The Resilience Project

If you haven't had the chance yet, I highly recommend either purchasing or listening to Hugh van Cuylenburg's story in his book on the Resilience Project. He talks about what we can all do to be more resilient and makes it simple, and achievable for all. 

At St Francis next year we are very lucky to be taking part in the Resilience Project Education program, this has come about as we are seeing increasing numbers of students dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues and currently, in New Zealand, Mental Health Agencies do not have the capacity to deal with the increasing numbers of students needing support and our students and families are facing huge wait times to get the support they need.

This programme also supports the Special Character of our school and can be integrated extremely well into Religious Education lessons. We are all very excited about this great opportunity and I am looking forward to being a part of the team who supports this program being embedded into our everyday life at St Francis. 

During our "COVID lockdown" this year I listened to Hugh tell his story in his first book. He is a great storyteller and told of his adventures and life experiences throughout his life so far. He talks about 3 easy steps to becoming more resilient. He uses the acronym GEM, which stands for Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness. He says if we practice these 3 steps, our mental status will improve and we all will be better for it. 

Hugh then came to New Zealand to speak in Auckland and Christchurch. I was very lucky to get tickets to see hear in speak in Christchurch. He isn't just a great storyteller in his books, he is such an awesome guy in person. He brings humour, interest and love to his job and can not believe why people buy tickets to listen to him. Hearing him speak about his different life experiences, and then talk about how he practices GEM was very interesting, I enjoyed hearing him talk about how sometimes it just doesn't happen and other days it does. I think this is the best message to hear as we take part in this new program. If one day doesn't go to plan, then try again the next. 

I have downloaded the Resilience Project app, been listening to to the the podcasts (The Imperfects), and currently started to read Hugh's 2nd book. I am looking forward to this opportunity next year, not only for the children but also for each member of staff. Let's all give GEM a go! 

Attached to this post is the link to the Resilience Project website. 

A Classroom Dripping With Print!

 Reading - A Classroom Dripping With Print! 

An interesting and insightful read from Jill Eggleton - if you want children to catch language your space/classroom has to drip with print!

Your classroom should be a place of belonging for all children, and this environment should be one they are proud of. A place where they belong. Jill mentions that "all work on the walls should be for all students, not just one". I think this is something that you forgot or you miss the point - why are you putting this on the wall - and who is it for? It is there to just look good? 

You need to saturate, surround and immerse the walls with language - this is a literacy resource. What great reading practice for all children. Jill clearly mentions that all work on walls should be correct - children will take that language and start to learn it, write it and use it - you want them to be able to use the correct language and learn the correct spelling. 

In an older classroom, you have the ability to highlight the strong language used in a task. Jill states, "I would also use this opportunity to highlight some elements of languages, such as imagery, strong verbs, similes, personification, or selective adjectives. I added these words to the display along with the student’s published writing."

This is great - children seeing this language used every day is vital for them to gain a strong understanding of it.

Jill puts 5 minutes a day aside for the children to read the words. They would chant and clap the words/syllables together. Ensuring all children know what is on the walls - this is a great strategy.  She finishes her reading by mentioning the walls are a free resource - always accessible! 

Why not I say - let's ensure our walls are dripping with print! 

3 Strategies for Small-Group Reading Instruction

Someone in my PLG group suggested this reading around the 3 Strategies for Small-Group Reading Instruction - easy read - and very informative!

One of the first fundamental reading strategies they talk about is using engaging text, content that will interest the reader. If you are struggling to motivate or shift learning - consider what is being read - this might change the outlook or result.

One of the questions asked is how can students really be engaged unless the text they are being exposed to captures their interest or curiosity and touches their heart?

As stated, an engaging text is the essential starting point to consider before diving into reading strategies. Once students are motivated by either the topic, title, characters, illustrations, or photographs, then strategies to enhance and advance their reading will be far more effective.

The first strategy is around using divergent questions, these are questions that make children think more critically and have infinite answers.

The idea is to dig deeper - some great examples around how you a word the beginning of question during your reading workshop - you want the children to be applying their critical thinking skills.

How do you know…?
Find words that make you think that…
What do you think…?
Why do you think…?
Where do you think…?
What might happen if…?
Do you think…? Why?

Children need to ask the questions, they need to ask questions about
the text, their peers and even the teacher. Another great strategy is giving the children an opportunity for students to be the questioners in every small-group instruction session - this will increase deeper thinking skills.

The third and final strategy talked about, and what I find most interesting is to prioritize social and emotional learning. The children need to think about how and what the character is thinking. Putting themselves into other peoples shoes. Giving the children the opportunity to develop learning around what others are feeling and going through. 

I have found this reading to be informative and I look forward to being able to apply some of the simple but yet effective strategies into my teaching. 

Things That Happen When Students Own Their Learning

This week at school, we were challenged to start thinking about things we do or can do to ensure students own their learning. We looked at this video/reading and were challenged to try something different with the children. 

I wanted to focus on this: 

"#2: They embrace a maker mindset as they work through a design process and launch their work to the world. When students own the creative process, they become designers and engineers and builders and tinkerers and artists. They learn how to solve problems and create solutions and share their work with an authentic audience". 

One of my reading groups this week is going to work through a set of multimodel texts to determine their opinion of "Why isn't the world covered in Poo?".  I look forward to seeing what they come up with and see how they design and use their creativity to tell and support the texts about Dung Beetles. Throughout the week I will add to this post, and update on their progress. 

Digital Fluency Intensive Session 9 External Recognition

Today was the last session for DFI for this Term. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time learning new skills, trying these skills out, and then getting to know other teachers from around the country. Shout out to the members in my bubble who made the experience all that more memorable; Dian, Kristalee, Ianeta, Pare, Liana, and Amy my bubble leader. It has been great to be able to share your knowledge and hear your thoughts and how you are working on different elements in your schools. All the very best for the year ahead.

Today's DFI session was sitting the Level 1 Certificate Google Exam - I was a little nervous before sitting it but once it started and I worked my way through the questions I began to feel at ease in what I already knew and had learned in the previous 8 weeks. Fingers crossed my result comes through soon - and it's a pass!

DFI teachers have supported me to acquire fluency using the basic tools when teaching our young people. I strongly believe they have delivered a great program where all of us will take something into our teaching practice in the future.

I have enjoyed being supported to understand how digital technologies can be used to effectively impact and accelerate achievement outcomes. I now know how to conditional format on google sheets and have been successfully using this with learning progressions in my team.

How great it has been to understand how the Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa have been co-constructed over more than a decade to maximize the impact of effective teaching and learning in a digital learning environment. I have really taken a lot away from what we do and why we do it.

Some of the highlights I will take away from this course are:

• Using Google Keep (didn't know about it and now use it all the time)
• Planning for multi-model texts (using the google sheet for inspiration)
• Understanding conditional formatting on google sheets
• Using my blog to share my thought and what I have learned, I will definitely be continuing this.

Thank you to everyone who has made this course possible, and available to all teachers in Manaiakalani schools.

Digital Fluency Intensive Session 8 Computational Thinking

Today Dorothy talked to us about the final piece of the Manaiakalani puzzle. How can we empower our learners, and how can I feel empowered as a teacher. This DFI course has definitely made me feel empowered and I enjoy going back to work the next day and sharing this knowledge with my team/school colleagues. 

Our explore today was around trying a few different coding platforms.

• Minecraft is awesome - I know some of the children in my class use this regularly and we are having it placed on the ipads in the next coming weeks - so I look forward to giving this a go with them, I did manage to have a play and code today - which was lots of fun!
• Scratch is also great - love this resource and so do all the children. When I was living in London, the school I taught at had timetable time for coding, and I learnt and had to teach using Scratch - so today felt comfortable trying another coding platform.
• CodeCombat tested my coding skills, I died a lot in the game! But did manage to code collecting gems, moving the player, and also changing the code of the background terrain.

Our create task today was creating something around coding. Vicki lead my group in coding (gamefroot.com) your Mihi - it was a great platform for children, and I could see a huge benefit in the children using this. At the moment the children in my school are writing their Mihi or Pepeha, this could definitely be a task we can use with the children who have finished writing theirs.

Here is my Mihi, and a couple of screenshots below to show you what it all looks it.

Digital Fluency Intensive Session 7 Devices

Another great week of learning about devices that can be used in schools. Dorothy asked us to reflect on the Kaupapa of the Manaiakalani Programme, leading into the first COVID 19 Lockdown. This was definitely an interesting time for all involved, particularly for me, as I had just been given a job at my new school - meant to start in person - didn't quite work out that way. I meet the children online through a google meet. The experience is definitely one I will hold as teaching memory. I felt incredibly lucky to be part of a school that was ready to deliver a great program of work at home. We were ready for ubiquitous learning! I was proud of the children, they were flexible, patient and they wanted to give everything a good go. They learnt so much within a short period of time - only being Year 3/4. I don't regret anything, I enjoyed lockdown and would feel comfortable if this was to happen again. 

Today we had to use different devices to feel and do what the children would. I believe you can't deliver a good lesson unless you feel comfortable around the technology you are using. 

Below is a copy of the google slides I worked through using a Chromebook. This was interesting to learn about lots of different shortcuts that can be used in the classroom. I will definitely be taking this digital dig back to my team and we will work on letting the children have a good at something similar. I am sure they will enjoy this. 

The next task was to use an iPad to use the different tools on Explain Everything. I had quite a lot of experience in lockdown using Explain Everything - I would use the iPad to present my screen so I could also see the children's faces while on a google meet. In class, we tend to use the iPad when children are videoing or presenting a part of their learning. Below is the first task set from today using Explain Everything. 

Our create task this week was to use the Manaiakalani Cybersmart program and present a lesson using either Explain Everything, Screencastify or Hāpara. I choose to use Screencastify, below is my video of instructions. I have also linked my google drawing of instructions. 

In Cybersmart last week our Year 4 children spent a lot of time playing and filming themselves on Screencastify. Our goal for the rest of the term is to teach our Year 3's how to use this great extension to present their learning.