First few weeks in Pounamu

What an amazing few weeks.

I feel truely privileged to be learning with many of the same children as last year and to be learning from new mentors.

It was daunting at first - being the addition to an already established team, but they have been very welcoming and supportive.

At the end of last year, these were some of my concerns;

• The other team members are an established team so worried I won’t fit in
• May view me as just “blue”
• May view me as having little to offer as still a BT
• Not sure the team will value my input as much as current team
• Pushing me completely out of my comfort zone with new team and new level of children
• Lack of knowledge of this curriculum level
• Lots of relationships to build - something I find hard

and here are the positive thoughts I had about my concerns;

• Should look at this as a challenge
• Bring lots of experience @ playbased learning
• Can introduce how we have used pebbles in RWM
• Can introduce and use more SOLO
• Data collection and analysis
• They will value my strengths
• Already worked with Rachel with II team, she knows me
• Good practice for my red side
• Great to learn from new people

Happy to say that my concerns haven't materialised. I still have lots of work to do and my mantra is still SLOW DOWN!

Term 4 2016 reflection - better late than never!

• Communicating Learning
• Was feeling good from about week 8 onwards as had finished CL comments! As we move forward with this I believe it will become more manageable to communicate more regularly and meaningfully, rather than the pressure to “get them done.”
• General comments:
• Some were really hard and I felt that I still didn’t know my children even after nearly 4 terms together (2 with some)
• Some we really easy too - the vocal or stand out (+ve and -ve!) kids
• Goal setting I found to be good, so I obviously knew my kids better than I gave myself credit for as all parents agreed with the goals set.
• Once the GC and CL were finished I felt I could actually focus my energy on teaching and designing meaningful learning! - A thought for going forward - how to have the balance despite the workload?
• EOY conferences were all very positive - funny how some kids react - some went hyper, whilst others were the opposite - note for self, next year prepare the kids more!

• Direct Acts of Teaching (DAT)
• Doing DAT in a 5 week rotation - 5 weeks of Maths and 5 weeks of writing worked really well as it was a decent amount of time to design meaningful learning and understand the kids needs.
• When I was writing eagle I designed learning for the whole group rather than stations (that could be tailored to needs) as I found this more manageable. Evelyn suggested a more play based learning approach but I couldn’t as lots of other stuff was happening and I wanted to have control. I would also have wanted to make sure the kids who couldn’t manage themselves were sorted having everyone do the same thing was just easier - perhaps this was an experience in Universal Learning Design!
• The last 5 weeks when I was Maths Owl, not much actual teaching happened with all the interruptions of end of term!

• Maths
• Love Muireann’s idea of having term 4 as a term of Maths strand whereby you link the knowledge and strategies learnt to other areas of maths.
• Wished we had used the pebbles more - as they are a great way of making learning intentions really visible.
• Perhaps an inquiry next year - use the pebbles (Maths first) as a CL tool - whenever a child achieves a pebble you post it as a comment. Might make comments more manageable and “real” and then would also help with my focus too.
• Team
• Working as a 2 was much easier than a 4 as we could both be more adaptable to kids needs and make changes more quickly - I did have to learn to let go which was a good thing!
• Sad to be leaving current team as we “fit” together and trust one another.
• Will be exciting keeping the same kids and watching them grow.
• Nervous about joining an already established team and starting again - respect, trust etc - I need to make sure I speak up!
• In the old team I did contribute by doing lots of admin type tasks which I enjoy so I hope i’ll still have that opportunity.
• In the new team I would like to;
• Look at playbased learning - will share the Pounamu 2016 BPP as a starting point
• Use pebbles more
• Keep up with our monitoring learning
• Introduce SOLO
• Ensure consistency
• Leadership
• From a leadership point of view as I am already quite comfortable with the management side of running a team I need to develop the skills to lead adults and find ways to grow team members. 
• Perhaps in the short term I will ask to lead an area (play-based learning?)

• Coming up next year also have the Cyclone conference with Evelyn to prepare for - busy times ahead!!

Writing Inquiry 2016, final analysis

This was quite a large goal to choose to focus on - following my chosen 3 and using the learnings to help all.

I did loose focus in the middle, and this was due to other pressures which clearly tells me this turned out to not be a priority for me.

I have definitely learnt from this inquiry though. Firstly, the scale of this inquiry was too big. I would have been better to choose one element of the writing process to look at which would have given me a better focus. Secondly, it has shown me the rate of change in these children. Child 1 is still not writing clearly, but he has made massive progress. Child 2 has also made incredible progress, and child 3 came in at a higher level than the other 2 and so her progress isn't as obvious.

This also links to the progressions as to get from level 1.3 to 2.1 is a big jump.

Kaizen, change for the better

What a powerful way to review the year. I felt good going into it and great coming out!

We had a big conversation about my Red side (or absence of it) and Muireann rightly pointed out that the HBDI isn’t a deficit model and shouldn’t be used like it is - Red is simply not a preference for me however I do have some strong Red elements;

Relationships - with the community, students, parents, mentors

Knowing Self - i’m very reflective and acutely aware of my strengths and preferences and my weaknesses and I do strive to overcome them.

Links and connections - I am comfortable in this situation because I have already formed links and connections and don’t need to manufacture them! I am quite an ambivert - an introvert in that meeting new people where I have no connections isn’t something I enjoy, and an extrovert when I am comfortable with people I know. I still revert to being an introvert as I need my time and space to recharge.

Growing the People side of my 3Ps there are several things I will aim to do next year;

Ask more questions,

Listen to understand,

Ask for coaching in terms of questions to ask,

Slow down!

Another of my goals is around asking for help. I need to start realising when I need help (not sure how to do this yet!) and then asking for help before I hit the ice-berg, rather than waiting until i’m sinking! One reason that came out of the discussion about this is my desire to have control and ownership.

Using creating Maths resources as an example, I felt that if I created them then I would know what there was and how to use them and it that it was just as fast for me to do this rather than explain what I was trying to do and then figure out what someone else had done. What I need to do is have the courage to let it go, let go of the control because others ideas and input are of equal (and sometimes greater) value to what i’m aiming for. Perhaps this will be my goal next year.

At the end of the meeting it was lovely to get feedback from Muireann;

• I have continually grown throughout the year, learning myself and becoming more comfortable with the how of teaching.
• Muireann appreciated my professionalism and my enthusiasm - going beyond what was necessary.
•  In the case of play based learning really supporting the vision we have with “proof”  and detailed “why” which I have gained from extra reading.

Quite sad at the end of the meeting as it has been indicated that I won’t be in the same team next year, although as I’m writing this...who knows!

How?

The How (Principles) of the BPP have been the one I find hardest to understand - probably because I don’t usually give it much thought. I’ve become better at thinking about the Why and starting there but it is always simpler to go to the What.

Having done some more reading about the How, I need to think about it as “the way we do this”, ask myself the question, “How will I do it?” and use verbs and actions in my answer.

For example;

B (Why) - I believe that for Maths to be learnt effectively it needs to be hands on, with an authentic, problem solving element.

P (How) - I will provide problems to be solved and materials to be used

P (What) - Lessons will use frog flips, tens frames, counters, stories

This was written quickly as a way of consolidating my thoughts!!

Came across this too;

Clarity of Why

Discipline of How

Consistency of What

At our Smackdown Sharon also said she struggles with the "how" and she used the school values and a BPP she showed. I thought this was brilliant and linking it to my thoughts above;

I will use a Growth Mindset

I will Collaborate

I will be Curious

I will Think

I will be Joyful

and they can be further extended and split screened too.

HBDI App

Wow, this has changed the way I see myself (well, a little bit anyway!!) As Muireann was saying about it not being a deficit model the app gives you the details of what your preferences are, even in the quadrants that aren’t a preference!! I was so inspired by this that I chose it as my Smackdown item for the PD session in week 7.

The app tells you your characteristics in each 4 quadrant and also how you communicate, solve problems and make decisions. The great “So What?” part of this app is it tells you what you overlook and as I agree with most, I know what to work on!

The writing in bold are my selected characteristics, Italics are maybes and the others weren't selected. Looking at this, "Musical" isn't selected at all and yet I love music and play (or use to play!) the Piano, Flute, Recorder and Ukulele. Perhaps it indicates that I don't value that part of me as much as something else, or perhaps because it's not something I do everyday or think about all the time I don't value Music as much as I think I do...hmm, time to start my personal goal of re-learning the Piano!

This sums me up nicely! I know I tend to get to the point and miss the "personal touch" so it has highlighted something for me to work on!

Definitely me! Analysing the problem, looking at the facts, organising and missing feelings. However, I do value team processes and new ideas I just might not be the initiator.

I do forget to look at the overall picture and think that this is one area I will improve in as I strive to become a leader within the school. I know I can be future focused, I just have to make sure I don't get bogged down in all the facts and details that I love so much!

My Yellow Side

In a brief chat with Claire about the Maths Whizz cards I suggested that we make a website / blog that teaches students / mentors / families how to use the cards. Each team could create a series of videos and then the learning will become much more powerful!

I then wanted to get started straight away!!