Posting a poem I wrote this morning. Formatting has all gone wonky. If I add punctuation, maybe that will help? Why I do what I do. Tentative knock at the door, Smiles of nervous excitement, Knowing she's achieved, Awaiting acknowledgement, Encouraged, A story once unachievable, Now is enjoyable, Conquered easily, Accomplished. Delight in knowing, Comprehending successfully, Understanding. Self esteem, Glowing, Whakanui!

Why we do what we do...

Enjoyed this post from Seth Goodin today so thought I would repost. Accept applause, sure, please do. But when you expect applause, when you do your work in order (and because of) applause, you have sold yourself short. That's because your work is depending on something out of your control. You have given away part of your art. If your work is filled with the hope and longing for applause, it's no longer your work--the dependence on approval has corrupted it, turned it into a process where you are striving for ever more approval. Who decides if your work is good? When you are at your best, you do. If the work doesn't deliver on its purpose, if the pot you made leaks or the hammer you forged breaks, then you should learn to make a better one. But we don't blame the nail for breaking the hammer or the water for leaking from the pot. They are part of the system, just as the market embracing your product is part of marketing. "Here, here it is, it's finished." If it's finished, the applause, the thanks, the gratitude are something else. Something extra and not part of what you created. To play a beautiful song for two people or a thousand is the same song, and the amount of thanks you receive isn't part of that song.

Empowered by new learning

Today I attended a running workshop held by James Kluegger. It was advertised at our family chiropractor and when I saw it my interest was plucked because I've never before had lessons in running. Although I've been running for the last few years, entering races and setting goals, I've never had the science or biomechanics shared with me, and to be honest, I'd never really looked for it either. Running is something that pretty much most people can do, and have done as children. I just look at Kaea, she will pretty much run anywhere if she wants what's at the other end. Anyway, this workshop today reminded of the old adages 'you don't know what you don't know' and 'the definition of stupid is doing the same thing you've always done but expecting different results'. Today I learnt some things and had my thinking challenged. This is going to lead to a change in practice where I will apply some of my learning and monitor the results. I'm excited by the possibilities and the challenge. Will I be able to run more efficiently? Will I be able to increase my pace? Will I be able to achieve the big goals I've set?
When I think about it, it is right along the same lines of what we aim to achieve through 'teaching as inquiry' in our appraisal. The principles behind it are the key I think.
I look forward to more running, reflecting and learning.

Start of year professional learning

Guess what...
I'm back! Today our team is engaged in professional learning with Dr Marion Sanders on writing. This is our third day together as a staff. One of the tasks Marion just asked of us was called looping. We had to reflect on our prior two days of professional learning together, and then write a paragraph of our thoughts. We then had to choose our favourite sentence from that paragraph, share it with a colleague, and then use this to frame our next paragraph.
Here's what I wrote -

I feel invigorated by the professional learning time we spend together.
I get great energy and invigoration from framing moral purpose, reflecting on the big picture and dreaming of what can be. I find it inspiring to be learning, growing and gaining energy alongside those I work with. The positive buzz of possibility is like fuel that helps to drive me throughout the year. I believe we do the most important job - and I also feel that we are privileged to do so. Our work is also very challenging, and through the strength of the unity we generate in our days together, I feel invigorated. I hope others do to, as it is through our collective spirit, drive and passion that great things will occur. I hope that each year is better than the last - that the learning opportunity and outcome builds further our community.

The positive buzz of possibility is like fuel that helps to drive me throughout the year.
Once we begin our year with our learners the focus of learning together tends to take on subtle changes. I guess it might be selfish, but during these three days the focus is on challenging our thinking, being creative and dreaming. Next week, we will take greater cognizance of the challenges we face with our learners. Maybe someone not having lunch, or someone not treating another person respectfully, or the marriage break up that is effecting a child. Although we have been imagining this reality is some respect, the reality of it will impact our head space maybe more than we expect prior to the year beginning.

I enjoyed this - and it's prompted me to get back to my blog. To again be a writer - to prioritise this as a tool for my own reflection and learning. I hope to achieve this with more regularity - maybe you, because you're reading this could support me in doing so. Ask questions, make comments, tell me to get on with it if I haven't written anything for a few weeks.

Anyway, back on with it now... and on the running front (if you're interested), a 26km run in National Park on Saturday (The Tussock Traverse). Hope that will be fun and invigorating too!

Exceeding expectations

Whilst driving home one night this week an interesting discussion was taking place on the radio station I was listening to. It was a talkback show (it's funny how when I was younger I only thought old people listened to talkback, now I quite enjoy it myself. What might that mean???) and the show host was asking people to ring in and share their experiences with when someone has exceeded their expectations, particularly in the service industry. Also, during the week we had a couple of things happen at school that I believe tied into this theme. Firstly, one of our teachers received a beautiful cake and letter from a parent expressing their heartfelt gratitude for the difference they had made to her son and family. I believe that parent had their expectations exceeded. Secondly, one of the 'cheeses' at school was trying to connect with a family that we have had difficulty communicating with over a period of time. After many attempts in a range of ways, a connection was finally made by calling home at about 8.30pm, and from that connection a meeting was set up for the following day to further the conversation. This lead to some great positive outcomes, more understanding and strengthening of home school partnership. Was it exceeding expectations to call after hours in this way?
So, i've reflected on these events and the content of the talkback show and I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts (now I'm becoming the talkback host!).
Can we exceed expectations as schools and teachers?
Should that be a goal?
How might it look for us to exceed expectations?
If you exceed an expectation, does that then become the new expectation? If yes, is it sustainable to keep doing this?
Please exceed my expectations in sharing your thoughts and helping me to learn by considering your thoughts and perspectives.

A post I liked...

From Simon Sinek,

Great leaders don't try to be perfect. They try to be themselves.
And that's what makes them great.

Holiday reading

One of the enjoyable aspects of having a non-contact break is having a bit more time and space for professional reading. This break I have spent time delving into a series of research on Effective Educational Practice from The International Academy Of Education (they sound important don’t they!). As part of its mission, the Academy provides syntheses of research on educational topics of international importance.
The first handbook I read was titled Effective Educational Practices, with the first theme ‘Parental involvement’. Read on if you’d like to explore some of the things that jumped out to me.

Parental involvement: Learning is enhanced when schools encourage parents to stimulate their children’s intellectual development.
Dozens of studies have shown that the home environment has a powerful effect on what children and youth learn within and outside school. The environment is considerably more powerful than the parents’ income and education in influencing what children learn in the first six years of life and during the twelve years of primary and secondary education.
Co-operative efforts by parents and educators to modify alterable academic conditions in the home have strong beneficial effects on learning.
Sometimes called the ‘curriculum of the home’, the home environment refers to the informed parent / child conversations about school and everyday events; encouragement and discussion of leisure reading; monitoring and critical review of television viewing and peer activities; deferral of immediate gratification to accomplish long term goals; expressions of affection and interest in the child’s academic and other progress as a person; and perhaps, among such unremitting efforts, laughter and caprice. Reading to children and discussing everyday events prepare them for academic activities before attending school.
Co-operation between educators and parents can support these approaches. Educators can suggest specific activities likely to promote children’s learning at home and in school. They can also develop and organize large-scale teacher/parent programmes to promote academically stimulating conditions and activities outside the school in a systematic manner.

My thoughts:
Here are some of the reflective thoughts that entered mind when I read this.
Firstly I was taken back to a ‘meet and chat’ meeting we had with four new parents to our school. As a leadership crew we have aimed to be more deliberate with meeting parents of our new entrant children when they come for their pre-school visits. Basically, during one of their visits, we aim to have a cuppa, bickie and informal chat about things to do with school in general, and specifics for our school. At the last meeting, one of the questions raised was ‘What should I do to ‘prepare’ my child for school? I’ve been reading to them lots but feel concerned that they can’t write their name yet. Should I be nailing them with this over the holidays so that maybe they have it before they start?’ Our response was, “keep enjoying reading with them, take some time to talk about things they could enjoy about school, and you could do some writing - but make sure it is enjoyable”. It’s pleasing to see this sort of approach supported by the research above. The cluster of schools that we are a part of is involved in localised research at the moment about what skills, abilities and attitudes our recent arrivals to school come with. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this. I’m very interested in the conversations happening at the moment about child ‘preparedness‘ for school.
I feel a sense danger when I start to see and hear lots about ‘preparing’ children for school. I wonder sometimes if the focus can narrow too early and that zones of proximal development may be lost. I’m very interested in child development and psychology and look forward to growing my knowledge about this and how it relates to learning. As educators we need to be prepared for children in our schools, not the other way around. A recent ASCD (American Society Of Curriculum Development) article recently resonated with me, where a kindergarten (or new entrant in our system) teacher describes the start of school in terms of transitions. “it’s the only time that children will begin school, and it should be a place where both children and families adjust to a new challenging context”. She worries though, that we’ve let go of what makes kindergarten a safe place for children to start. In our push to do more, sooner, faster, we fragment children into little pieces of assessment information and let go of the activities that enabled us to get to know them in more personal and integrated way. Is this a danger we face in our schools? Will a drive towards national standards shrink our curriculum and put pressure on to get children to fit? I hope not. My philosophy has been built around developing in our children a love for learning. We have children entering our schools from diverse backgrounds and with a range of experiences, and it is our duty to accept and value this and make the biggest difference for each of them. This will be challenging and look different for each learner, but is also the vital and exciting job we’ve signed up for.

On a different note, we had great attendance at our recent parent / teacher / learner conferences with 95% of parents attending learning focussed meetings with teachers. These conferences can provide a great opportunity for co-construction of goals and thinking about educational progressions, and also as an opportunity to think about how we can work together to achieve goals. Our conference sheets have a section on them for how we can help at home, which can also be useful to this end.
The Family Reading and Maths Evenings held by the Busy Bees over recent years have offered great practical tips and support for parents with learning at home. This is a model I think we could and should extend. Yes, it does require extra time for our teachers, but can also help make a big difference in working towards our vision and moral purpose as educators. Having children attend, keeping it practical and personalising towards children seem to be catalysts in having high attendance to these. When we have offered sessions for parents that are more general, are more theory based, or don’t involve students, we generally have small attendance. Over time this can lead to a sense that ‘it’s not worth it’, however, maybe the formula hasn’t been quite right to attract the people in the first instance. We have to think creatively about how we make links with our parents and community - and particularly with those who are the 5% who didn’t or don’t attend our conferences. This is another challenge for us, but again could be vital and is another part of the exciting job we’ve signed up for.

What are your thoughts?