Listening to the silences... Day 16 #28daysofwriting

Listening to the silences...

Here we are at the start of a new year.  

Here we are in the deep south, visiting schools new to our contract.  
One goal for me this year is -

"Focus on my listening skills and my conversation to ensure I am provoking and challenging - aim to provoke more questions than answers"

For this roadie I am focusing on the silences...
What is said in the spaces?
What is left unsaid?
What do pauses, or gaps in conversation lead to?
What happens when gaps are not filled?
How do I ensure I pause and allow space?
Why do some questions provoke silence?  and others provoke chatter?
How do I model listening?
How do I provoke?
How do I challenge?

How am I taking this challenge into my conversations with my colleagues, both face to face and online?

How am I taking this challenge into my personal life?

Am I leaving space in my life for silence?
For reflection?
For gentle nothingness?

A couple of times today I have reflected on learnings from Brendan Spillane...

How do we ensure we 'leave work'?  With so much of our work life available 24/7 in our personal hand held devices, how do we set boundaries for time when we are 'offline'?

How do we ensure we don't ruin things we love by doing other things at the same time?  

How do we fully commit to 'being present'?

HUGE wonderings for today.... listening to the silences...

Day 15... What's all the fuss about Valentine's day

WOW - February the 15th and here I am blogging about Valentine's day...

What is all the fuss about?

Why focus on one day?

Do we really need to put so much pressure on ourselves?

I am laughing out loud... I am beginning to sound like my husband! What a synic...

I could tap away here arguing the pros and cons of Valentine's Day for ever.  Part of me would argue that it is essential and MAGIC to set aside a day to realise your love for those around you.  

Equally I could argue how incredibly false it is to separate out your emotions and feelings and focus them on one day!

Increasingly in schools, we are seeing a genuine focus on relationship building and positive behaviour for learning, for life.  

Where are we at with at risk teenagers?  For some of our young Valentine's Day is torture... but that's another story, another post, another day...

Today I am going to focus on whanau.  Whatever your family determines as whanau and how you celebrate your time together. Wherever you are in the world, whanau love you, care for you and are there for you!  Celebrate the MAGIC that is your whanau everyday...

I am sharing a glimpse of the MAGIC of food today... as we started valentines day with pancakes and ended with a BBQ.  The best of times are with family sharing kai... wouldn't you agree....

Ko Wai Au... Day 14 - Who am I? #28daysofwriting

Can I claim this for my day of writing?  I think I can... Maximum of 90 seconds to tell your life story now that is a challenge.
What to include?
What to leave out?
What are you priorities?
What do you have to compromise on because of time?

For me, the journey through photos over the past years was a celebration in itself.  I LOVE photos and LOVE that I take many everyday. I don't think a day goes by when I don't grab a quick snap on my iphone.  Maybe that is the change.  Before my iphone I would have had to carry a camera.  Now I always have my phone or ipad at the ready!

What about you?  

Black Friday, 13 February, day 13 #28daysofwriting

Well, here I am at 8.50pm on Friday, still alive and well despite having crossed the road many times.  

Why, you wonder?

Well, I grew up with a father who was very superstitious.  I would love to know if it was a Polish hand me down, or where indeed it came from.  I am going to share the superstitions I remember and see if I can find their origins.  In turn I am asking that you share any superstitions you grew up with please.

• Don't walk under ladders;
• Never open an umbrella inside;
• NEVER put new shoes on a table (I still remember seeing the shoes being swiped off the table by dad);
• Never pick up a knife if you drop it - someone else must pick it up or there will be a fight;
• BEWARE black Friday - which is Friday the 13th of any month.  (Fortunately they don't happen that often - as I spent some nerve wrecking sessions where I was too scared to cross roads etc)
• Seven years bad luck if you ever break a mirror; (I still remember the moment when the mirror broke........ )
• Toss salt over your shoulder if you spill some; (weird)
• Avoid black cats;
• Any bird inside can signal imminent death;

Well, would you believe it, googling superstitions comes up with most of these as the most common across cultures.  

Superstition Room

So, the superstitions live on as they are passed from generation to generation orally.  

Just checking with my children to see if I have inadvertently passed on any:

Confirming from my son:

• never walk under a ladder
• black cat - death calling

And my daughter:

• no superstitions....
• favourite number 13!

And she promptly sent me back this link to help me with my wonderings....

A Bad-Luck Guide to Friday the 13th (From LIFE Magazine)

So what does that prove or disprove?  You can change the oral tradition.  You can choose to keep traditions and you can choose to protect those you love from scary superstitions that you wish you didn't have.

This gets me thinking about things that are uber important in our family history to ensure they are told and passed down from generation to generation... and that my friends is another blog post in the making......

#28daysofwriting review time

WOW, thanks Tom Barrett!  Writing for 28 minutes each day is a powerful journey.  I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge and am really mixing up my writing...

Time to take stock of where I am today and set some goals for the rest of the month...

Day 1  #28daysofwriting Day one!
Day 2  TTT hui - 2015 Kia eke taumata - Reach for the stars Professional Development
Day 3  30 years…. #28daysofwriting Personal, family, reflection
Day 4  What makes great teaching? Reading, reflecting
Day 5  TTT hui - 2015 Kia eke taumata - session two Professional Development
Day 6  A win to the waves... Poetic
Day 7  Reflecting on reflecting... #28daysofwriting Reflection
Day 8  Parents Make the Difference - Nourishing Literacy Book review
Day 9  The WHY of the bottle bivy #28daysofwriting Classroom Practice
Day 10 TTT LwDT hui 10 - 11 February 2015 #28daysofwriting Professional Development
Day 11 Celebrating the MAGIC of Margaret! #28daysofwriting Celebration
Day 12 Success for All – Every School Every Child #28daysofwriting Professional Development

WOW - what a great mix!  I am delighted that I have committed to completing a post for each day, even if they haven't been up exactly on time, they have arrived!  I am pleased with the mix.  I have not reflected as much on my facilitator inquiry as I planned, but lots to come...
I have written in a variety of styles and genres.  I have shared the posts on social media and cross posted.  
I am continue to encourage others to join this #28daysofwriting journey.

Now to the area where improvement is needed!  I set out to comment on at least two posts per day and sadly have only managed this on three days.  So off I go to comment... 

Thanks to those who have taken the time to visit and comment on my posts, it really does mean so much!

Success for All – Every School Every Child #28daysofwriting Day 12

One of the highlights of today’s hui was our session with Julie Roberts.  Unpacking Success for All and UDL in a personalised way, walking a journey with learners was a very powerful journey.  As we work to build an inclusive education there is so much we can learn and do. Again the power of the journey is in the story and the personalisation of the journey.  Exploring the resources to hear the student voice, reading and learning from the experience of others and personalising for own context is quite a journey.

Success for all: present, participating, engaged, achieving and belonging.

Just as when I am at an art gallery, I can admire a work of art.  But when I hear the back story I have a whole new appreciation and understanding of the piece.  So this is true with whakatauki.  Ma te huruhuru te manu ka rere – with feathers a bird flies.  This makes me think of the necessity of feathers for a bird to fly, the innate desire and ability for a bird to fly, the notion of flying in a flock, take off and landing, are all swirling around in my mind.  However, when I read of the back story to the logo – so much more is revealed.

“Carefully woven into the inside of a whatu pokeka or baby blanket are feathers to provide warmth, comfort, security and refuge from the elements.  The Pokeka takes the shape of the child as it learns and grows, just as the development of a curriculum is determined and shaped by the learner.  Like a bird is born with feathers, our children are born ready to succeed and reach their individual, unique potential.  As whanau, kura and professionals, we wrap our gentle feathers around a child so that they can learn to fly.”

How much greater now is our understanding and appreciation of the whakatauki?

Unpacking the logo also adds layers to the richness of this resource. 

 Embracing the big picture!

The expectations are:

·      Value everyone

·      Respect diversity

·      Equity for all

As we move into schools this year we carry with us the desire for Success for All. 

Our Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Umbrella for our way of working this year will enrich us as we challenge ourselves to consider our actions before, during and after each session, in the areas of engagement, representation, action and expression. 

As we continue to explore this outstanding resource we are becoming aware of the richness, the layers and indeed the MAGIC that are within.

How have you explored these resources in your schools, with your leaders, with your teachers, with your learners? 

I would love to hear your ways of working, sharing, being to ensure Success for All. 

Celebrating the MAGIC of Margaret! #28daysofwriting Day 11

Into the fourth year of our LwDT contract (previously BeL) under the leadership of Margaret, Liz and Greg. Tonight we are realizing a change in our leadership as Margaret moves to a new way of working, a new life challenge and a new family commitment.

As we reflect on the past, it is time for us to acknowledge Margaret’s role at the helm of this contract, and her part within this leadership team.

Margaret, you are a tower of inspiration! You have a gentle, calming leadership style that has embraced and inspired us. I am so grateful for the confidence you show in us all. You continue to provoke us, celebrate us, and affirm us.

We will miss you. We will hold you close in our ways of working and we will be thinking of you in the next chapter of your journey.

Fareweling you last night was an emotional experience. A tribute to the way you have touched the lives of us all was reflected in our heartfelt messages and words for you.


As we carry your passion for the learner in our kete, we have the privilege of realising new, exciting, collaborative ways of working within clusters to support a genuine collaboration for the good of all our learners.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for you TLC throughout my journey in this team. XOXO

Who has supported you in your journey?

Do they know the impact they have made on you?

Why not tell them today…

TTT LwDT hui 10 - 11 February 2015 #28daysofwriting Day 10

It is a rare and beautiful privilege to be together as a team of facilitators from across Aotearoa. Entering my third year as part of the Te Toi Tupu consortium LwDT contract, forever learning and growing into the role. Margaret welcomes us and leads a reflection on who we are and what we have in our kete!

We reflect on our overarching PLD outcomes:

The NZ Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
Priority Learners
Quality Teahing
Leadership
Learning with Digital Technologies


Reflecting on the journey as we have transitioned from ICT PD, to BeL (blended e-learning), to LwDT (Learning with Digital Technologies).

A time now to look at the potential of our new cluster model, what we have learnt from our previous experiences, what we can hang on to, let go of, and explore further.

Our texts:
Realizingthe Power of Professional Learning: Adaptive expertise, adaptive capacity, role of teachers.
LearningTalk - Joan Dalton
Generative Leadership - Karl J. Klimek,

Exploring our chain of influence. Looking at story mapping. Celebrating the power of ‘story hui’, as a way of gathering additional data, adds another powerful tool to our kete. As facilitators from our Maori Medium Team share success with the tool I’m inspired and enthused to use this with our e-leaders in our ways of working this year.

Exploring the Why? How? What? of our monitoring and evaluation.

Monitoring and evaluating - to know if what we are doing is making a difference. This monitoring and evaluating must be an integral part of our way of working.

Our next steps:

Story hui
Facilitator PLD
Team/Partnership model

Narrative therapy
Allowing time to talk
Knowing how to question

Story hui is an alternative to what we are doing, it is gathering evidence, looking at the bones and the heart, to describe the journey that the educators, learners have been on. Showing what is and what is not working and looking at the WHY! Story hui is at the end of the journey, gathering the story.

Alongside this there were many more fabulous sessions which I will blog at a later date!

WOW what a day!

The WHY of the bottle bivy #28daysofwriting day 9

Three years on and I get tweets about the bottle bivy – WOW! Thanks so much to Carol Lynch @edLeadCarol and Sharon Honeyfield @NakiGirl2013.

This got me thinking it was time to spend 28 minutes reflecting on the journey of the bottle bivy. So, day 9 of the #28daysofwriting challenge and hear goes a reflection on the journey.

Early on in 2012 Mark Herring from Myross Bush posting a photo of a bottle bivy from an American learning centre. 

I immediately responded thinking of the power of this as a student created learning space. 2012 is the realisation of a dream for me, returning to the class after a year’s study leave, truly allowing the learners agency and ownership of learning spaces and tasks.

I responded to Mark’s tweet and sent the challenge to other educators on twitter to join me on the journey as our classes created bottle bivys, and so the journey began. I am aware of Mark at Myross, Stephanie at Tawa intermediate, and Janine at Silverstream who took up the challenge. WOW what a journey. 

You may like to check out my edtalk Creating Learning Spaces or check out our CELEBRATING THE MAGIC OF THE BOTTLE BIVY BUILD AT ST MARY'S... clip to enjoy the journey. 

Earlier still you may like to view my edtalk as I explored Student Designed Learning Spaces.

What began as a dream, eventuated into one of the most powerful ‘learning by doing’ experiences I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. Ownership of the journey was firmly with the students who were responsible for:

· Collecting bottles from home and local cafes

· Cleaning the bottles

· Bundling the bottles in tens and hanging

· Creating the base

· Gluing the bottles in place with hot glue

· Encouraging whanau support

· Persevering when the gluing failed and the bottle bivy collapsed more than once

· Dreaming a bigger, better bivy

· Taping 800+ bottles in place to create the most amazing learning space ever

· Sharing the journey on our class blog

· Hosting other learners in our space during and after the build

· Turning the bivy into a planetarium

· Enjoying the space

· Deconstructing the space

· Recycling all 800+ milk bottles into doggy doo scoops and the remainder to the recycle centre

The journey took months, and the memories live on. Only yesterday was I talking to a learner, who is now year nine, about the great journey it was. Owning the journey and learning by doing, were crucial to the success of this journey. Also crucial was dreaming big. The space held all 27 of us at a real squash, but comfortable seated up to ten on beanbag in the bivy. 

WHO – an amazing class of year 5/6 learners

WHY – because we could and we believed it would be a great learning space

WHAT – construction of a bottle bivy learning space

HOW – perseverance, determination, equipment 

Would I do it again? YES in a heartbeat. It was a most MAGICAL journey to be a part of. 

So thank you very much for reviving this journey for me. 

My challenge to you all – dream big, create amazing learning spaces and learn by doing!

Parents Make the Difference - Nourishing Literacy Development through Shared Book Reading

Paula Eskett has recently joined our team at CORE education and she is supporting us with access to resources we NEED in our roles.  

I am very grateful for this and have decided to share my thoughts on books here in my blog!

Parents Make the Difference - Nourishing Literacy Development through Shared Book Reading by Susan Voorhees

The dedication on this book "Dedicated to my mother - my first teacher" is a fabulous start to a great read! It is an easy read and the truth of the matter is, I completed the 111 page read in one sitting on a glorious sunny day out on my seat on the back lawn. 

What a title for a first chapter. Increasing we are working alongside educators who are battling with new entrants arriving at school with oral language challenges, little conversation language experience or little exposure to written language. Learning words does not happen by MAGIC! Voorhees sites Brian Cambourne's conditions he believed were crucial for learning:

1. Immersion
2. Demonstration
3. Expectation
4. Responsibility
5. Use
6. Approximation
7. Response

Exploring the gradual shift of responsibility for learning to read from parent to child, involves all of these conditions.  This caused me to reflect on the reading experiences with my own two children. Reading was a daily event, one which to this day, I mourn the end of.  It was a pleasurable, relaxed, fun, family time - the perfect ending to a day.

The practicality of the diagram on page 8 makes it well worthwhile exploring, as you discover the shift of responsibility from ‘all parent’ to ‘all child’.

Chapter two is the most wonderful analogy of learning to read being as natural as learning to ride a bike, we learn by doing.  By being read to and experiencing reading, learners naturally move to readers.

Proficient reading relies on us decoding as well as comprehending.  Proficient readers decode automatically to allow a focus on comprehending.  As I was thinking about this a reader I worked with years ago springs to mind.  This reader had not automated the decoding part so was always challenged with comprehension.  Their lack of reading exposure and background knowledge also continued to challenge. 

Reflecting now, I wish I had exposed this reader to continual reading, being read to and with.  Maybe if we had focused on the reading to and with, more than the reading by, we could have made greater impact.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  How do you bridge the gap with readers who are still decoding at year 6 and beyond???

I was delighted to read that it is advisable to read favourite stories over and over again.  One of my earliest memories is sitting with Mum and my little sister reading a little golden book compendium, as Sue learned to memorise every word… Fly, fly, fly, like a bird in the sky; swish, swish, swish, like a little fish.  How strong this experience must have been, that I can recall the words and the illustrations some 40 years on.  I can so clearly remember Mum reading and allowing Sue and I to finish each line and each page…

Spending time reading books that your little reader enjoys is crucial.  I can remember night after night reading books that I did not particularly enjoy, but my sun absolutely loved the non-fiction stories and the sound books, where he would follow along with the words and know by the image which sound button to push.  On reflection this would have been very powerful scaffolding for him.  As I was a parent before I was a teacher much of the way I parented was from my heart rather than my head.  I often say I believe I was a better parent before I went through college.  I may have been inclined to do things ‘by the book’ if I had trained as an educator before parenting? 

Chapter five unravels my thoughts about parenting first as I whole-heartedly admit that I missed many opportunities with shared reading.

Voorhees p43. Prep, engage, conclude would have added so much to my reading routine, as it would to some class sessions.

Prep: before reading

Preview the cover and or the book

Activate and build background knowledge

Predict what will be read

Set a purpose

Engage: during reading

Confirm and make new predictions

Relate new ideas to known

Connect letters/sounds/words to context and illustrations

Monitor understanding

Conclude: after reading

Discuss your child’s personal reaction

Write a joint reader’s response

Identify what was done well

Enjoy the moment

I think enjoying the moment is so important.  I do not believe that we should ever do all of these with ever book or it could be a complete turn-off.  I do feel they are a worthwhile framework to have in your mind as your determine how to best meet the needs of your learners while engaging with reading.

A thoroughly worthwhile read for parents and educators alike.  I wonder if there is an opportunity to share this book at antenatal classes.  Do antenatal classes even focus on anything other than the birth?  I seem to remember that was the main focus.  How powerful it would be if new parents had the opportunity to read this text and realize the sheer magnitude of their role as their child’s first teacher…

In closing… I dedicate this blog post to my wonderful mother, my first teacher, my inspiration!  Thank you for every moment you read to us, for sharing your love of learning through your career as a teacher, for inspiring my into the teaching profession and for continuing to inspire me with your wonderment and awe of new ways of learning and teaching.  Thank you Mum!!!