I'm Crossing The Ditch - Again!

Last week was the end of Term 2 and my second to last week being a relief teacher before moving back to New Zealand. I have liked having a more flexible working schedule and a greater work life balance - not having to attend meetings has definitely been the highlight! Once I've gotten past the frustrations of no relief being written for me or literally only "kids are working on their assignment", it's been good meeting a lot of new students and learning bits and pieces from different curriculums. Having more time for myself and exploring more of Australia with my fiancé before moving has also been great! 

When I have had relief classes when I've felt void and the kids are working well (basically glorified babysitting), I've taken the time to smash out a heap of blogposts in hindsight from the last 18 months. I'm stoked I've managed to write 21 (now 22) blogposts over the last 10 weeks while relieving. I hated that my blogging went by the wayside last year when I went back to full time after being part time in 2021. There were likely other experiences that I could have blogged about and have forgotten, but I'm happy and proud with what I have posted and hope that I can get a good rhythm of blogging when I get back to NZ.

Teaching in Australia has been challenging. I've felt that the South Australian curriculum is behind the NZ curriculum (a bit of a step back in time). Of most frustration was how normalised and embedded into everyday language was teachers and students calling Health 'theory' and PE 'practical'. This reallllllllly ground my gears. Across all three schools I attempted to shift this language and the way the teachers and students viewed the subjects. It really related back to and reinforced the old school view of HPE. I really hope I never have to have this conversation again, because I honestly and disappointingly just started to give up the longer I've been here!

My next step is going to be a whole new learning journey. We are moving to the central North Island next month and I will be teaching at Horowhenua College. I'm looking forward to a smaller school and being immersed in a school with a lot of culture - watch this space!

Apparently I Have Learnt A Thing Or Two!

One of my ex students from Orewa is currently studying to become a HPE teacher. One of her papers required her to think about HPE as a subject, teaching HPE and behaviour management strategies. She created a survey to gather information and thoughts from practicing teachers to inform her assignment (and develop her teaching). This naturally made me reflect on my practice and made me realise how far I have actually come! 

Below are my answers to her questions. Although not an exhaustive list, I thought these may help others too (and I wrote my answers while travelling to go on holiday so it was very impromptu!). 

Strategies for creating lessons that are inclusive and socially just:
- Student Choice
- Don't base everything around ''physical ability"
- Don't split by sex EVER
- Include a variety of resources/games/terms from around the world
- Encourage challenge by choice
- Peer teaching

What methods do you use to reflect on teaching?
- Discussions with colleagues
- Blogging
- Student feedback
- Reflecting on my drive home

How do you ensure your teaching is culturally responsive?
- Include opportunities for students to share
- Create a classroom culture that encourages students to step out of their comfort zone
- Include language/customs/traditions from various cultures
- Challenge stereotypes and assumptions
- Have high expectations for all students

What are some of your key behaviour management strategies?
- Play music and if this stops I need the kids' attention
- "If you have a ball, hold it still"
- "Stand still, pause where you are" (When I want to give a short instruction or piece of info but not get them to come in close)
- Getting everyone into a circle when I want to give instructions or explain a concept or have a discussion (circles are also great so everyone can see each other)
- 3 strikes for forgetting gear and then students choose their consequence
- Tone of voice: I try to remain quiet and naturally the kids become quiet (or I literally say, I feel like I'm getting louder because you are getting louder)
- "The sooner we are in, the sooner we play!"

How do you create classroom environments that are safe and meet the needs of all students?
- Set clear and consistent expectations with regard to inclusion, respect, diversity and the importance of "failing"
- Encouraging students to struggle / find learning challenging (so they step out of their comfort zone)

Do you believe it's important to educate the "whole child'? If so, what strategies do you use to ensure their wellbeing and educational needs are met?
Yes!!! I feel by creating that environment aforementioned, students are more likely to be honest about how they are feeling, what is happening in their lives and when they need help/are struggling (personally and/or academically). Establishing that environment and relationships will directly impact on their day-to-day interactions. My students (hopefully) know that if they are having a bad day/week/month then to let me know and things will be adjusted to suit them and their needs (because I say this frequently!).

How do you understand your role as a teacher and implement this into practice? What pedagogies guide your methods - if any?
My role as a teacher is to facilitate learning. To guide students to discover, practice, challenge things in the world around them! Differentiation, guided discovery, scaffolding, flow between lessons, opportunities to review learning, scenario based tasks, student choice in tasks/activities, mixture of audio/video/hands on activities, open ended questions, reflective tasks/activities

Is there a "gap" in contemporary HPE? What is the subject missing?
Only thing that comes to mind is greater aquatics education. Basic swimming yes, but more so water safety and awareness of water risks (especially at secondary school).

What does contemporary HPE need in order to add value to the subject?
- Outdoor Education is a large part of our curriculum area, but is not even in the name!
- There also needs to be more education for all teachers around the importance of the subjects (to reduce misconceptions about them).
- Greater integration of the subjects, rather than generally being segregated.
- Health should be compulsory until the end of high school - as it's a subject about life and being a positive contributing citizen to society

What's important in HPE? What values/subject matter are most of value?
Everything is important!! But everything should be tailored to the students that are in front of you - their interests, their challenges, and what is topical/relevant in that community. 

What resources/knowledge (that you don't have at the moment) would aid in expanding your teaching/the subject area?
- Greater understanding of the other curriculum areas and how we can blend/integrate more
- More time with the students!
- Greater access to facilities (and more facilities)
- Greater funding for EOTC

HPE is often regulated in school subject hierarchies far beneath the likes of English/Mathematics etc. How do you suggest we work to remove the negative stigma around the subject?
- Make HPE compulsory for all year levels
- Needs to have equitable time on the timetable
- Could include a course during university for all students (across all sectors) educating around the importance of the curriculum area
- Create more inter-curriculum courses to show the learning can be applied across many areas
- DON'T MAKE KIDS RUN AS A 'WARMUP' OR PUNISHMENT
- Don't test kids on their physical ability (unless of course it is part of a specific course analysing performance improvement or similar)

If you are specifically looking for blogposts about behaviour management, I have written a few over the years! Overall though, being asked to complete this survey for Hannah was a great little reminder of the things that I do know and have learnt/adapted/added to my toolkit throughout my teaching journey. Sometimes when the days are tough or I feel like lessons haven't gone well, I forget how much I have achieved.

Navigating An Unexpected Numeracy Challenge

As I anticipated at the start of this 7 week contract, teaching Maths was challenging. I always felt like I was half a step ahead of some students, on par with other students and even behind some! I hadn't learnt about or practiced multiplying fractions and exponents for probably 13 years, so felt incredibly rusty. I was lucky to have a PE teacher in my office that also taught 8Maths to help me out though. I would've really struggled without him!

I was asked to complete a mini inquiry/professional development plan for the time I was at Plympton. My HOD and her PLG had developed a vocab 'test' for students as part of their PDPs. The purpose of this was for students to demonstrate the key terms/language they understood at the beginning of a unit, identify areas of development (between the teacher and the student) and then complete a post test at the end (to hopefully see progression!). I thought that this could be a great little tool for me and my Maths students. I liked that this would help students to self-identify their next steps and help me to plan for differentiation. See below the table that I gave students 6 weeks ago and again this week.

After the students did all they could on the pretest of the vocab, we went through some of the possible answers for each box as a class. Anything they'd left blank or were incorrect I asked them to add a correct answer in a different colour. This then became their study guide for the next 6 weeks (during class time and at home). The kids could refer to this when they were studying at home or when they were learning/completing practice questions at school. In hindsight I should have come up with a way to make this digital or actually given them glue to stick their now study guides into their books because unfortunately throughout the unit a lot of kids lost them! Nevertheless, there were still many who referred to the guide throughout the term.

Majority of students struggled to make real life connections during the pretest. They struggled to see the connection between the terms and how they can apply them into the world around them. As a result, I made sure throughout my lessons to include a variety of scenarios that applied the terms. We had vineyards, stores, school systems, stationary, orchards, birthday parties and whatever else popped into my head while I overheard the kids chatting and while I was planning. I actually really enjoyed coming up with these scenarios because they helped me to recognise and explain how and why the terms are relevant day to day. I certainly empathise with the question "when am I going to use this in the real world?" So, I tried really hard to answer this question before the kids asked!

Earlier this week the students completed their 'posttest'. I was so proud how many of them took this seriously to see their own progress since I started with them 6+ weeks ago. Conversely, some unfortunately did not take this opportunity with open arms (many of who were also the students who'd lost their pretest). To be honest this process also demonstrated clearly to me the pressure the kids feel when they hear the word 'test'. I noticed several students this week decided that they would rather not try than get things 'wrong', even when this was just an indicator for their learning and the fear of grades was removed! There seriously needs to be a shift away from kids thinking grades make or break them. It was sad how many of them thought it was better to not try, than it was to find out where the gaps were in their learning. I hope in my next gig I can help to change this.

When they'd completed their posttest, I asked the students to complete this mini reflection (they also had completed a similar one at the beginning of the unit for me to compare to). It was interesting for me to see their progression (which I could also send to the teacher who I have replaced over the last 7 weeks), but of most interest was the comments they made. Check out alongside some of the responses the students gave to the question 'What has this process shown you and why?'

One skill I developed throughout this contract was my attempt to differentiate learning. I very quickly realised there was a major difference between the levels of understanding in my Maths class. I was genuinely surprised how far apart the top end were from the bottom end. Although it became time consuming, for most of my lessons I actually had 3 levels of tasks/activities. They all helped students to meet/work towards the learning intention of the lesson but were different levels of difficulty. I organised the physical class into 3 spaces; need 1:1 help with the teacher, feeling ok but need more practice and feeling confident and ready to be challenged. The kids were able to choose where they wanted to go and could move between the groups/spaces each lesson. I've had great feedback from the kids about this flexibility and choice between their activities, and I feel it helped many students to self-regulate, so it's definitely something I will keep in my teaching toolbox!

Overall, this gig has pushed me out of my comfort zone, but this opportunity to teach Maths has increased my confidence to try new things and attempt to include different levels of learning. Here's to the close of another chapter. I can't wait to be a reliever next term as a bit of a change of scene!

2022 Goals - How'd I Go?

This year I have completed a 'Professional Development Plan' for the first time. Although there is a specific structure that is supplied by the Dept of Ed and specific questions my mentor has needed to ask, it's very similar to an NZ inquiry. My full PDP can be accessed here, which includes a little more detail around my planning, the criteria my goals link to and some of the discussion points I had with my mentor.

I have created the below visual which gives some of the key ideas/topics that I have been focused on throughout the year. Included are some of the possible ways to learn more about these areas of development (which I wrote at the beginning of the year). Although these goals aren't written as SMART goals, they were fleshed out more in my PDP meetings with my mentor (HOD HPE).

Reflecting on the some of the specific knowledge and skills I have wanted to develop throughout this year, these are some of the things I have achieved this year:

- Gave student choice in the activities/tasks/assignments they complete (including topics and modes of presentations)

- Provided exemplars and explained what grades they are and why (generally got students to do this themselves first and then broke the criteria and grading down with them)

- Gave suggested structures with sentence starters (student choice whether they used or not!)

- Used colour coding between the task, the criteria and what students created

- Created pre written questions to prompt in class discussion

- Created several tasks and assignments directly related to the ACARA objectives/criteria (and of course assessed against them)

- 1:1 verbal feedback meetings with Y12s as well as written feedback opportunities on their drafts (i.e. checkpoints)

- Completed a Coping With Stress program alongside my Y12s

- Gathered and reflected on student feedback

- Had multiple meetings and discussions with colleagues about SACE marking and moderation

- Attended a Mental Health First Aid course, a Remote First Aid Course and a Preventing Fatalities Workshop

- Learnt a significant more about risk management and planned my own trips and camps

Moving forward, areas I would like to further develop/build on include:

- Greater confidence and understanding about facilitating OUED debriefs

- Use of different tools and strategies to gather and analyse feedback (I did not use Ziplet as it seemed very confusing I didn't think would give me anything additional Google Forms would)

- More specific differentiated tasks for students with learning challenges or who have been identified as students needing modified or adjusted tasks (and learn more about neurodiversity in general)

- Attend PD and complete more reading around literacy and how to increase literacy in HPE/OUED

- Actively engage students with risk management planning and have more specific scenarios to help prepare students more before they go into the outdoors

Student Feedback: Straight From The Source

Because Marryatville courses are currently only one semester long (aside from Y12s), this means that we are about to have a change in timetable with a bunch of new classes. I know that I will be keeping my 12Health and getting a new 9OUED, otherwise I'm not sure! Nevertheless, I thought that this was a good opportunity to get some feedback on the courses and my teaching in general, to help shape next semester. Unfortunately, time has raced away from me so I didn't get as much feedback or as detailed responses as I would have liked, but anything is better than nothing, right?! I am a little gutted though, that there wasn't much for me to analyse.

However, to keep the surveys simple for the kids I asked then to rank each topic from 1 to 5 related to their engagement and enjoyment, and then justify their response. Unsurprisingly, there were lots of different opinions because students clearly have different interests. What did surprise me though (positively) was a greater interest (generally) in the Health units. Historically, many students see Health as a 'theory lesson' and a lesson they would prefer to be 'doing PE'. I am very honest that I believe this directly stems from the language that teachers use and how they refer to the subjects. I have always been frustrated when the words theory and practical are used, as these insinuate to students that learning only occurs when in the classroom. This language has been used in both schools I've taught in Adelaide and I loathe it! So, to get some more positive feedback about engagement and learning in Health topics, was a great surprise! 

Please see below some of the key themes that were present throughout the feedback I gained from students (Year 7-Year 12). I have briefly reflected on most of these themes and what they may mean moving forward. Here's to the next semester!

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

2020: Some Sort of Structure

As blogged earlier in the year, in 2020 our school is moving into an integrated timetable for Years 9 and 10. Over the last couple of months we have been working in our groups to start to develop some ideas/concepts/unit designs. The 16 groups/units have different topics and an overarching value of the curriculum as the focus. Our value is respect and the overall topic of our unit will be sexuality education, integrating with English, Media and Digital Technology.

I am really excited by the changes because I believe it is great for the students but also great for us as staff. We are starting to learn a lot more about the achievement objectives from our curriculum, but also from other strands/subjects of the curriculum. I love to learn, so gaining new knowledge is a major benefit for me. 

I do feel though, it is a lot harder than expected. There is a lot of thought, research, discussion and work to put into creating these integrated units. Working alongside 5 other teachers, all with different agendas, different personalities and different experiences makes for rich, insightful and creative discussions, but also makes it difficult to come to a conclusion on where we are heading. Fortunately, we have a responsive group, and school is providing time for us to develop these units. 

Last term, our group were relieved for 3 periods to have a decent chunk of time to get our brains ticking about our unit. The below picture demonstrates where we finished after this 3 hour period. Essentially, there are 4 subtopics (Hāuora, Pubertal Changes, Communication and Safe Relationships) which will be modules for students to complete over the first 4-5 weeks, and once these are complete the students will create a project (TBC).

We decided to have modules because we believed there were some specific skills and content knowledge we wanted students to have the understanding of and ability to demonstrate before pursuing their own projects. Each module will have a series of rewindable learning resources and tasks for students to access and complete at their own pace, with a mixture of skills/knowledge from the 3 curriculum strands. Once they are comfortable with the skills/knowledge from one module, we envisage some sort of formative assessment such as a video creation, interview with the teacher or mini presentation to demonstrate their understanding. From there, the student can move onto the next module until they have completed all four. This structure will enable students to learn at their own pace and give choice in what resources/tasks they would like to complete within their set module (2 key parts of Ako Orewa).

A large change to accompany these integrated projects from what we currently do, is assessing students based off levels of the curriculum. So rather than give a child a grade of NA, A, M or E, their grades will directly reflect the level of the curriculum they are working at, related to specific achievement objectives next year (Levels 2-6). Currently in Year 9 PE we are trialling this way of assessing - I plan to blog about this in a few weeks. 

So, once the student has completed their 4 modules, the teachers (there will be 3 teachers with 75 students) will then discuss and determine whether the student is meeting the expected level of the curriculum, based off of what they have completed throughout the modules. If they are meeting/above the standard, they are then able to design their own projects. If the student is below the standard, the student will revisit modules where they are a lower level in their skill development or demonstrations for one week. After this week, they then may design their own project, or be supported in a more teacher directed project with options to choose from. We hope that this timeline will support students sitting at all levels of the curriculum to be successful, and especially not allow some students to fall through the cracks or some not to be challenged.

Kayleigh, one of our awesome group members, used the sticky note timeline, to then create the below digital version of this draft unit outline (which we will keep adding to/adapting).

Moving forward, we have a Teacher Only Day next Friday to continue to develop our ideas. Until this week we thought our unit was going to be for 9 weeks, however this has now changed to 18 weeks. Clearly this means a lot more brainstorming, planning and creating to be done, but also means a lot deeper learning within the unit than before for our students. Thus, the TOD will be a great opportunity to regroup and delve back into where we ended up after our 3 hours together! Watch this space...

Associate & Student Teachers - Partners in Growth

Last term I was an Associate Teacher for a student teacher for 4 weeks. Because of being involved with the MDTA, I was observed and given feedback regularly. As a result I feel I grew quite quickly and gained confidence in my practice and my appreciation and ability to use criticism/feedback to grow. I was excited to have a student teacher because this was a great opportunity to continue to grow, as well as reflect on how far I have come in 3 and a bit years. 

I feel, like a student teacher, I was completely thrown in the deep end as I was given no 'how-to' guide or suggestions of how to actually be an AT. Of course this has disadvantages, but I tried to embrace it. Using the information from the university handbook and discussions with my student teacher, I feel I did pretty well to support him in his first placement, even though he was only with me for one Senior class. He had already identified goals for himself, and had actually already taught a couple of years overseas, so we decided straight away he would join me in the deep end quite quickly - this is something upon reflection he said he was grateful for, to just get in there as soon as possible and actually teach. This was something I also appreciated when I was a student teacher - AT's who essentially handed their classes over but were supportive in the process.

He also said he appreciated the honest feedback and feedforward I gave him. After each of his lessons I took time to comment on his strengths and identified possible work ons. I felt proud when he took the feedback on board and strengthened both his strengths and weaknesses in future lessons. If I were to have a student teacher again, I would like to have these post lesson discussions as more of a conversation. I feel I could have facilitated a conversation, by asking probing questions to encourage further reflection, rather than the student teacher listing their strengths/work ons and then me doing the same. Next time, I would like to guide the student teacher to consider additional work ons than they initially identified and then we could discuss how and why that area could be adapted (as opposed to me describing how and why). 

I think only being with him for one class was quite difficult, as this meant we didn't have many opportunities for conversations unless they were planned. Having more time with a student teacher would have supported me to give feedback on their growth, see them teach in different lights, as well as further possible impromptu conversations. I also think it would have supported the student teacher to develop a closer relationship with their AT, which may have encouraged more open/honest questions and discussion.

Observing his teaching really made me notice everything I have learnt along my journey so far. Things I take for granted that I consider naturally, and have forgotten that I do (albeit how well!). Transition times between activities, the use of open ended questions, and the use of student names for instance. The biggest thing I realised, was the understanding about and of NCEA I have - I should have spent more time explaining what NCEA actually is, and the importance of assessments and hand in protocols for example (I certainly did not understand any of this information as a first year teacher!). I certainly still have a long way to go as a teacher myself, but having a student teacher increased my confidence in my own growth and was a great reminder of some of the basics. I can't wait to have another in the future to support this growth further, and not to mention learn further activity ideas and resources!

Three Years Under My Belt

I cannot believe my third year of teaching is over, and my first year at Orewa College. I have been on a rollercoaster this year, learning so much about the school culture and curriculum. I felt a little lost throughout the year, but also had substantial support surrounding me with my million questions! I had an end of year appraisal meeting with Adam, my HOD, discussing my strengths and areas I need further development in, in relation to the practising teacher criteria (see full report here). This post identifies some of the key points from our discussion.

My strengths are my lifelong learning, my professional relationships (particularly with my students), my classroom culture and the learning opportunities I provide. To strengthen these PTCs even further, next year I would like to make connections and increase my relationships within the community, and increase my understanding and inclusion of the Ako Orewa learning process (as previously blogged about). From student feedback, such as these comments from my Level 2 class, I feel confident with my classroom environments and hope students continue to feel safe and comfortable in my lessons.

Moving forward, the two PTCs which need the most attention/growth are 1 (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) and 5 (Design for learning). Next year I would love to learn more Te Reo Maori concepts, customs and terminology. I feel I naturally use some key phrases such as Morena, Haere Mai and Whakarongo Mai within my practice, but have a lot more to learn about cultural practices of Maori and other cultures within our community. One cultural practice we need to be aware of when teaching sexuality education for example, is that Tongan and Samoan students cannot be in the same lessons as their siblings as it is considered inappropriate. I feel though, I need to learn a substantial amount more about the history, culture and beliefs of our non New Zealand European students.

Therefore, my major 2019 goal is to become more confident in the use of Te Reo, read about tikanga Maori and have professional conversations with the Languages department at school. As a result, I would like to further develop the cultural responsiveness within my classes, to ensure I am inclusive of all students, with a specific focus on Maori. 

An additional goal is to analyse student achievement and student progress more regularly throughout the year, not only at the end of the year. After the Seniors left, I spent time breaking down student results, reflecting on the results, and examining where to go next, but feel I needed to have more discussions with students throughout the year to formatively assess their learning, not only summative assessment. I feel that can be achieved by shaping the structure within my classroom to allow for small group tutorials, as well as discussions with individuals. This structure will require a lot a trust within my classes, which will come back to how I create relationships with the students. I am grateful to be sharing a Level 3 PE class with Adam, and his strength is structuring his classes to have tutorials and check-ins with the kids, so I will learn plenty alongside him!

Now though, it is time to unwind and have a break, ready to tackle some new challenges next year!

The Beginning of Chapter 2

After two incredible years at Tamaki College, this week I have started the second chapter of my teaching journey. I had so many successes throughout my time at TC, and learnt a huge amount about myself, my teaching and my subjects. I feel I progressed well throughout the year, meeting my 2017 goals, completing my dissertation and Honours degree, graduated from the MDTA, presented at PENZ conference, was awarded Outstanding New Professional Award, and moderated a Twitter chat... all of this on top of my teaching! Last year really was a full on, rewarding year. I was very sad to farewell the TC staff and students. 

Orewa College holds new challenges, new learning and most excitedly a new experience for me. Over the past few days we've had introductions to PLGs, and the PD opportunities that we will be offered throughout the year. The staff seem like lovely, hardworking, and dedicated people, especially those in my department. 

Looking ahead, I am most excited to be teaching Level 2 Health for the first time, and to be teaching classes from Years 9 through to 13! I can already feel myself asking lots of questions, thinking about where I want to go with my teaching, and wondering how to best connect with my learners. I am really looking forward to meeting them, and know I will be writing a post week 1 reflection!

As I don't know my learners or the school yet, I am unsure what my 2018 goals will be yet. I am going to spend time getting to know the new role, before thinking about where to go next. Watch this space, and wish me luck!

Graduating from the MDTA

Last Thursday night the MDTA celebrated the end of our two year digital teaching and learning programme. Over the two years I have learnt a lot about myself, my practice and technology. I feel I am ahead of other beginning teachers, due to being included in the MDTA. I hope I never have to teach in a full paper school again!

I felt underprepared for technology in HPE after finishing my Bachelor of PE. We had a couple of courses including some e-learning tools, but I feel they only just scraped the surface. The MDTA increased my confidence with the integration of technology and I have developed skills which I believe will be useful for future classes I have. 

Our graduation was based in the Google Headquarters in the CBD, with wine flowing and a beautiful view. I enjoyed spending the time to thank my mentor, principal and the Manaiakalani Education Trust for my journey. Our cohort went out for dinner and watched the sunset as our final congrats and farewell to one another. Many are continuing in their current schools next year, some embarking on new journeys. I can't wait to see how we all further progress, and where we end up in the future.

Despite a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, I do think MDTA was effective for my development, and I am intrigued to follow future MDTA teachers! My blog is my pride, and without MDTA, I would not have my blog... so this is definitely what I am most thankful for!

Dissertation Done & Dusted!

Throughout this year, as previously posted about, I have been completing research to write a dissertation. Simplistically, I was investigating the potential for blogging within Year 11 PE. On Monday afternoon I handed in my 32 page dissertation and it felt amazing! The past two years have been intense teaching full time and studying part time, but I'm glad to get through. I learnt a lot about myself, my practice and technology within the classroom. If anyone would like to read it, you can access it here!

The staff at school were encouraged to reflect on the Manaiakalani cluster-wide pedagogy Learn, Create, Share, as well as the core of the cluster. I decided to write my reflections based on one of learners from my study, as this has been at the forefront of my mind. The study demonstrated the potential blogging has in education, particularly in specialised disciplines like PE. The students became more reflective, their literacy (traditional and digital) increased and there was more peer to peer teaching. When implementing blogging within my teaching and learning in the future, I need to provide a structure for students, ensure they understand the purpose of the blogging, and encourage students to provide further feedback and feedforward as comments on blogposts for their peers (evident from my research and literature).

Overall, it has been really difficult reading dozens of academic articles, writing late at night and including a pedagogical tool I only knew about from writing my own posts! But, my inquiry/dissertation has shown me how powerful writing blogs can be for learners, so I hope to include in future classes. In 2018, I am interested to explore literacy in Health and PE as my inquiry. I have noticed many of our NCEA assessments are evidence towards literacy credits, but some of the students struggle to write. Although their content may be correct, sometimes I struggle to read the students' assessments as they have poor spelling or grammar, or a lack of paragraphs. Therefore, although one hurdle and challenge is over, I am looking forward to more challenges next year!

The End Is Near

How is today the first day of Term 4 - this year is flying past?! I feel I have grown so much this year, not only as a teacher but also as a person. I have faced many challenges and been given many new opportunities, and now the end is near. I am most looking forward to spending tomorrow with my Year 11s at Snowplanet, a 2 day High Ropes course at the end of the year with my tutor class, and developing new relationships and building on relationships during the Jumpstart programme in a few weeks.

A quick reflection post Term 3 on my 2017 goals:

1. Schedule time for me:

Until these holidays, I am proud that I have not said no to any social event or activity that I have wanted to do. I have enjoyed having this two hours each day at the back of my mind and when there are busier times, I have been making up the hours I may have worked through. I had lots to juggle in Term 3, and trying to maintain a balanced Hāuora is incredibly important, not only for myself and my whānau, but also for the students. 

2. Read educational blogs:

Unfortunately I did not give one hour per week, but tried to give one hour fortnightly last term reading through blogs. I tried a different approach; rather than focusing on the same blogs I had been, I tried to read through all posts I saw on my Twitter feed. I regularly tweet links to my posts, so found this to be a great way to read different blogs, with an array of ideas and topics. I am so thankful I got introduced to blogging as part of MDTA, as this has been a reflective journey for myself, which I have been able to share with others!

3. Experiment with more digital tools

I was light on the inclusion of more digital tools this term, but used some Google Expeditions to revise the Skeletal System (see detailed description in previous reflection). Rather than using more digital tools, I was trying to build on my confidence of the inclusion of the GAFE community, and trying to use them in different ways such as hyperlinking to a variety of websites and encouraging students to use these websites to answer a series of questions or create a digital artefact. 

4. Attend more extra curricular activities

I made it through the basketball season! I will be writing a blogpost later this week, once the photos from our Sports Awards are released - such a cool night. I have also signed up to assist the one day Waka Ama tournament in November, as many of my students are involved. I am really looking forward to a day in the sun with them, learning about a new sport!

5. Include blogging into 11PE

As reflected a little in a previous post, I am currently bringing all of the pieces of my dissertation together. I spent the second week of my holidays writing a draft of my dissertation. This has been a difficult process, but I have learnt a lot about the blogging process and started to refine how to include blogging within my classroom next year to benefit my students. I am really looking forward to this hurdle being over - roll on the 20th of November once it's handed in!

Overall, I feel I developed great goals for myself, and I'm looking forward to the final 9 weeks of the year to wrap these goals up and make new ones. The important thing for me to keep in the back of my mind, is that although it's the nearing the end, every minute still counts!

Time is Passing By Quickly!

I cannot believe we start Term 3 tomorrow. I have completed 18 months of teaching! Time is flying by, so thought I would take some time to reflect on how I am tracking related to my 2017 goals.

1) More time for me

Throughout Term 2 I felt like I had barely any 'me time'. I felt very busy and incredibly stressed trying to juggle everything, especially with a bad back. However, since I started teaching, this has been the most social term I have had so far. I spent lots of time with my friends, rekindling friendships I hadn't spent much time developing last year, and strengthening my relationships with my closest friends. So although my taha hinengaro is a little down, my taha whanau is the strongest it has been for the past 18 months.

During the holidays I read a book about Matariki (see my reflection here), and this made me realise how much I love to read for pleasure. So throughout the coming term I need to spend more time reading and doing things I enjoy - that isn't work related!!

2) Read educational blogs

Due to my regular engagement with Twitter, I have found lots of blogposts to read, which I have really enjoyed. Some posts have made me reflect about my own practice, some have shared resources, and some have encouraged me to explore further. Throughout Term 2 I have tried to leave comments here and there, because I know how much I love when I have comments on my posts! Cheryl and Marc both started working at Tamaki this year, and have embraced blogging, so I regularly read, comment and share their posts within my own.

3) Experiment with more digital tools

Last holidays I attended the Google Summit, and one of my takeaways was Google Expeditions introduced to me by Angela. As part of the Y10 exploring substances unit (resources here), we completed an Expedition called Human Anatomy, Respiratory System - Smoking and Your Lungs. This enabled us to track down the trachea and into the lungs to look at the alveoli then explore what can happen to the lungs from smoking cigarettes (see the below pictures). The students were incredibly engaged and asked lots of questions about the lungs, oxygen intake, cigarettes and other effects on the body. So, this new digital tool was a great success, which I will definitely be including again next year! I am hoping to include a couple of others into my anatomy revision lessons with my Year 11s in the coming few weeks!

  

I have also tried to include educational games into the lessons, as I know many of our students love gaming. These include the alcohol clock game, a cyberbullying decision making game, Anatomy Arcade and Interland. I feel therefore, I am tracking well with this goal and look forward to learning and implementing more tools.

4) Attend more extra curricular activities

I have watched a girls rugby game and a girls basketball game during the term. I was able to make connections with some students who I have struggled to connect with in the classroom environment, and also see some students participate in another part of their lives, which was so great! Last year I enjoyed supporting the First XV, and hope to attend a game or two during Term 3.

Throughout Term 2 I leapt out of my comfort zone and started coaching the U17 boys basketball team. I played miniball when I was much younger, but never basketball, and I have certainly never coached it before! I have had lots of support and fun so far, it's been a great learning journey! I will reflect in a few weeks once the season has finished.

5) Include blogging into 11PE

This is part of my dissertation and inquiry process for 2017. I will be reflecting on this specifically in a couple of weeks, because our next PCT meeting is about inquiry, and so is our next #NZBTchat.

I feel overall though, that for most of the class blogging has improved their confidence and their writing. Others have struggled to post, who I will continue to work with throughout the next term. I have really enjoyed reading through the students posts, and seeing their portfolio building up! 

Bring on another big term, with heaps of exciting things on the way including teaching sexuality education for the first time!

I'm All Grown Up... Nearly!

After creating two short reflection films last year (end of term 2 and end of the year), I thought I would create one to reflect on my first term of teaching on my own! I decided to base my clip around my 2017 goals.

I am excited but also anxious about what the coming term has in store for me, including my research towards my dissertation (which I am incredibly behind in already), coaching basketball (and I don't even know the positions) and new teaching units (e.g. cybersmart, badminton and exploring substances). Wish me luck..!

My Challenges for 2017

We officially start school tomorrow, so I thought about my reflection of 2016, and considered where I struggled and was challenged. I have set myself 5 goals for the year, I really hope to achieve to some extent!

1. Schedule time for me!
   
   I am sure everyone can appreciate the busy lives we are all living, and the million things we need to do, however, our wellbeing is incredibly important - we cannot do great things if we do not have time for ourselves. Particularly towards the end of the year last year, I forgot about me, and my Hauora. I was too focused on the kids, work, wanting to keep others happy, and trying to achieve the best I could at uni given everything else going on, and I burnt out.
   
   I have decided to try and have about 2 hours per day for me. Whether this is out for dinner, at the gym, watching a movie or just having a nap, I want that time. Realistically, the workday is supposed to be about 8 hours. With uni part time too, maybe 10 hours. I then also have to chuck in 2 hours travel per day on top of that. So I think it is fair and realistic to switch off and give myself 2 hours... whether it happens or not will be a different story!
   
   
2. Read educational blogs
   
   I am going to set aside one hour per week to read through some educational blogs, like the ones I have been exploring as part of my assignment. I have really enjoyed what others have to say, and the things being shared through blogging. There are many out there that are goldmines of information and resources for teaching and learning, including technology, PE and broader education. Reading through others blogs is also essentially free PD! If I have extra time, and really engage with particular posts, I would like to write my own post as a reflection. Not only is this a great way of sharing others blogs, but also great evidence towards my registration (which I am hoping to complete this year!).
   
   
3. Experiment with more digital tools
   
   Although I have some knowledge about digital technologies in teaching and learning, I feel I only scratch the surface, so I am really keen to take some risks and use more technology in the classroom. By reading through others blogs lately, and hopefully throughout the year, I have started to pick up some apps and programmes to use, which I am excited to try. There are so many things I feel I have no knowledge about, or have little knowledge but no idea how to include into my teaching, hopefully this will change! I will possibly try one per month.
   
   
4. Attend more extra-curricular activities
   
   Juggling lectures, assignments, planning, teaching, a social life and a long distance relationship last year, I really struggled to get along to support the students outside of school. I am ashamed to say I only attended one football game, two basketball games, and two rugby games! So, this year my goal is to make time for more, because I think it is important for students to see you outside teaching, to build different relationships. I don't know how, but I think I may be coaching the Junior Boys Basketball too! Watch this space...
   
   
5. Include blogging into 11PE
   
   Although this is one of the aims of my dissertation, thus I need lots of evidence, I also think the students will find blogging useful for their learning. I find blogging helpful for my own reflections and rewindable learning, which I hope my Year 11s will too, so I want to include blogging as often as I can, without taking away too much time from fun and content development. I am aiming for 1-2 times per week. I am intrigued to see how they respond, and whether blogging will increase student knowledge and understanding, and possibly in turn their achievement.

If you are wanting to set yourself some goals, which I recommend, check out this short video explaining how to create SMART goals! There are many more online for a more depth explanation of SMART goals.

Mic Drop Take One

I made it to the end! Tomorrow is our final day of school for 2016, so we are getting ready to celebrate the success of the Juniors at prizegiving. As we jumped into our 2017 timetable early, I found little time to really think about and reflect on my first year as a teacher. So, when I was told one of our tasks was to create a short documentary of our first year as part of the MDTA, I was happy as this encouraged me to think about my strengths and weaknesses moving into second year.

I was also blessed to be interviewed by NZPEteacher, as his final podcast for 2016. The interview explored my experiences, highlights and challenges throughout my first year in a digital learning environment. Feel free to have a listen to the podcast, or watch my short documentary below!

Goodbye Paper CVs

For our final digital immersion day, we had a photoshoot, a shared lunch and created an online Curriculum Vitae for ourselves. We reflected on the biggest challenges and highlights of the year and had the scary realisation that we have nearly completed our first year of teaching! Although I will miss having the Fridays, I am looking forward to having my own classes and spending 5 days a week with them, starting next week!

Creating this CV, I realised how much I have actually achieved this year, and how much stuff I have learnt. To say I am a lifelong learner is definitely an understatement! I used the same design as my appraisal site, which is under development too. The tree represents my growth as a beginning teacher, more leaves will be added once I have more experience. Let me know if you think I am missing anything major from my appraisal or CV :)