Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

At the end of last term we had Dr Tessa Opie from In Your Skin visit the Y8 HPE teachers for a Relationships and Sexuality Education PD. I was proud to see how ahead New Zealand is in this space - there were even Kiwi resources used such as the notorious pie ad.This year Pedare has started an RSE programme with the Y8 students and this was the prep for it. 

As many know, sexuality education is one of my passions (see here some posts that reflect this). As a result, there were lots of reminders throughout this PD around gender, sexuality and stereotypes (the key topics of the unit). If you are learning or new to this area of the curriculum, the genderbread person is always a great place to start. The visual clearly helps to differentiate between sex, sexuality, gender and expression. So much discussion comes from this picture alone. I often then use the Real Sex Talk videos (especially the gender one and the sexuality one) to create further discussion.

Without elaborating on each of the below points, these are a few things that I was left thinking about after our session with Tess. I feel leaving them as points may encourage you to also ponder and complete further research;

- "The issue isn't porn. It's the complete lack in our society of an open, healthy, honest conversation about sex in the real world." (Cindy Gallop - Twitter here)

- Consent is a noun, not a verb

- Body autonomy can be taught at any age including kindy - Do you want a hug or a kiss?

- "Don't put the red dot on the traumatised kid's folder" (Tess). This was referring to removal of students from sexuality education - just because a student has experienced trauma, does not mean they don't deserve the education or want to be there. 

- "There is a very real difference between feeling uncomfortable and feeling unsafe" (Tess). 

- We are aiming to empower students. If they can own their own Medicare card at 15, can we empower them to feel comfortable to go and get an STI screening and/or contraceptives? 

- "The more positive you feel about your own sexuality, the more likely you are going to have positive sexual experiences with someone else" (Tess). 

- The impact of having teachers that aren't competent or confident teaching sexuality education can be significant. 

- "Pornography is the most prominent form of sexuality education for young people today unfortunately" (Interview with Maree Crabbe as embedded below).

Where are you on the Spectrum of Teaching Styles?

I was excited to attend my first Australian Council for Health Physical Education and Recreation conference. I miss PENZ and my involvement in PENZ back home, so when I had the opportunity to attend an ACHPER PD I jumped at it! I was especially interested in this one, because it was based around Mosston's Spectrum of Teaching Styles, which is something I've always been interested in. His spectrum was referred to often during my degree and something I often think about when designing new units. The PD was about unpacking SueSee, Hewitt and Pill's book The Spectrum of Teaching Styles in Physical Education, in which they've redesigned Mosston's initial spectrum.

Shane Pill is someone I have followed on Twitter for a while and am fascinated by his thoughts. I knew the day was going to be interesting when he was the opening speaker and one of his first sentences was "you need to use a variety of teaching styles, there is no one way of teaching". The redesign of the spectrum to be more like a flower, like a cluster, demonstrates that all styles are equal and we should in fact be moving in and out of them as opposed to linearly (as initially designed and can be seen below). Isn't it incredible how visual presentations of something can genuinely impact how you interpret them? Unfortunately I cannot find any pictures of their design, without buying the book (which I have requested school to do!), but it is kind of visible in my picture below).

The teaching styles can be divided into reproduction (A-E) and production (F-K). As it sounds, this relates to the role the students play within those teaching styles. Generally speaking, when in the reproduction styles students are mostly replicating something they have learnt and the lesson is more 'teacher driven'. Production is more-so related to the application or creation of something to demonstrate learning - more 'student driven'. The clear theme throughout this PD day is that there needs to be frequent movement between these different styles, as they are all valuable. If we blend styles together, they are called canopies.

In particular though, there was a large focus on the three discovery styles. Guided discovery is when there may be a series of activities or tasks for students to discover something throughout the process of completing these tasks. Convergent discovery is when there may be a problem and you are guiding them to discover there is only one answer. Divergent discovery is when there may be multiple answers to a problem/situation.  We referred to these often throughout the day and there were practicals to demonstrate the differences, especially between convergent and divergent. For instance, participants were set up in a piggy in the middle structure, and the aim was to pass the ball between the players without the defender in the middle getting the ball. Their convergent discovery question was "what pass is the most appropriate to receive the ball?" To encourage students to think, they were only able to use the width of an area. This increased the pressure so the students needed to use lob passes to try and get it over and away from the defenders. After, they changed the boundaries to be able to pass lengthways and the question changed to "how many different ways can you receive the ball" (clearly showing the 1 answer to multiple answers differentiation between the learning styles). To further probe the students to think critically to be able to be self regulated learners, the questions asked need to be open ended to encourage the students to think, discover and analyse information/ideas on their own.

Throughout uni and my initial teaching years, I was often discouraged to teach in command style. As the name suggests, the activity and instructions are all based around the teacher. The students must follow the teacher's commands. Although I agree this approach is not appropriate for many activities (as we want the students to be at the centre of the thinking and learning), I believe there is a time and place for command style. Sometimes we just need to get information across and command style is the most effective and efficient way to do so (such as information regarding safety on equipment). Hewitt noted that we need to consider whether command is the most appropriate for that particular lesson/learning objective and how long we are in that teaching style. He said his fear with command style teaching, especially when teaching the technique of a skill, is although the students may increase confidence with how to perform the skill itself (technical mastery), they may be strangers to the game. This is where game sense approach comes in.

Game sense approach is an umbrella term, with several areas coming underneath it. Essentially, GSA is a pedagogy that focuses on developing players that cognitively and critically think about the game they are immersed in. As outlined in Pill's chapter Game Sense Coaching: Developing Thinking Players, there is significant research to support that a traditional method of coaching or teaching limits players' ability to be able to make effective decisions within a game. This is often as a result of behaviours/techniques learnt in a non-contextualised environment. However, when immersed in a Game Sense Approach, a player "is trained to use a wide focus of attention and becomes adapted to placing attention more broadly than on a primary task" (Pill, 2018, p.46) because of activities that are more representative of the complexity of an actual game. Relating back to the teaching styles, although command style has a time and place, it's important command style does not lead to players being strangers of the game. GSA is a practice style pedagogy with discovery and command episodes. The teaching should be inquiry based, educating through the game but with a purpose. See more here - Pill's Play with Purpose blogpost.

There were a lot of other interesting topics of discussion, and some other things I was left thinking about were;

- "The game is not the teacher... The game can have an educative purpose, but in order for that purpose to be realised, the teacher comes in to get the educative purpose that is desired" (Pill).

- "All teaching is deliberate - even the choice of not planning is a deliberate teaching choice... but teaching can only be purposeful if the teaching has been planned" (Pill). 

- One of the teachers posed a question to us at the beginning of a practical session for us to think about throughout. The teacher referred to this question frequently and it then became a point of discussion at the end of the lesson. This actually made me think of the statement of inquiry and the overarching question of the unit being asked. 

- Depending on the learning style employed, depends if and when we tell the students the learning objectives of the lesson.

Overall, it was a very informative day, which made me think specifically about my questioning and the importance of mixing the teaching styles to suit the learning objectives, activities and students in front of me.

Grasping MYP Assessments

A couple of weeks ago I attended a Zoom session facilitated by the South Australia Middle Years Programme Coordinators Network. The session was based around the creation/development of conceptual assessment tasks in the the IB programme. As previously posted, I am on a significant learning journey at the moment, teaching within an IB framework. Over the last three weeks I have created three new assessment tasks, so this session was timely for me as I reflect on these recent tasks.

The biggest takeaway was the GRASPS acronym as shown below. This will help me to structure future assessment tasks that I create and also to relate specifically back to the key and related concepts. I am starting to understand these a lot more now and have been getting help around how to embed key and related concepts into units I develop, but still need to ensure these are included in assessment tasks. Finally, GRASPS will help with how to relate everything back to the statement of inquiry - also an area I need to develop further.

The second takeaway was related to the unit plan and how this can directly impact on the final assignment (side note - I am unsure why, but the words assessment and assignment seem to be used interchangeably!). The below points were new to me, but make a lot of sense. I've tried over the last few years to title units and develop units based around learning objectives, rather than topics. I particularly get frustrated when PE teachers name and refer to units purely based on sports! Sports may be the practical medium, but generally aren't the purpose of the unit! I now understand that unit titles as inquiry questions directly gives flexibility to explore the key and related concepts. These unit questions should be created in a way to hook learners and set them up to be involved in an exploratory inquiry! The presenters also suggested the questions are based off of real life events, to relate to global contexts too.

For the last 20 minutes of the session, we were grouped into our curriculum areas to have a discussion. I was grouped with two other teachers who were both from the same school. This breakout discussion made me realise 1) how much I have learnt over the last few months and 2) how much I love the inquiry based model MYP offers. These two teachers were involved in the session because their school is shifting to the MYP IB framework next year, so they were looking for ideas and greater understanding. I was proud that I could actually discuss, explain and use correct terminology for my experiences of what MYP IB looks like in action to date (particularly in a PE setting)!

I'm looking forward to being involved in more of these sessions and discussions, and also implementing these two major takeaways over the coming months.

Analysing Autism

Across my classes this semester, and last semester, I have had several students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Although of course each student is unique, this is an area I felt I needed further development to be able to support them to be successful. At the end of last term I attended a workshop facilitated by Professor Robyn Young: Autism Spectrum disorder and behaviour management in the educational context. 

Key takeaways from the workshop:

- Often students with ASD can have scripted language. What they say is what makes sense to them and/or they think is what they want you to say. This is important to be aware of, because this may mean the students don't actually understand what is asked of them or what they are supposed to be doing. So rather than yes/no questions, actually ask the students to describe or explain something to reduce the scripted responses. 

- I had never heard of Echolalia before. Echolalia is when someone repeats words or sentences they have heard previously. For instance the student may repeat the last word they hear, or later on in the day repeat something that they heard their caregivers say before school (so it sounds out of context). Having greater understanding of Echolalia is important, because it has made me more aware of how many words I use when giving instructions or asking questions. If the student is retaining and repeating the last word or two, then maybe they did not comprehend the words before it. Robyn explained that this is one of the ways ASD is diagnosed early, especially in toddlers because they are learning speech so are likely to copy their caregivers.

- To diagnose ASD there is no medical test as such (although tests may be carried out to identify/rule out other causes of the symptoms). Across several settings there are observations of the person. They are being observed to see how they communicate with others, what their behaviours are and what their developmental levels are. 

- When possible, ask for quantitative responses rather than qualitative. More definitive, rather and descriptive.

- Rather than setting plans in concrete, allow for changes/adaptations. Many students with ASD do not like or are unable to process unexpected changes, and as a result this may impact on their behaviour. By avoiding solidifying plans, this can help to reduce the fear of change and the reactions to change. This makes a lot of sense to me as one of my students can become argumentative and/or frustrated when we need to change things (for example if I have said we will be playing outside then this changes to completing an activity in the classroom). I also have a new student this semester that asks me in advance where we will be, what he will need and what we will be completing. This has helped me to plan in advance, but also to have conversations about change and flexibility to change.

- Although their IQ skills may be high, many students with ASD have low common sense skills. This means I will have to be more aware of assumptions that I make, as some things that may be obvious to me or to some students, may not be clear for others. 

- Chronological and clear steps are important. Those with ASD are very literal, they will do exactly what is asked, so everything needs to be structured, scaffolded and explicit. After this PD, this is the biggest thing I have been left thinking about. I have gone through and adapted/updated assignments and considered this when I am planning activities. Many of the assignments I gave students (the IB assessments) last term had many questions that implied depth was needed, or had multiple parts to answer. I've tried to break these down, so there is greater order and the questions are as specific as I can make them. Additionally this also helps to divide tasks into more simple and manageable steps to work through, so can be less overwhelming for students. 

- For off task behaviour or behaviour that isn't acceptable, consider differential reinforcement of positive behaviours and/or intermittent reinforcement. Differential reinforcement is about giving alternative behaviours, rather than asking the student to not do something. Robyn gave the example if a student is constantly clapping, this may be because they don't know what to do with their hands. Rather than asking them to stop clapping (which may result in them becoming confused or frustrated with what to do with their hands), ask them to put their hands on their lap or on the table. The students need clear break downs and descriptions of what is expected of them, linking back to the importance of being explicit rather than implicit and not making assumptions. When students are behaving appropriately, make them aware of this so they can recognise what is accepted. Don't ignore low level off task or misbehaviour, because if we wait until they are extreme, this may result in the student thinking the lower level behaviours were acceptable. 

- Sometimes an explanation for the way they are behaving, is that ASD students often do not see cause and effect. They may be able to recognise and describe the effect and consequences of their decisions/actions on themselves, but it can be difficult and problematic for them understand the impact on someone else / others. 

- Executive functioning skills like those below (from the Positive Partnerships webinar) help us to organise information, evaluate ideas, self regulate and much more. These skills are incredibly helpful during a student's learning journey, and are often skills autistic children struggle with. Positive Partnerships also suggests several strategies that could be used in the classroom to support development of these executive functioning skills. 

Things to consider moving forward

- Simple instructions

- Scaffolded and explicit questioning

- Break down tasks

- Allow for flexibility or change

- When in groups, consider who will be supportive

- Explain why certain behaviours are unacceptable and give an alternative

- Read through students' individual learning plans that have been broken down, to learn more about students individually and strategies that support them specifically 

I'm back treading water!

One of the biggest changes about teaching in Australia is the change of curriculum. In NZ, knowledge and implementation of the curriculum and the HPE achievement objectives is one of my strengths. Here however, I'm completely thrown back into the deep end trying to learn the Australian Curriculum - I feel like a first year again! In addition, Pedare (my new school) teaches the Middle School through International Baccalaureate - another mindset shift and terminology overload! Therefore, I have been on a learning journey throughout my first term reading the handbook, engaging in online PD and having discussions about what on Earth IB is. 

Essentially, IB is split into 8 subject groups, and the Middle Years Programme and is a 2, 3, 4 or 5 year programme. Pedare runs the IB programme across 4 years (Y6-Y9/the middle school). IB describes the aim of the programme as "a framework of academic challenge that encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world, and become critical and reflective thinkers" (p.128). This does link closely with the NZC aim for students to be active lifelong learners, but the biggest difference is the world focus at the forefront. I have found it interesting and exciting that the aim is to ensure that learning is globally contextualised.

At the heart of IB is the IB learner profile, as included alongside. This profile highlights 10 key attributes IB aims to develop, that aren't related to academic success. Ideally, students are able to demonstrate each of these attributes/personal qualities by the end of the IB programme. The below video gives more detail, as well as the IB website.

When planning a unit of work within an IB programme, there are several parts included. I've tried to break down the major jargon here - there's a bit to take in! One is the key concepts. There are 16 key concepts as identified below. Teachers use these key concepts to create units of work both within their discipline of teaching, as well as interdisciplinary. Something I'm excited about, is there appears to be greater opportunities to create integrated units of teaching and learning, which of course was a highlight for me last year. From my understanding these key concepts are the broad, overarching ideas that can be explored and demonstrated differently across the 8 subject groups.

Key concepts are broken down further into the related concepts. Related concepts are subject specific, so can vary from class to class. For instance, in Health and Physical Education some related concepts are energy, movement and space (see more here about HPE in the MYP IB). There are however some common concepts across subjects such as the descriptor 'explain'. I think that this is fantastic for students to have common language like this across their classes, because then there is greater consistency. Something that has really frustrated me previously, is when including words such as 'explain' in students' learning tasks or assessments, the expectation of what this actually looks like may be different across subjects. This small yet significant issue is resolved by the IB terminology used consistently (in theory), and hopefully reduces barriers to student success (as the language in the questions is not new to them). This consistency is also evident among the summative assessment tasks, which all have the same structure and language.

As well as key concepts and related concepts, to incorporate 'the real world' each unit also includes global contexts. IB believes that by using global contexts in teaching and learning, this may increase student engagement because of greater relevance and meaning to their lives.

Teachers combine the KC, RC and GC to create a statement of inquiry. This statement is what should be at the front of the teaching and learning programme. Therefore it should be one sentence in student friendly language, and readily available to be referred to throughout lessons.

Finally, a large component of IB is learning how to learn. The essence of this is that students not only understand what they are learning, but also why they are learning and what knowledge and skills they need to be able to learn (this links directly with my previous school's pedagogy Ako Orewa). There are five categories titled the Approaches to Learning; communication, social, self-management, research and thinking.

So, where to from here? A couple of things I've been left thinking about and want to explore, develop, and practice in the months to come;

- Explicitly using the learner profile attributes in my teaching and learning, so students know what they are developing

- Creating statements of inquiry, and including them within learning programmes 

- Down the track I think it would be great to co-construct units with the students, so they actually help to decide what KC's, RC's, GC's are included in the unit and ultimately what the statement of inquiry is

- Greater understanding of the 4 criteria/strands of the HPE curriculum, which I haven't even mentioned here (these appear to be similar to NZ's A.O.'s)

So there you have it, IB described in 844 words!

Closing One Chapter, To Open The Next

Well, I've had a hiatus from teaching and blogging, but I'm excited to get the ball rolling again. I've moved over to Adelaide in South Australia, and next week I start part time teaching here. I'm looking forward to learning a new curriculum, and being back in the classroom! The New Zealand teaching journey is likely to continue in the future, but for now I need to get used to people pronouncing h as 'haych', and learn the rules of Australian footy! 

Closing the first 5 years, 2 schools and country of my career encouraged me to check out which posts had the most views. Although this blog is a place for me to store my reflections and an artefact for my teaching evidence, it's also for me to share, connect and learn with others. Therefore, I do like to follow the statistics behind how many people view my posts and where they view them from. According to my view count, these are my top 10 most read blogposts to date. I'm intrigued to see what the top posts from my Australian chapter will be!

1) Engaging Students From Afar!

2) We Like to Move it, Move it!

3) A Seesaw, A Wheelbarrow and An Arm

4) Co-Teaching Celebrations

5) Lockdown Learnings

6) A Day In The Life Of A Learner

7) Assessment - More Than A Test!

8) Student Opportunities To Respond

9) Keeping Up With The Teacher Load

10) Restoring Relationships Through Restorative Conversation