Post PPTA Annual Conference Thoughts

After recently attending Mahi Tika 2 - an employment relations course facilitated by the PPTA (see my reflection here), I was encouraged to attend the annual PPTA conference. The conference was based in Wellington, so I was fortunate to be flown down there for three days to learn about what's happening within the union, and to network. These are the major things I was left thinking about, after an intriguing experience, completely throwing myself in the deep end!

One of the most contentious papers discussed was a salary increase for teachers. It is well known we have a considerable workload, and compared to other professions aren't paid particularly well. Teachers are often heard saying they do it for the love of the job and the kids - but at the end of the day we still need to pay the bills! So I was really interested listening to the discussion about salary increase on the conference floor. Because, as Sam Oldman (South Auckland teacher) highlighted "many [teachers are] being pushed out of teaching by workload, stress and low pay" in his recent article discussing what life is like in a low decile community. I really liked this article as I could relate so much of his story, to my own experiences at Tamaki College.

The paper I backed most, was the diversity paper - supporting schools to be safe places for students, staff and whānau from minority gender and sexuality groups. Acceptance and ongoing support of LGBTQI is incredibly important, as are all minority/diverse groups, to ensure feelings of safety within the school environment. Upon reflection, I feel there are staff within our school who want to be supportive of minority gender and sexuality groups, but are unsure how. I think some uncertainty may be because of a lack of understanding/education. Therefore, I would like to work with the other Health teacher, to possibly create a presentation for the staff about the gender and sexuality spectrums, and as a result the staff may be have greater knowledge of how to be supportive. Or, we could request a full staff session from Rainbow Taskforce or Rainbow Youth, which would also likely support our Health programme. It was timely having this discussion when RY released this incredible ad this week (a discussion which I regularly have with students!)...

One of our guest speakers, Dr Mere Berryman (University of Waikato). My key takeaways from her presentation were; 

- The NZ Education system is of high quality and of low equity

- Kia Eke Panuku schools have greater academic success for both Māori and non-Māori students when compared to non-Kia Eke Panuku schools, and

- Poutama Pounamu is dedicated to reducing the challenges faced by Māori, in hope to increase success within schools - their research and website also provide resources to support other educators

- The alongside visual represent the 'ako critical contexts for change', which bring to light the parts which interweave within teaching and learning

After Mere's presentation I really liked Mere's closing whakatauki/proverb:

"Ma te huruhuru, ka rere te manu,

It is the feathers that enable the bird to fly."

I was really left thinking about all of the feathers this could be referring to, and thought these words were powerful. I am now wanting to have a weekly whakatauki with my 2018 tutor class, as something to refer back to throughout the week with the students!

Overall, I really enjoyed the conference, learning a lot and making new connections. I am looking forward to further opportunities within the union, and definitely the 2018 conference!

The Pastoral Role of a Tutor

Over the past two days the school has been closed for Student Achievement Conferences, for the second time this year. These involved students and their families meeting with their tutor teachers to discuss their progress at school. I have loved having a pastoral care role as a tutor teacher this year, so have enjoyed the past two days.

Throughout the year as a tutor teacher I am responsible for my classes uniforms, attendance, overall behaviour and happiness at school (put simply). I have a Year 10 class, so as their pastoral carer I need to ensure they're reading to move into Year 11 next year. Even though there is a considerable amount of time spent following up with students and calling home for a variety of reasons, the role has been incredibly rewarding. I feel like I have successfully 'moulded' my students this year, to be the best student they can be, and I am so excited to see how they grow the rest of this year and next year as Level 1 students. 

I felt incredibly proud of the success and progress my students have had. I found myself expressing my pride in my students, and sharing more strengths than weaknesses with their families over the past two days of conferences. I tried hard to share the feedforward or next steps, but for some students I found this difficult! Upon reflection, I think it would be useful to have a brief conversation with each of their subject teachers and ask for any general comments about the class holistically and any students causing concern. As a result, I would feel more comfortable discussing student progress in their subjects and also be able to identify their gaps or weaknesses. 

Overall though, I really enjoyed engaging with the whānau of my wonderful learners yesterday and today. I have grown to have a lot of love and respect for my tutor class, and I loved sharing their successes with their caregivers. Conversations with my class have been incredibly different for each student, some simply needing to read more, others needing support developing self confidence, one student has needed support with her health and I am helping one student to quit smoking this year. I am learning a lot about my beliefs and values throughout the process, and trying to prepare my learners for the most successful future possible. I am now looking forward to seeing what changes students make after their Student Achievement Conferences, and seeing further progresses and successes in their final reports!

Supporting Māori Students Success

As previously reflected/shared, TC staff have been meeting fortnightly with our PLGs at school to discuss our priority learners. Unfortunately I have had basketball games so have missed the discussions which take place. However, I try to keep in the loop by following the agenda and reflection points.

This week the focus was around Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, particularly exploring Kia Eke Panuku (KEP). My group explained CRP as "a way to promote Maori academic success through students, teachers and whanau working together. Authentic connections and a focus on Māori identity are supported by evidence based pedagogies". As our school's demographic is 33% Māori, this is an important pedagogy for us to explore. Please see our Slides from a KEP PD last year, with key reflective questions and discussions we had related to Māori's achievement as Māori. I attempted to breakdown CRP in an earlier blogpost.

KEP is a professional development initiative to build schools achievement and success for Māori, as Māori. The Ministry of Education have developed Ka Hikitia, strategies to support Māori learners success in school too, which my PLG also explored. This resource breaks down critical factors, focus areas and guiding principles for Māori students' learning journeys to be enjoyable and successful, to prepare them for pathways in their futures.

Although there are a variety of strategies and suggestions throughout Ka Hikitia, the part that stuck with me is the need to support Māori learners to believe in themselves and their potential.

"Students with a strong belief in their capacity to achieve are more likely to set themselves challenging goals and put a high degree of effort into achieving them. Research has shown that the most motivated and resilient students are those who believe their abilities can be developed through their own effort and learning" (p. 25).

I have been reflecting regularly about the lack of motivation and self efficacy some of my students have. Although majority of my students are more than capable of achieving, because they feel they are incapable, or they fear they are going to get something wrong, they would rather just not complete something. This has been evident in my 11PE class especially, and was evident in my senior classes last year. A few students really struggle to express their thoughts and struggle to complete their tasks. This is not a reflection of what they're capable of though, but a reflection of how little self confidence they have in their ability and/or little motivation they have to be successful. 

For this reason, I have selected three learners in my 11PE class who have 11 or less credits currently towards their NCEA Level 1 (expected to have over 40 by now), to be my priority learners for the second half of the year. I hope by continuing to try build students self confidence, giving positive feedback and affirmation when they are on track, and reinforcing ako within my practice and classrooms (the two way process of learning), my students' become more successful.

PENZ hui - Past, Present & Future

This week I was blessed to be able to attend the national Health, PE and Outdoor Education conference in Papamoa. You can see my reflections from the 2016 conference here Day 1, Day 2, Day 3. The conference brings together educators from early childhood through to tertiary, with the aim to connect with others and learn from others too. Last year was a little more intense because there were more sessions across the three days, and I didn't present (this year I presented twice, post here). Therefore, I am able to summarise my key reflections into one post from this week (although a little long!).

The proverb for the conference was;

Hapaitia te ara tika pūmau ai te rangatiratanga mō ngā uri whakatipu

Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength, independence and growth for future generations.

This shaped the theme of the conference; Past, Present and Future. The essence of the theme, is to ensure the greatest future for our wharekura and tamariki, we need to reflect on the past and analyse the present.

Three presenters shaped the opening keynote of the three days; Professor Ian Culpan, Cameron Smith, and Helen Tuhoro. We were challenged to think about the shift from humanism to neoliberalism, the need to challenge the norm and to consider what our role as HPE educators are today. Even after all of the other sessions, these presentations were still my favourite.

Ian questioned whether we have really changed from military style, teacher directed teaching? Explored the 'norm' and wondered what we are doing to break down the norm? What stuck with me the most, was his exploration of biopiracy - if one complies to a particular view of normality, then one is rewarded (i.e. skinny, eats vegetables, exercises regularly). I have been left thinking about how to discuss/challenge these normalities with my students, without upsetting anyone. Something I need to think about further...

To further support Ian, Cam questioned what it actually means to be physically educated? He spoke of an 'old school' Junior PE curriculum and I felt waves of guilt rush over me as what he was describing reflected our curriculum in some respect. Moving forward, Cam suggested that students are to learn how to think critically about movement, rather than how to throw and catch a ball. I feel I am still only a beginning teacher, but hope to make some changes next year!

To conclude the keynote, Helen shared her journey creating a new school, in a low socio-economic community. I felt captivated by her story, and found myself relating to her on a small level. She blatantly stated that if students don't like what is happening in the classroom, then they won't come. I have seen this at my school on numerous occasions. It saddens me that there are teachers whom don't care if their students are present in their classes or not, and I fear there are students who don't want to be in my classroom! What can I do about it? Ask the kids. Ask what they do or don't like. Ask why they haven't attended, or have walked out of classes! Helen also quoted Theodore Roosevelt, because for many of her (and my) students, care is the foundation of an effective learning relationship and environment. She summarised by explaining the importance of putting the learner's into the drivers seat. As part of a PCT meeting last term, we discussed this article about learners in the drivers seat (see Cheryl's post reflecting on our discussion here).

I attended two sessions on cross-curricula learning and the inclusion of literacy into the PE curriculum. I have blogged before about the importance of including a variety of literacy strategies into our teaching and learning, but these sessions were great to show some specific examples to use within my subject. Carl's example of gathering letters relay style and then creating words related to a particular theme or idea was a stand out for me. This encouraged group work, key words within a theme and correct spelling. I can see this being a great activity to complete both in a practical sense in the gym and in the classroom. Other resource ideas, which I took away from Ormiston College (Brendan, Jefferson, & Simon - Literacy Coordinator), were a word jumble including conjunctions to create sentences, telephone whispers (groups of 4 to define, draw, define and identify a word), and concept circles.

Next term I will be beginning my first sexuality unit, which I am really excited about. As I have not taught before, I feel nervous about how to effectively teach/facilitate and how to include sooo much into only a short period of time (7 lessons). Lesley-Ann, a Family Planning representative, encouraged us to think critically about a variety of topics within sexuality education. Rather than standard strongly agree to strongly disagree, our continuum was four corners (strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree). The four corners encouraged us to really think about where we placed ourselves, because there was no middle or neutral. I love how in less than an hour, I felt like as a group we had covered so many difficult topics and had really been challenged, highlighting how much I can potentially explore with my 7 lessons. I also liked another alternative to continuums we were exposed to - step forward or step back for agree or disagree (and then asked to put ourselves into the other person's shoes and consider why they might think that way).

Recently I have been tackling some of life's challenges, and have been reflecting on my own resiliency. I have pondered whether I even understand what resilience is, therefore wondered how to include into my curriculum. The final session supported this thinking further. Pip Woodward explored the meaning of resiliency and suggested we cannot teach how to be resilient, but we can teach how to reflect on situations we have been through and what we have learnt from these situations. To grow resilience, we need to focus on our strengths, which can be harder than focusing on our weaknesses. This is something I need to consider for myself personally, as well as within my teaching. A growth mindset, rather than a fixed mindset. Thinking about the risks versus the rewards, without taking risks, how can we reap the rewards, as Chris Betcher explores. One resource Pip suggested was Dr Seuss' book Oh, The Places You'll Go! I have found this narrated video, which could be played while the students have the text in front of them and highlight/annotate the text (also another literacy strategy).

Overall, I have taken a lot away from the past three days, and cannot wait to head to Otago for conference next year! 

Know Thy Impact, You're A Leader

Our teacher only day today had two focuses; unit planning and restorative conversations.

Recently, the middle leaders have created a unit plan, which they would like to have consistent across the school. The house representation on the left were some of the many things taken into consideration when developing the unit plan template for teachers, as these are the key parts of our teaching and learning at Tamaki College. In addition, we were suggested that students reading and writing levels should be considered, inclusion of opportunities to increase literacy and numeracy and pastoral care logs may change how particular activities are managed.

Our deputy principal, Russel Dunn, spoke about the importance of lifelong learning, and how we might see it in the classroom. He discussed how students won't 'close their lid' at the end of the period (or earlier than!), because they want to continue learning, even after the bell goes. This really made me think about how so often I feel like my students do want to leave as soon as the bell goes, which really saddens me. This suggests they aren't engaged in learning and aren't interested to learn more, therefore I need to adapt my teaching so they don't feel tempted to close their lid. So, I will attempt to seek some feedback from students this week about the learning activities and lessons, in hope for some feedforward to increase engagement.

The key message I took from our discussion before heading into creating a unit plan, was to know thy impact - a message from John Hattie, the golden rules for educators.

Other reflective questions we were posed, which I am still reflecting on include;

What is success? Can the students explain what success looks like? What is expected of them?

Can students self regulate? Are they able to identify on their own strengths and weaknesses when they have met the expectation/success criteria of a task?

We spent a couple of hours throughout the day attempting to use the unit plan template to create one of our own units. We were also encouraged to use data as often as possible, in order to improve current unit plans.

Part 2 of the day was a restorative practice session, encouraging teachers to get into the learning pit. initially we were asked to think about low level behaviours in the classroom, and categorise the behaviours, then discuss how we would respond to the situation (see below photos).

We were then given the scenario of students gaming or on Gmail chat during a lesson, and then we needed to role play a restorative conversation using the acronym WARM. Please see my previous post about the structure of restorative conversations. This short clip also discusses restorative questions. As small groups we created short videos acting out a response to this scenario, which is a positive conversation, a restorative follow up. Please see below the example of Whaea Melba (HOD Māori) and Mrs Pamaka (principal), which I thought was a great example.

Prioritising our Priority Learners

Every second Tuesday we meet in Professional Learning Groups for full staff professional development. Our focus this term is based around our priority learners. These students are identified by the amount of credits they are yet to achieve. Tamaki College expect students to achieve a minimum of 20 credits towards their NCEA each term, so if students did not achieve 20+ credits during Term 1, they were identified as priority learners.

Within our PLG, we were asked to identify two priority learners, which we could help to 'get over the line'. As a group we brainstormed some plans of action or interventions we could put in place in order to help these learners. The ideas we discussed were:

• Speak to previous teachers
• Observe student in different subject (a subject where he/she has had some success)
• Look to previous years results
• Use a ViTaL/checkpoint approach
• Move away from TKI instructions/education speak. Easy to understand success criteria
• Whānau - might be siblings rather than just parents
• Keep big picture clear as well as current assessment

Moving forward, we described the specific interventions we were going to put into place for our two priority learners, our plan of action. As the Doc includes many names about students and some personal information, see the two interventions I had planned in the screenshot to the right.

At the next PLG meeting, we reflected on what we had carried out as part of our intervention. Please see my previous post about observing one of my priority learners. I attempted to have one on one discussions with my other priority learner, however his attendance has been considerably low this term. You can see my PLG's overall reflections from our interventions in this Google Doc. 

Today we explored and broke down the 'Current Graduate Profile' of a student graduating from Tamaki College, alongside the Digital Age Learner Standards. This ignited many interesting conversations, which are summarised in the below Google Doc table.

After this discussion, we chose one of the graduate qualities and explained how/what we could do over the last few weeks of term to support our priority learner to develop the quality. See below my aim for my learner. I am already starting to see a increased motivation, he is asking more questions, and he is tracking well to achieve 10 credits in PE by the middle of next term! I am enjoying this learning process, and can't wait to hear how my colleagues are tracking with their learners.

Restoring Relationships Through Restorative Conversation

Near the end of Term 1, I heard from some of the other beginning teachers about a PD they were receiving fortnightly at school. The teachers were mostly new to the school so were offered an opportunity to work with RTLB on site to explore PB4L teaching in practice. This is the first year the opportunity has become available, so we did not receive this additional behaviour management support as first years last year. 

I had a bit of a fear of missing out, and the PD sounded like it was a great place to discuss ideas and techniques of how to manage behaviour positively. So, I leapt into the PD this term!

The first session was about lunchtime duty - something which is not regularly discussed. I remember thinking on my first duty last year "what am I actually supposed to be doing?" To be completely honest, because no one ever actually told me, I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing until this PD discussion!

Simply, we should be scanning the area, moving unpredictably, and interacting with students. Many of the group discussed duty as a role to prevent misbehaviour to occur, but holistically is it about ensuring all students feel safe and are safe in your area. This means affirming positive behaviour which is modelled, rather than always focusing on behaviour less preferred. If you would like further on this session, please read Cheryl's post (our PCT facilitator).

Our second session for Term 2 was focused on the structure of a restorative conversation with a student following misbehaviour. Two acronyms for the key components of a restorative chat are below.

I had a moment yesterday with a student where I had the opportunity to try and put this structure into practice. After taking the time to have a conversation with him after he told me to go away and shut up, I felt the chat went well. I took my time to give the student the opportunity to reflect on what happened and then explain what/why he was possibly disrespectful/inappropriate (i.e. to think about his behaviour, rather than me telling him what he did 'wrong'). After attempting to use the above steps at the end of the conversation he apologised (which I felt was sincere) and we discussed how he could have talked to me respectfully about what was going on at the time, rather than taking things out on me. He even told me he really wants to learn and he knows that I can help him, but he was stopping that from happening! He came into class today, and although wasn't where I would quite like him to be yet in terms of progress, he was considerably different to yesterday (in a positive way!). I really hope my attempt at a restorative/PB4L conversation sees long-lasting effects and benefits!

Looking forward to seeing what else we discuss/explore in these sessions in the future.

An Attempt to Breakdown Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (or Practice) is something I have wanted to explore for a while. I felt that I didn't really understand what it actually was, and whether or not I demonstrated a culturally responsive practice. 

I thought this would be insightful, for my 100th blogpost!

After our Teacher Only Day on the 27th of March, a couple of readings and additional support and discussions I now feel a little more comfortable with CRP.

Steven Rowe facilitated our discussion about Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for our Teacher Only Day, and shaped most of the session around The Guiding Principles of Ka Hikitia. These five principles (Treaty of Waitangi, Māori potential approach, Ako, Identity, language and cultures count, and Productive partnerships) encompass key aspects of teaching and learning with Māori students. Essentially, these are foundations of CRP, so can be applied to teaching and learning with all cultures. 

Some of the key things from the principles which helped me to understand CRP are;

• The importance of caring for the learners, their backgrounds and stories
• The need for high expectations of our students, irrespective of their culture (additionally breaking down any possible stereotypes)
• Learning is a two-way street, therefore there is no position of power in the classroom because the teachers are learning from the students too
• Exploring words/terms in other languages can help make sense of the English terms
• Teaching and learning needs to extend into whānau/the wider community

We also discussed a research article/personal account written by Annie Siope (2013). Siope explores her thoughts and experiences as a Pacific person in education, positioned around her understanding of CRP. I found this article incredibly interesting, complementing the guiding principles, and you can see my take-aways from the article here.

Steven also showed us this clip, as food for thought...

An additional article, Te Tiriti o Waitangi - living the values, discusses how we are all including The Treaty of Waitangi into our practice due to the 'three P's', which also align with the guiding principles and Siope's findings; 

Partnership: Working together with Māori whānau/communities at all levels of education, such as feedback from students to improve teaching and learning, or students co-constructing units/lessons with their teachers.

Protection: Actively demonstrating a commitment to the protection of Māori culture and cultural values, such as the normalisation of Te Reo within the school.

Participation: An emphasis on positive involvement of Māori within the school, such as strengthening the home-school partnership.

I have also been privileged to have had presentations from a Māori teacher, and a Tongan teacher about their experiences, as part of my Provisionally Certified Teachers support meeting. As part of the Twitter chat I co-moderate, we attempted to discuss what CRP too (see our discussion here). Therefore, there are considerable resources to help shape our understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy and how we can demonstrate within our practice. 

Challenging Our Education System

Tonight I attended the Teach First screening of the documentary Most Likely To Succeed. The film explores our education system today, questioning why we still have subject silos, why we still have bells between periods, and why we are still running school much the same way we did 124 years ago. Some questions I have never thought about before, and really struggle to answer. Why are we still so much the same?!

MLTS demonstrates the possibilities we have in education through the lens of High Tech High, a secondary school in California, who are running things differently to what we have known for 124 years. High Tech High base learning around projects students create and then share at the end of a time period (e.g. term). Classes are based around learning content through invention and creativity, with a large focus on the development of soft skills including collaboration, determination and leadership, rather than learning purely absorbing and regurgitating information. I feel this is something many schools are guilty of, still.

I am trying to include opportunities for students to be creative, like the Junior's Hāuora PowToons, or my Year 11s Stressor Trees,  but still have a long way to go! I can't wait to feel more confident in my own feet, and be able to include many more opportunities for students to be creative, and take away the focus of content and assessment. If I wasn't completing a dissertation this year, and teaching on my own for the first time, I would love to include some time for my Seniors to create projects like at High Tech High, investigating and creating something that they are passionate about. This is something I am interested in for future years, also similar to Hobsonville Point Secondary School's amazing projects.

The documentary reminded me why I became a teacher - I did not enjoy school because I felt I was regurgitating information. I felt like I didn't have time to explore, create and have fun, that learning was for assessment and not for learning's sake. I am inspired to make some small changes in my practice, keeping at the back of my mind that learning is NOT for assessment.

Here is the trailer for Most Likely to Succeed, which I would recommend anyone to watch, even if you aren't in education!

Culture Matters in Teaching and Learning

The communities I grew up in, were mostly Pakeha populations. Throughout school I rarely interacted with Pacific people, so I know very little about Pacific culture. One of the reasons I was really excited to work at Tamaki College, was the opportunity to work with young people in a community where Pacific people are the majority, to learn more about their traditions, values, and beliefs. Upon reflection throughout the year, although I have learnt a considerable amount, I feel I still need to include and be conscious of cultural practices and traditions in my teaching. So a goal for 2017 is to build on my culturally responsive pedagogy.

After reflecting on this, quite timely, our principal shared this lecture - Culture Matters in Teaching and Learning. I went along intrigued to hear what it would be about, in hope to start working towards my goal. Professor Konai Helu Thaman presented her educational journey as a Tongan woman, and shared some simple tips for educators of Pasifika people. I found the seminar incredibly interesting and I felt blessed to be in her presence. Some key things I took away to think about further as a colleague and teacher include the following;

Students who speak English as a second language may speak little throughout class, this may not be because they are unable or do not want to, but because they are afraid. Afraid of judgement, punishment, making mistakes in a language which is not their own. This highlights the need for positive, supportive classroom cultures.

We know we should attempt to integrate and incorporate activities, language and traditions from students' backgrounds and cultures, however something Konai said that stuck with me was cultural democracy. She explained how lacking inclusion of student culture into the learning environment is culturally insensitive and undemocratic. 

There is a stereotype that Pacific people cannot think critically. Konai strongly insisted that educators provide as many opportunities for Pacific students to ask questions, to challenge their thinking and learning so their critical thinking skills can flourish. She said many PI students share their thoughts, opinions, ideas and questions in small groups with their friends, but are often afraid to share their thoughts and questions with their teachers. Therefore, it is important teachers shape their lessons to provide students with opportunities to critically think, and scaffold student confidence and ability to critically think with others outside their friend group.

Konai suggested if you have students in your class who are misbehaving, try not to break down or yell at the students, as many will not respond to this. Rather, she said to question the students upbringing; what their whanau expectations are of them, and how they have taught them to act. This is likely to encourage students to consider how their behaviour may reflect on their families.

Finally, if English (written or spoken) is hindering their success, encourage students to express their ideas and creativity in their own language. Once the students are comfortable with their learning and creations in their language, to increase their confidence with English, ask them to translate back into English.

There were many other gems throughout the presentation, and I cannot wait to read her work as an academic. Her story was wonderful to hear, and a reminder that all students have equal opportunities, as long as we, the teachers, provide them. This is also a powerful message to the students; although they may be on the backfoot, they could become Professors if they really wanted to!

To learn about Konais metaphor for education, the kakala (a special garland), please click here!

Decile - Just A Number

According to the Ministry of Education, deciles are defined as "a measure of the socio-economic position of a school’s student community relative to other schools throughout the country". The 10% of schools with the highest proportion of children from low socio-economic families are classified as a Decile 1. The 10% of schools with the highest proportion of children from high socio-economic families are therefore classified as a Decile 10.

The unfortunate reality I have been thinking about a lot recently, are the stereotypes associated with the decile of a school. I started to think about deciles more after reading a uni student's blogpost about being Maori (see Trinity's blog), and the recent article about students at our school. More often than not, higher decile schools are considered to be 'better schools' with greater academic results and more opportunities for students than those who attend schools that are lower decile. However, as Education Minister Hekia Parata expressed, "decile is not destiny".

As discussed throughout considerable research and media articles, including this piece above the decile divide, home background effects students success. I do not doubt this one bit; home life certainly effects student success at school, however not only students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Irrespective of decile, all students have backgrounds which influence on their academic achievement, which I think is something we are guilty of forgetting. 

Just because there different struggles in a low socio-economic home, this does not mean there aren't struggles in a high socio-economic home.

This graph (from NZ Herald) really bugged me. Yes, it may be true, and yes it is something our country is striving to change, but no it is not entirely about how much money the students families make (I must add here I do think this is a significant factor, but not the only factor impacting on a child's success). Because, as Kirsty Johnston comments "although their lives aren't like the kids from wealthy areas, it doesn't mean they won't succeed". 

If we, New Zealand society, do not challenge the status quo, the norm, the stereotypes surrounding the decile system in our country, then I believe the statistics will remain unchanged. If we assume all Maori and Pasifika students and all low decile schools are incapable of high achievement, and Pakeha students and high decile schools are incapable of failure, we are the problem.

"Be responsible for what you say and be a part of the answer, not the problem." Trinity

Conference 2017 - Bring It On!

Our final keynote this morning was a follow on from the panel discussion on Monday, about obesity in schools, presented by the admirable Lisette Burrows. Lisette is a Professor at The University of Otago, and has been researching and teaching in the field of Health and PE for a number of years. I remember reading her work throughout my undergrad, so I felt so blessed to be in her presence! Unsurprisingly, her presentation was marvellous and she came across as a modest, humble, lovely lady. She was insightful, and really challenged us to think about obesity and whether we need to include it in our classrooms. 

I left thinking about the ongoing discussions around the obesity epidemic, and the lack of discussions and fear in regard to anorexia and bulimia. These eating disorders are often forgotten about, as I think many are more concerned with the forever-growing fat population and the impact obesity has on our bodies, than the impact order eating disorders may have generally, and big bodies are easier to see than bodies which may be suffering with anorexia or bulimia. Lisette briefly mentioned how people feel they are being watched all the time, that someone is always judging you, the idea of the panoptic gaze, which is unsurprisingly prevalent in our society where someone is deemed to be fat, overweight, obese, just by the way they look. 

But what really is the point of teaching these words? What do students actually gain from discussions about obesity? Do they become more self conscious and more aware of the panoptic gaze? Do students understand we can eat for pleasure and happiness, as health is holistic? If students are discussing eating disorders, do they begin to feel guilty and/or confused about what they are told at home, what their friends tell them and what media is portraying? Most importantly, in my eyes, what on earth is the point in teaching the food pyramid??? I have so many questions to ponder now, and I am glad I have time to reflect upon and read further about the obesity epidemic before I teach Health in the future.

Using Plickers cards for real time feedback

The second half of the day were sessions again, followed by a guest celebrity speaker (blog about the presentation here), then a closing ceremony and presentation. I attended workshops considering gamification and how concepts of gaming could be included in education, which I chose to go to because my learners are gamers, and a session about pornography for beginners to consider some of the major problems with porn and teaching it, what may be important to cover, and discussing some possible resources we can utilise in our classrooms.

I am sad the conference has come to a close, as I have learnt many new things not only content based, but also about myself and my biases, and some new ideas to take back to the department and school. I hope in the next 11 or so months I feel more comfortable with my progressions individually and as a collective in the department, as I would love to present at the next conference in order to give back what I learnt over the past few days. Can't wait!

Conference Take-Aways Day 2

Day 2 of the conference was again jam-packed and fun-filled, and I was pushed to challenge my ideas and practices further. Again we started with a keynote, followed by sessions we had elected into. This is my timetable for the conference, with some other bits and pieces.

Lunchtime basketball competitions!
Food and fun are conference priorities

After today, I have begun to try to take away pointers that are applicable for my practice holistically, rather than narrowed for the session focus only. By opening my eyes a little, and thinking outside of the box, I think this is more beneficial for my professional development as well as my teaching and student learning. To illustrate, the biggest thing I pondered throughout and post my first session about Junior PE at Manurewa High School was to backwards plan. 

The HPE staff from Manurewa discussed the success their Junior programme is having, which is then flowing through into their senior classes, positively affecting NCEA results, and attributed a major component of this to their backward planning. Rather than starting at Year 9 with the basics of what to include in their curriculum and getting more in depth and specific as the levels go up, they start with Year 13 and work their way down. Manurewa discussed how they plan out everything they expect and want their kids to know by the time they leave school, taking into consideration Level 3, University Entrance, and some of the 1st year papers in our field students may sit. From there, they break down the subject area as the levels go down, thus planning backwards. Although simple to do, I can see the merit in this, and I am going to suggest this to our department for next year. Upon reflection, this seems so logical to me, because it is easy to see the gaps, and easy to visualise where the students are heading and what they are working towards from the minute they arrive at Tamaki College.

Dress up fun, including with the National President
of PENZ, and an old lecturer, Margot Bowes

Additionally, during session 3, we discussed how socio-critical theory, and challenging of norms and assumptions in society can occur practically, not only during a theoretical lesson or environment. We were asked to participate in activities such as completing 'girl' push ups, playing netball wearing a skirt and playing touch with our sleeves rolled up. Following on, we were prompted with discussion questions to explore the assumptions, stereotypes and body image issues these activities can raise in our classroom. This session made me consider how we could possibly plan Health and PE to interrelate at Junior level particularly, as the subjects are taught as individual subjects by different teachers currently.

The highlight of the day though, and the part of the conference we have all been waiting for was our group dinner tonight. Every year there is a different theme to the buffet style dinner, and this year was Kiwiana. Unfortunately I was crazy busy then fell sick before making the trip down to the conference so hadn't organised myself with a costume, but thankfully The Warehouse had a cow onesie - perfect! I was pleased until I arrived and there were many other cows too! I really enjoyed catching up with friends and lecturers, as well as making new friends, colleagues and getting my face and name out there a little. Our field is small, so everyone knows everyone, therefore I think it is important people start to know who I am and where I plan to go with my career, for as much assistance and support as I can get.

One person I did become friends with, who I admire for her work with students with disabilities, has the below tattoo. I noticed it while I was chatting with her at the dinner table, and questioned it. Simply, if she stops smiling, then she is unhappy with what she is doing with her life, then she needs to fly away. Although this encouraged me to challenge her resilience and perseverance initially, I didn't. I stopped and thought in depth about what she said, and how difficult this concept may be for many people - realising when they are unhappy and having the courage and strength to move on. I left thinking about the importance of happiness, and how we need to always be happy with who we are and what we do in our lives. Recently I have been questioning my career, whether I want to teach or whether I want to lecture, and her tattoo resonated with me considerably. The conference this week has affirmed my love for the field, so now I need to think about whether my feather is teaching or elsewhere, in order to ensure my happiness...