Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Education is not broken...

I just have to post this link...

http://www.connectedprincipals.com/archives/3519

educampdunners

Following on from my mention of the desire to see an educamp happen in Dunedin, Claire and I got together on Saturday and skyped into educampwelly.  We weren't very successful with our connection but we had an awesome time and learnt loads from the twitter feed and the writeups.  We just got so hyped about the whole experience and now educampdunners is happening...

http://educampdunners2011.wikispaces.com/Home

It was incredibly fun to collaborate and set up the wiki and now the ball really is rolling.  We have a number of attendees signed up already and we are now gearing up for a very exciting time!!!!

e-teach

Tania and I met at the Esplanade at St Clair and marvelled over the high tides surging over the walls.


Then we enjoyed a great catch up with lunch and a coffee at SWELL. 
Then we met at St Clair school in Dunedin for our e-teach session.  We had a wonderful tour around St Clair school and marvelled at the new learning environment.



It is always so incredible to get together with like-minded people.  I always come away from these sessions so enthused and invigorated. 

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Master's journey...

It doesn't feel real yet, but I have finished the assignments for my Master's of Educational Leadersip. It all began back in January 2009 with my first trip to Wellington for the contact time for the first two papers. I met some amazing people and many of them I have travelled the journey with. So I guess it has been a 28month journey. I look back in awe that I managed to complete 6 papers while I was working full-time...... It sure is great to have the opportunity to take my time this year. My latest two assignments were amazing. I created a movie telling a story of leadership over three generations of females. It was very emotional to create and was a wonderful journey. The finished product is a real treasure and I feel so privileged to have made this journey. My final assignment was my overall vision for education. It was a synthesis of the previous 7 papers outlined and linking my key concepts for leadership. I did this in the form of a cloak of leadership - He Korowai Rangitiratanga, integrating hauora, with my main concepts - Passion, Vision, Sharing, Relationship, Authenticity, and Spiritual Hope. Alongside this I touched on the key competencies, creation, collaboration, communication, empowering, showing resilience and storytelling. This essay took me almost all semester to get to a point where I was happy to let it go!!! I am very happy with the model I created to show the integration of my concepts, and love the tagxedo of my assignment. Now I await the results...





Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Korowai

Today I co-facilitated a staff meeting around our ability to cope with implementation dips when coping with change in our education environment. We had prepared well for this and were really looking forward to this as at start of term activity.
Our Principal started with a quick chat and drawing of the implementation dip then we had a look at 5 whakatauki.
We talked about our well being when coping with change and life as a teacher. One way of doing this is weaving a protective cloth to protect us and help us through the tough times. We can look at how we can support each other and be aware of individual needs.
The cloak has four panels – the 4 elements of Hauora in the Health Curriculum
Hauora is a Māori philosophy of health unique to New Zealand. It comprises taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whanau, and taha wairua.
Taha tinana - Physical well-being
the physical body, its growth, development, and ability to move, and ways of caring for it
Taha hinengaro - Mental and emotional well-being
coherent thinking processes, acknowledging and expressing thoughts and feelings and responding constructively
Taha whanau - Social well-being
family relationships, friendships, and other interpersonal relationships; feelings of belonging, compassion, and caring; and social support
Taha wairua - Spiritual well-being
the values and beliefs that determine the way people live, the search for meaning and purpose in life, and personal identity and self-awareness (For some individuals and communities, spiritual well- being is linked to a particular religion; for others, it is not.)
Each of these four dimensions of hauora influences and supports the others.
Our discussion around our needs as teachers, as a staff was amazing. It rapidly became evident that we have similar concerns and needs with regard to work/live balance and we discussed what our basic needs are to face the future and cope with challenge and change. We each wrote our concepts 3-6ish on a band of fabric to weave into the korowai. The time of individual sharing and reflection was very powerful.
The next phase was adding the decoration to the cloak in the form of feathers. For this each of us thought of a time when we’ve been at our best supporting someone else. What did you do? After sharing this story with a partner we chose two words each to identify our strengths. Having written these on the feathers we added them to the cloak.
At a later date we will revisit the Korowai reflecting on our beliefs, principles, Key Competencies and indicators.
This was an incredibly inclusive, supportive experience to be a part of. The Korowai is hanging on the staffroom wall as a work in progress. It is a cloth to support us, protect and nurture us as we face change together throughout the year.


(An example of how to use this Korowai experience with a class can be found in Everybody Belongs - The Curriculum in Action.)




We reflected on the four the cloak we wanted to make and our needs - wahl -
the discussion was amazing.... it went from strength to strength as we all
realised we have the same concerns and needs etc.
I am attaching photos of our work in progress.
It was AMaZING - everyone really got involved and seemed to really enjoy
the journey.
The cloak is now up on the staffroom wall with plenty of space for more to
add their strip as lots were away today.
Thanks Again
Anne K

Study

I have been very quiet on here lately... I spent soooo much time in term 1 travelling that my holidays were spent studying. I am almost completed my Masters of Educational Leadership and what an AMAZING journey it is. On Friday I submitted my penultimate paper and I felt as if I was handing over my soul. It was an extremely emotional, powerful and challenging reflection of leadership and my place in three generations of females and our individual, overlapping, and linked leadership.
Now I am completing my final paper. This is the development of my leadership model including the key concepts of leadership for me. The core of the paper is my integration of these key concepts. The assignment has travelled with me since January when I was in Wellington. Each day I think through the concepts I have chosen and mull over their interaction. Maybe this week will see the completion of this paper... I will keep you posted!

Balance!!!

I think I have found the missing link! Exercise!
This year is seeing my work/life balance at an all time high. I have time for study, time for learning, time for living, family, friends, reading, writing, gardening, cooking, and more...
I thought I had it all together but the missing link was exercise. I am now back at the gym and not only is it good for my physical well-being, it is great for my social, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.
I am really struggling to get back to any form of fitness but I am determined and I am committed.
My muscles are sore and it is a glorious feeling. Roll on 6am Tuesday and Thursday... now I need to commit to a couple more sessions each week and life will be sweet.

How AMAZING will this be?