PD with Julia on our Learning Environments

A couple of the key things Julia said;

• Looking at the spaces we work in - 16% impact on learning comes from the space so it’s important we get it right.
• Need to link spaces to a purpose and then explicitly teach this - we did this at the start of the year and then haven’t really gone back to it - i.e. the Gallery was a quiet space, the Newsroom was a space for collaborating etc.
• Need to think about the effectiveness of the space for the children, not for us.
• Universal design of learning to cater for noise and needs
• 3 areas to evaluate
• Sufficiency - enough  “stuff”
• Efficiency - do you have what you need when you need it
• Effectiveness - does the physical environment support and enhance learning
• Learning v Teaching Centres;
• Knowing why, knowing how, knowing how to find out

Oh so Blue!

Analysis of the Herrmann Whole Brain Model shows me as very blue – logical and analytical, and whilst this isn’t a surprise, I didn’t think my blue side would dominate quite as much as it does. 

Before our results were given to us we had to pick words that described us and at the end of the game we had to have 3 words that best described us and one that didn't. These were mine:

Ben asked if Rob would agree with these words, and he did! I was also asked what would I be like without the red "Enthusiastic" and my response was "boring" so I can see that all four quadrants build us up to be who we are.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is simply a preference and doesn’t mean that I’m not any of the other quadrants. I do have several concerns - that I will;

• pigeon-holed as “the blue, logical one”
• Meaning my other sides aren’t valued or heard
• discount my own red/yellow think as “not as good” as others in the team have higher scores in those quadrants
• favour those children most similar to me
• not value myself as a teacher and learner as teachers are traditionally much more red than I am

What this analysis has done is underlined for me why I have to spend more time and energy building relationships, that I have to give more credit to my emotions rather than bottle them, and air my ideas as I do have some good ones!

It is up to me to make sure my concerns don’t hold any weight and these concerns are all are linked in some way to relationships, which is one of my goals – either relationships with children, their parents or the mentoring team. So it is on my radar as an area in which I want to develop this year – perhaps if I do the test again in the future my blue side won’t be quite as dominant!

As a team we are very well balanced which is fantastic as it means that when designing for learning we will ensure that all children are also catered for.

Inspirational Viodeos

Week 6, Term 4 Claire and I talked about communication and we looked at this video.

During term 3, we started talking about using the space more effectively and Claire pointed me towards the following video;


The Seven Spaces of Technology in School Environments from NoTosh on Vimeo.




Whilst Myross Bush school were visiting we had some PD from them about "child centered" learning and "Discovery time". Looking into this further I found this on VLN;

and this:

both these videos have helped me start thinking more about what "Discovery Learning" could look like at SPS.

Video from EdTalks where Dr Julia Atkin talks about the essence of the NZC.



Dr. Julia Atkin: Expressing the essence of the NZ Curriculum from EDtalks on Vimeo.

Sir Ken Robinson talks about how to create a climate of possibilities.