Friday, May 29, 2015

VPLD hui Day two...

WOW, day two already!
I am still totally buzzing from our day yesterday!  The power of our stories continues to inspire and motivate us to more.


Transformative practice - More than meets the eye:
My Story: MLE/MLP: - Tamara Yuill-Proctor


Ignite: MLE/MLP:- Paul Sadler:
What comes first - the chicken or the egg?   Modern Learning Environments (MLE) or Modern Learning Pedagogy (MLP)?

Inspire: MLE/MLP: - Vicki Hagenaars and Cyndi Kruijer - Sharing our experiences


Inspire: Together we can make shift happen - a transformative collaboration activity.  www.storyhui.org


All too soon, the two days are coming to an end... Time to reflect!!! Poroporoaki...


Powerful words from Greg - what is seen here with the sharing is as good as it gets...






VPLD hui 2015 Day 1 Tweets storified...

Thursday, May 28, 2015

VPLD hui 2015 - Our Stories - with a focus on Collaboration and Connection, MLE/MLP, Student Agency

Our Stories - with a focus on Collaboration and Connection, MLE/MLP, Student Agency

Oh the MAGIC of reconnecting with friends and meeting new friends.  Here we are in amongst the first session of the first day.  So many people to connect with, so many stories to hear!

The buzz of reconnecting was palpable.  MAGIC indeed!

After a welcome by the team we had the opportunity to go and meet someone new and share a personal connection!

Whatʻs our VPLD whakapapa?
We were gifted a kete of kupu, and the opportunity was for us to see opportunities to organise the kupu. We had many reo kupu that we had to using an online dictionary to translate, then we used the dictionary to translate the other words into reo kupu. We saw the words as interwoven...



Opportunities for educators to connect and share online:
http://ifyoulearnedhere.weebly.com/ 

http://kidsedchatnz.blogspot.co.nz/ 

http://padlet.com/heathereccles/VPLD

Starting with the WHY of connecting and collaborating... 


Getting connected in our VPLD journey!

Questions to start or continue the journey:
What are you already doing to connect and collaborate with your students?
What are your next steps?
What are your student's next steps?
What support do you need?
What questions do you have?


Student Agency - Itʻs not about me:
My Story with Charlotte French: Secondary school example from experience with NCEA student agency at St Orans College
Involving the learners, structure allowing to share their voice, agency, understanding.

Making thinking visible
Is the power in us taking our hands off?
Wow - powerful learning from Charlotte French - Link presentation


Ignite with TH Biddle: ePortfolios with Māori students at Maeroa Intermediate
Wow - just wow - what an incredilby powerful journey

Inspire with Kyra Leatuafi and Nicola Stevenson. Why, how and what we do to develop learner orientation/student agency at our primary schools.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EoyJgQuNgizRPmq6gXyRxfmU7i9azCLzHI08bk3gONs/edit#slide=id.g6ec7174f4_02
Moving from a journey of one teacher, to three teachers in a space, to involving the learners and having 80 learners in the space. WOW - powerful journey
Actively involving the learners in writing weekly goals and reflecting on these goals.
Allowing the learners to drive their learning journey, aligned with interest and passions..
Choice of sharing the learning...
Involve the learners in the UDL principles - children reflect on how they are going...
Involving the learners in active opportunities for learning...
What's in your backyard?

http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/

Agency - how?
Let go - of control;
Embrace the messiness; 
Grow together;
Side by side journey;
Explicit open dialogue;
Validating the journey;
Modelling growth mindset;
Changing OUR practice;
Reflect on our teaching and learning;
Developing relational trust;
Out of chaos comes something quite MAGICAL;
Freedom to explore;
Pushing through the pain barriers;
Must be planned for and explicitly taught, and embraced;


What evidence are we basing this on - how can we capture evidence?
How do we harness the power of the student voice?
How do we empower our learners to demand agency?

World CAFE - the power of listening - going deeper into the learning... provocations, challenges, unpacking the journey around the question.... What will school be like in 2020?







Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Auckland Bound...

No matter how often I fly I will never tire of the view of the sunrise.  There is something incredibly MAGICAL about flying into a sunrise.  Today is no exception.  The pain of the 5am alarm dims as I enjoy the smooth flight and stunning view. 
Heading to Auckland for an incredible learning journey.  Today I have the incredible privilege and pleasure of spending time with Caroline at the new Ormiston Primary School.  I am incredible excited to explore the exciting journey that is a new school. 
Thursday and Friday I am at our VPLD hui, which is an incredible opportunity to meet face to face mentors and mentees from across the country.  As we share our stories, surface our challenges and successes we are privileged to grow in our roles. 
Again, what I am most looking forward to is the people, the stories and the interactions.  Face to face opportunities allow us to get alongside our colleagues.  The incidental learning and growing when we are in the same room always astounds me. I reflect on the MAGIC of online connecting and learning, but always come back to the real MAGIC, the MAGIC of face to face.  This allows us to take the future online connections further, as our relationships develop.

Bring on the MAGIC…








Monday, May 25, 2015

Module 2 (Topic 1): Mentoring conversations

Topic 1: Virtual mentoring roles
Ma whero ma pango ka oti ai te mahi
With red and black the work will be complete
 (When we co-operate the work is completed)

Many roles are required in the mentoring journey:
·      role model
·      champion
·      cheerleader
·      leader
·      guide
·      adviser
·      counsellor
·      coach 
·      sponsor 
·      protector 
·      preceptor
Mentees must be given a voice.  My role as a mentor may vary frequently depending on the situation, time, and challenge.  I can support by encouraging my mentee to hold a mirror to their practice.

Steps in the mentoring model:
·      Listen without interruption
·      Invite more information
·      Summarise/paraphrase
·      Check
·      Follow where your mentee goes
·      Move to possibility and action
·      Systemic connection
·      Specific action and timeline…

Working through this module requires us to think of qualities of someone who has been or is of significant support in my life.  I have chosen to reflect on a friend who is always there, supporting me in my various family, work, life balance roles.  I am extremely grateful for this support!

Qualities of my significant supporter:
·      listener;
·      challenger;
·      calmer;
·      provoker;
·      supporter;
·      reassure;
·      honest reflector;
·      realist;
·      positivist;
·      friend.

Western roles of a mentor can be described as follows:
·      directive,
·      non-directive,
·      nurturing and
·      stretching.

Placing a cultural lens on mentoring roles allows for Pasifika terms:
·      Directive - Fa'a tonu
·      Guiding - Ta'ita'i
·      Exploring - Iloilo / Su'e su'e
·      Supporting - Lagolago
·      Challenging - Lu'i tau
·      Catalysing - Fa'atupa manatu

The role of questioning is critical in our mentoring role:
·      Investigator (knowledge): Who, what, when, where, why, how . . . ? Could you please describe . . . ? 
·      Guide (comprehension): Would I be right in thinking...? What did you understand from...?” 
·      Mentor (application): How do you feel X is an example of Y?; How would you say that X is related to Y?; Why do you feel that X is significant in your context? 
·      Coach (analysis): What are the identifiable aspects of . . . ? Would you classify X according to Y? 
·      Investigator (synthesis): What are your thoughts around solutions for . . . ? What would you infer from . . . ? What are your additional reactions to . . . ? How might you go about designing a new . . . ? What could happen if you added . . . ?  
·      Advisor (evaluation): What do you about trying . . . ? What is the most important outcome for.. . ? Which would you say are the highest priority for . . . ? What would help you decide to . . . ?
DVM Module 2:1

McKenzie's Questioning Toolkit 17 types of question are listed
Active listening involves comprehending, retaining and responding.

The more time I spend with the DVM modules, the more enthralled I become.  Like anything, the more you read and do, the more you realize how much there is to read and learn, the more I want to read and learn. 

As mentoring increasingly becomes our way of supporting Principals and e-leaders, I am grabbing any opportunity available to grow myself in this role. 


I have just started reading the book  “A more beautiful question” which is challenging me and growing me in my curiosity… but that is another post, another read, another day…

12 Apostles

Wow, such great memories!  Delighted to find this video.  I blogged about it all here
http://annekcam.blogspot.co.nz/2014/05/the-great-ocean-road-tour.html.










Sunday, May 24, 2015

Modern Learning Practice - Module one

Catching up on my online learning! 
As I work my way through my modules I will share my thoughts and wonderings here.  
Today I am beginning with rethinking learners, looking at a learner's perspective.  How well this ties in with last Thursday night's #edchatnz (http://annekcam.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/mlpmle-catching-up-on-edchatnz.html)

What a wonderful set of questions to begin to unpack! 
Already this is helping me with my facilitation role!  As I am preparing for a session on collaborative planning, I think this slide is a wonderful place to start.  The value will be in the discussion around the learner perspective. 

This also causes me to reflect on the four questions we were introduced to by Lynda Kaser and Jane Halbert:
Four big questions:
1.     Where are you going with your learning?
2.     How’s it going? Matched to criteria…
3.     Where to next?
4.     Can you name two adults in this school who believe you will be a success in life?
http://annekcam.blogspot.co.nz/2015/03/workshop-transforming-learning-in.html 
"As a learner, I expect to take joint responsibility for and be seen as an active agent in determining my own learning priorities.”

http://archive.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/opening_education/Learners_Charter.pdf 

How well do we know our learners?

I am loving our UDL approaches which ensure we get to know as much as possible about our our learners.

How often do we really dig into our learner's opinions of what they are learning, what choice they are having with their learning, whether or not it is meeting their needs?