a meaningful way and collaborate to solve problems.   Kidschat offers a perfect setting to practice these skills, while preparing students for a global workspace.

NZ’s curriculum really supports the Kidsedchatnz model, it wants collaborative, future focussed learning and is a rather broad document that allows for teachers to interpret the curriculum in the way that best fits the needs of their community. The topics change weekly and have covered all aspects of the NZ curriculum, naturally, every topic integrates literacy using a 21st century social networking tool.

Where next for your chat session?

As we are still in an experimental phase, our next step will be to determine if this is something that will become a fixture within our classrooms.  This will ultimately be up to the participants.  At the very least, the classes will have developed a network they can rely on for collaborating on future projects.

The coordinators would love to have more classes involved in Kidsedchatnz. We’re talking about some videos to showcase what a chat looks like and demonstrate the student voice behind Kidsedchatnz.

One day we may even be able to coordinate a combined Kidsedchatnz USAkidschat session.

#Edchatnz - so what?

The night before the #Edchatnz conference I was a ball of energy, with a hint of nerves! I was presenting for Kidsedchatnz and my brain was racing as I wondered what the next two days would bring. Last night was a complete contrast, the realisation that Friday would be 1 week on from was quite a comedown, there would be no F2F with my PLN no, no passionate learners sharing their knowledge, no hanging out with some of the most amazing teachers.

We all knew that taking this conference home , continuing the revolution, was a large task. After 4 days, I know I've achieved a lot.

I've purchased "Once Upon A Time". This is a storytelling game recommended by @gingamusings. We were investigating narrative storywriting, its been a tad silo but I'd been using context to make it engaging with lots of minecraft, Call of Duty, visual prompts from Write About This on Pinterest and plenty of free choice. But this week, we've added "Once Upon A Time" to the mix, as well as StoryCubes (Verbs) and Scrabble.

• Why? Oral Language is the foundation of story telling, some of my kids need help just getting their story out, others need to work on the flow/structure and for some just thinking about vocab and spelling is a big step. Its been full of "buzz" this week.

Collaborative writing: Having played "Once Upon A Time", 3 of my girls wrote a collaborative recount of their experience on GoogleDocs. We also took part in a small collaborative task started by @PascalDresse a round robin story using GoogleDocs, 10 classes writing 1 sentence each. I've posted more about this elsewhere.

• Why? The girls wanted to share something about Once Upon A Time and they asked - I knew they would be writing, in terms of Key Competencies alone I was happy with this. 10 Sentence story children were all chosen as they have problems with stories flowing.

Choice: We had the computers for two sessions, 1 each for Maths & literacy. During Maths I took a risk with the blank canvas & conveyed that to the children. I asked each of them to write their learning outcome for the lesson, they shared this with me through Socrative where I was able to download the spreadsheet of responses. Each child then attempted to learn using their own methods with the computer, I had kids visiting lots of sites for strong math games (with their goals in mind), kids on Khan Academy and other YouTube videos. All were engaged and most confessed they had actually made progress towards their learning goal. The literacy session was much the same, children spent their time blogging, publishing, commenting, creating & sharing.

• Why? This was a great chance to try the blank canvas for me but for the kids I know that everyone of them has different learning needs in maths, this was a chance to personalise the learning. I viewed it as a success.

Sharing HookEd.com: @CaroBush laughed at my gobsmacked look as Pam Hook shared with us during Edchatnz. I've shown several people the Rubric Generators on Pam's site HookEd.com they've given me the same look.

• Why? Because some of our mapping meetings have tedious merry-go-round conversations about what skill or verb should be included because some are too hard for different levels. SOLO and the rubric generators makes this argument go away!

Our principal was talking about digital learning, professional development and shifting your thinking. A great discussion and was supplemented with a model outlining reluctance through to innovators. I was asked to add my thoughts. I talked about three things: What, How, & Why. It's easy to find a new toy/gadget/app to play with but that it is understanding Why you have included it in your learning experience that is the real question.

• Why? It should be central to your thinking in all planning. Why does the student need this tool, this experience, what will be the outcome for their learning.

I've purchased the book Key Competencies the first book recommended by @Edubookchatnz which was launched at #Edchatnz, I didn't go to the session but I am definitely keen to take part in this awesome journey. They're recommending professional reading and providing a chat to share the learning, consider it an online book club for teacher twitter geeks like me.

• Why? Because professional reading is an important method to improve my teaching & professional practice.

Friday afternoon, @MrRuddtheTeachr and I are providing some PD on collaboration, connection & constant learning (aka TWITTER). I am a huge advocate of Twitter as a teacher & in the class and we also have 5-6 who are on Twitter but not very active, some are eggs because they don't have profiles & some chicks as they're not very active tweeters. But most are real eggs, they're not even on twitter. Its time for some to change that.

• Why? Connection, collaboration, constant learning, PLN, need I go on?

1 week on, I'm feeling pretty relaxed about continuing the revolution and most importantly that I've truly engaged with the Professional Development I got at #Edchatnz