Empathy

What do we know already? 

Understanding another human’s experience and understanding human needs:

Carrying on from our Discovery we continued with a new role play. This task was to act out our project with a partner. After some prep time we acted it out for the MIT team.  I found this a challenge as my project reflects a group of students. I used the soft toys as I acted out the different scenarios. It gave us an opportunity to share briefly about our learners and their struggles to help build and understanding of the diverse learners in our classroom. Here are my 'little friends' that helped out during this role play.

                                                     

           I worked with Kath Roach from St Francis of Assisi in Christchurch. 

                     Kath's inquiry is around literacy in the junior school. 

Discovery

 

In this second session of 'Discovery' we did a role play activity at the fictional 'Kuaotunu Area School'. 

Our roles were parents at a BOT meeting, where the Principal and the Chair were reporting to the parents some of the issues at the school. We were each given a 'parent' role to play that ranged from a lawyer, plumber, professor, artist, real estate agent, roading contractor/engineer, and farmer. The Principal reported the school's issues which were our identified challenges, and within our roles we had to question these challenges and talk through why they were a potential problem. Over all it did not paint a positive picture for Kuaotuna Area School. 

This session was helpful as it clarified how our challenges were seen from different perspectives. It also identified the vast range of experiences within the MIT team and highlighted the many different skills in the room. This is exciting as we have great resources within our MIT ropu. 

Moving forward I am looking forward to seeing where this challenge will go. 

MIT Connect Hui Feb 2021

And i'm off.... my adventures continue with MIT with our connect hui in the Coromandel. I met up with the South Island crew and we continued our journey to Kuaotunu. Arriving safely we had a wonderful meet and greet by Dorothy. After a quick tour of the whare I unpacked into my home away from home, hidden amongst the garden with a backdrop of the bush surrounded by the bird song of our NZ native birds.

What a slice of paradise to escape to.

This Connect Hui would be the first of many face to face hui this year. There are seven teachers from a range schools across New Zealand. It was great to talk to all the teachers and discuss their proposal ideas and also connect with the teachers I had the pleasure of working with on our Moonshot proposals. The purpose of this hui was around team building with our MIT 2021 colleagues and to start our design thinking process around our proposals.

With the support of the Manaiakalani team; Dorothy (Logistics and Cheerleader), Matt (Co-pilot and Ship Steadier) Jenny (CEO Manakalani Trust & Master Chef) we were in good hands.

Design thinking "is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for ... success.” Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO.

This connect hui will see us explore six design thinking ideas and put our own ideas to the test, as we explore the 'Why'.

 I look forward to this challenge and working with the MIT team in 2021 and being part of their inquiry journey. 

MIT 2021 - Here we go!

 MIT 2021 

Step #1 & 2 The Moonshot Proposal

The first step on our MIT 2021 Design Thinking Journey was to look at what the challenges impacting achievement that I have identified to focus on in this inquiry. My first challenge was keeping my statement succinct! What was the why? 

I read a book in 2016 called 'Start with the WHY' by Simon Sinek. This fundamentally changed me as a practitioner. In slide 3 I created a brainstorm of all my wonderings. Next we had to explore who the problem was for and how did we know, what evidence did we have?  Then unpacking what was my actual proposal and how could digital technologies support my inquiry. 

The second step we were assigned a buddy to ask WHY.

The 5 Whys Method - You know what the problem is, but the challenge is to solve it? The 5 whys technique will support you to dissect the problem and reveal it's underlying causes. The beauty of the tool is in its simplicity. Not only is it universally applicable, it also ensures that you don’t move to action straight away without fully considering whether the reason you’ve identified really is the cause of the problem. 

With the 5 Whys, our initial answers usually allow us to look at the most obvious aspects of a problem or situation. With every why, we dig deeper and deeper into the problem.  

The method is simply asking the question ‘why’ five times! 

This Moonshot proposal saw me challenge my own ideas and also took awhile for me to complete. Personally I need some time to process my thoughts and mull over ideas and explore the why.

I hope you enjoy my proposal. :)

A reflection of 2020 to date

Reflection

As I prepare for term 4 I have found myself reflecting on the year to date. Wow! I am not sure where the time has gone since the return to the classroom after lockdown. This year has truly been unprecedented. I have taught online, in bubbles and then a return to what was far from  normal in the classroom. New practices in place and irregular attendance are new challenges. But I feel I have had so many successes from this journey. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a year of change.

Reading through my blog posts during the DFI journey I am reminded of just how far I have come as a practitioner and also with my colleagues in our collaborative team. What once felt so foreign and challenging has become the norm  with new challenges being sort. Our language as a team has changed not to mention the shift in how we deliver our curriculum. My digital journey like many started with the use of Gmail and Google Drive, mainly for planning and organisation. This began to develop momentum as we started to explore different technologies in the classroom. Over the last 7 years at Awapuni Kura we have moved from interactive whiteboards, desktop computers, class ipad, the introduction of chromebooks and now we are  1-1 in the senior school.

Once our kura joined the Manaiakalani 'Movement' (I choose that word as I feel there is a movement in our thinking and deliverance of our program) this challenged our thinking of what we 'thought' digital technologies looked like in the classroom and taught us ways of integrating these into our daily program.

The year has seen an amplification of our use of a digital platform due to COVID-19. I felt I was well on the way in my deliverance of a digital curriculum but how wrong I was! Doing the DFI and having Manaiakalani in class support for the first time this year has slightly blown my mind.  As practitioners we are always adapting, personalising and seeking the right resources to build a rich curriculum program for our tamariki. Having to then switch this to an ALL digital platform was time consuming but not as challenging as I initially thought. 

For me it started with our DFI session exploring a multi modal approach. To create a digital reading program that replicated my classroom rotation.  I'm not going to lie I totally loved it!  I have seen an increase in student engagement and an excitement in the tamariki as they ask "can I finish my mahi at home" or "can I do a blog post about this tonight". It's so heartwarming to see the tamaiki equipped with the tools to allow for this 24/7 learning to happen. It has removed some barriers for tamariki with low attendance especially with healths issues and the extra precautions whānau are taking in light of COVID. 

I am a highly visual person who loves creativity so this is reflected in my multimodal google slides, which now extend beyond reading, including maths and science. The tamariki get a giggle when they see my bitmoji doing crazy things that is related to the topic of the Gslide. I work a lot smarter, my mahi is transparent, rewindable and allows for self directed learning to happen both in and out of the classroom. It's REALLY exciting!

My goal moving forward is to continue to build my digital resources but to also seek out ways to ensure ALL learners are catered for. What can I create that support learners with specific needs? What adaptations do I need to make to ensure they understand the tasks at hand. I would like to combine my knowledge gained from completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Special Education in 2019 with this new learning to develop systems, processes, tools (what the right word is am unsure) but the goal is to provide an inclusive program for  tamariki to reach new successes. 

Whew.... watch this space. 

Below are links to view my Reading & Science slides on our G site.

https://sites.google.com/awapuni.school.nz/2020toroa/learning/reading/mrs-bavas-reading-groups

https://sites.google.com/awapuni.school.nz/2020toroa/learning/science-environmental-issues/science-elective

DFI Last Day - Week 9

Ubiquitous

Anytime, anywhere, anyplace!

This is something I have learnt during this DFI course along side with starting a new journey in a collaborative classroom this year. It has always been important to capture those teachable moments but I have learnt many new platforms to deliver this, both teachable moments from my students and myself. The tamariki are so talented and teach me something new everyday. Starting the Manaiakalani facilitation this year in class has seen us learning along side each other. It's been great!

Google Exam - Challenge is on... 

Panic stations kicked in when I realised the day before I had not registered for the exam. It completely slipped my mind as I prepped for my busy week. Thankfully with the support of Maria, Dorothy & Gerhard I was able to get it sorted in time. 

It's been many years since I sat an exam as long as this but to be honest once I got going I thoroughly enjoyed it. The tip to read the questions, check and double check was great. Being aware of the clock ticking down I had to make myself re-read the questions to make sure I understood what they were asking. I completed it using every minute of the time. I answered everyone questions but one - I had bookmarked to go back to and ran out of time. All and all I was proud of my effort and yes I passed! (whew!)

Reflection

As I reflect on the last 9 weeks I am proud of myself and my achievements in light of what can only be described as unforeseen challenges. There were many reasons why I have been successful in my digital learning. 

First, I need to acknowledge the start to our learning year and having Maniakalani facilitation in the classroom with Amie. Although we only had a few sessions before Covid-19 hit, it created an online platform to recap prior learning and learn some tips and tricks with the tamariki. 

Secondly, Maria and the Manaiakalani facilitation team who came to run sessions with the Tairawhiti crew, I valued our face to face sessions and I am glad we made those important connections before we continued our online learning. Proud of us all! 

Thirdly, my team at Kura. I was lucky to have one of my team members join me on this DFI Journey. This has helped as we have shared ideas and problem solved together. Joining this knowledge with our other team member who is a graduate of DFI a few years ago we are set up to continue successful digital learning for our tamariki. 

Finally I need to acknowledge our principal Nik for providing this opportunity and the team at school for the organisation of relievers and all the behind the scenes stuff.  It really takes a village! 

I will continue to use this platform to highlight any new learning or celebrations I have. 

Ngā mihi nui

Janine 

Computational Thinking - Week 8

Empowered

Future of Tech

This deep dive is a timely reminder of the speed in which technology moves. I was amazed at the clip showing Sophia on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Her expressions and ability to show this and have some wit was incredible. It seems that the time frame is shorting from an idea to conception. I don't know if I should be excited or terrified of what may come.  

It shows us the importance of preparing our learners to be good problem solvers and digital citizens as we teach them for jobs that have not been invented yet. 

Computational Thinking

A digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems.

A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution.

Ministry of Education Summary Report 2018 

Teachers who are confident to deliver lessons online-turbo charge the tamariki learning. Understanding Computational Thinking is an approach to problem solving. Taking apart a problem and figuring out how to attack it. The four stages are;

• Decomposition -breaking something down. 
• Pattern Recognition -finding similarities to make predictions.
• Abstraction -finding general principals that generate this patterns.
• Algorithm Design -developing the step by step instructions that solve similar problems.

Explore: Coding

A highlight for me today was exploring coding. I have been to Mind-Lab several times with the tamariki and enjoyed watching them create using coding many times. I have a basic understanding of it but was super keen to give it a go. I decide to try Flappy Bird as I had played around with Scratch in the classroom. Well I was immediately hooked. It became quite addictive and I enjoyed myself. In fact you could have heard a pin drop in our regional group as we were all concentrating and were determined to complete this task in the time frame and share. Click here if you would like to have a go at my Flappy Bird Game! 

Super excited I even got a certificate! 

This coming week provides the challenge of online teaching, teaching on site in a bubble for two days for our essential workers tamariki and exam prep. 

Busy week ahead!