Tuesday 28 July 2015

Reflections on Round 1 - Kelly


It's been nearly a month since our first round of AoN has finished. In that time, we have been reflecting as AoN teachers, as well as collecting feedback from the teachers whose students were at AoN, network principals and AoN whānau. There's probably a post in all that so I won't say too much except there are many things we are pleased with, and plenty of things to work on. 

However, it seems timely before we move on to go back and see if I can answer any of my initial wonderings. 

? Is 14 weeks enough time, one day per week, to build on/extend capability in learners to use their active learning skills more independently? 
The time-frame certainly allowed to us all to really unpack and understand the active learning traits and identify when we used them. It was enough time to learn about some new interests through the immersion workshops, then choose, plan and learn about a something through the project and then reflect on learning. There wasn't quite enough time for most of our learners to fully action their new learning (skills, knowledge) into their community, and then reflect on how this felt. I wondered if two terms would have been preferable and I think around 18 weeks would be ideal. 

With many learners having some days off, few if any, had all the 14 days. This, especially towards the end, proved to be a challenge. Recent evaluation data shows that despite this, there are many examples of learners developing their active learning skills as well as transferring their learning and projects beyond AoN. 


? Will learners and home teachers be able to identify any impact focused thinking about being an active learner has on reading, writing, and maths data?
There has been some informal feedback that some students have raised achievement in some of these areas (particularly literacy). The people sharing with us directly linked this improvement to some of the work their students had done at AoN. 

Time will tell. Follow up with students through the second half of the year may give us some more of an idea about impact on achievement. Continuing to build on "what active learners do" back in class would certainly support this impact. 

? Will there be any alternative venues (if we choose to change venues) in Lower Hutt that have broadband capability for 60 people that isn't a school and available for a term and a half lease? This has been a major hurdle. 
Broadband has continued to be an issue, not all day but certainly for parts of the day. Our current venue has a lot of benefits with flexibility of learning areas to work in, including a kitchen, and the students have told us they have really liked being "off site" and not working at a school. 

On the wish list would be all RoL has to offer, plus a bit more outdoor space and UFB. 

An added benefit is we have held network meetings there which has made RoL feel even more like 'our network place'. 

? What does curriculum coverage look like in a future focused setting? Is there any 'must have' knowledge? Does any school have a curriculum and planning that doesn't include any AOs but only values/KCs? Were the learners disadvantaged? 
I cannot answer this question yet. And in fact, after listening to Valeria Hannon talk about some global themes, reading Jane Gilbert's work on how we need to use knowledge and not just acquire it, and as I am currently dipping into Ken Robinson's book 'Creative Schools' discussing how we prepare our learners, I'm even more sure there are no key bits of knowledge our kids must have as they exit primary school. But rather, I feel my job is support our learners to understand and live the vision at the heart of our curriculum: "to be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelong learners."

Going forward, what are some new wonderings? 

? What does quality content look like for our learners? Although I believe students having time and space to inquire into their passions,  and explicitly developing the skills to be active are vital, I do not believe this is all that a school day/week/year should look like. I'm interested in PBL, using an inquiry approach, incorporating ideas such an environmental issues, and globalisation, as well as other things, as a way of preparing our learners for life. I really like the way these TED Talks about students in The Bronx and in India show students using their learning TODAY to make their lives better. This is usually the intent in my class, but I know this could be done better. But I do think it means letting go of coverage. And here we are, back at my original wondering of what is essential knowledge. All I know is, learning needs to be seen as usable and relevant today. 


What does reporting look like if content is not the star of the show with teachers as the judging panel? Students writing their own reports? Identifying the best evidence to reflect their learning? It seems this is more evolved in many schools and it is a regular tweak rather than a revolution; a shift in balance. It would be exciting to see even more student voice in reporting at the end of AoN and something we are discussing for this round. 

Finally. I thought it would be fun to sign off with some of the unexpected highlights of AoN. 

  • Co-teaching means some one has my back: checking my punctuation, challenging my thinking, showing me a new way to do things, showing me how putting thought into areas I hadn't 'valued' pays off. It's fun doing something new and very scary, with a team. 
  • Seeing our AoN kids when out and about: our class just got bigger and it is very cool. Also, kids like laughing yoga as much as we do. 
  • Being connected to educators all around the place: what a sensational profession. We have really appreciated the collegial support from near and far as we entered into and proceed with AoN. 
  • Being able to realise a dream: no wonder there are so many cheesy movies about it. It's awesome. Being able to realise a dream with the support of many: awesome with a capital 'O'. 

Tuesday 14 July 2015

Managing 45 different projects, or... Chasing marbles without losing them

One of the most common wonderings about students leading their own learning - whether it is through an inquiry based "topic", passion projects, genius hour, itime or whatever it looks like in different classrooms - is how to manage the potential variety of directions our inquisitive, curious learners may go in. In my mind it always looks like holding a handful of marbles carefully in your hand, then just rolling them across the floor all at once: which marble do I chase first? Which ones go uphill? Get hidden behind the bookshelf and lost until it's time to share our learning?

We considered these challenges carefully as we prepared to support our 45 learners to drive their own learning through their projects selected by them and planned by them (with varying degrees of help from us). We considered what Kath Murdoch had written as she challenged teachers to remember it's not only about the product at the end. So we thought about how we may get the learners planning their project - not only the project purpose, tools, experts and places that would support their learning, but how they would know if their learning was successful.
 As shared in an earlier blog post, we were thrilled with the variety of projects the students decided on, the experts they connected with, the trips they went on. As well as the practical things the students did, we were impressed with the active learner traits they demonstrated through their projects. Of course, this was the crux of Akoranga o Naenae: the opportunity to apply the skills of an active learner in a context that was meaningful and exciting for the learner.

Some examples of the traits we saw transferred:

Resilience: finding a different expert when one (or a few) didn't respond initially
Reflection: through blogs and slideshows about their learning process
Questioning: to find out what they really wanted to know about their passion.
Connecting: with experts and places, each other, whanau, teachers. Working on projects when they weren't at AoN.
Choosing: the tools to use, the places to go, how to share learning
Learning has purpose: making colouring in books for junior students, training junior rugby teams back at school, fundraising for endangered animals. Basically every project had to have a positive impact.

On our last day, we had a very successful showcase, well attended by experts, teachers, principals and many, many whanau members. The most common thing we heard back was how confident the kids were talking about their learning. This makes sense as they had been instrumental in every aspect of their projects and we were thrilled as this had certainly been on our checklist of whether AoN had been successful.

So what helped?
  • Working with each of the students to plan their projects. We used this planning template, although we are currently streamlining how we blend this with learner maps and the slideshow. When they were stuck or wondering who to contact, this planning form reminded the students who they could connect with, as well as how to keep a positive mindset. It also got the students reflecting about their choices as the project was coming to a conclusion. 
  • We worked with many of the students to set their learning goals. We didn't get to all the kids and this is something we also want to streamline so it's on the slideshow of the project process. 
  • Getting students to make a slideshow of the project process. This really helped the students think about what they did and the impact of the choices on their learning. We will be introducing this at the start of the project process next round as it proved to be a great tool to support reflection. 
  • We placed the students into three groups with one of the teachers as their mentor. We put them with a  teacher who had skills, knowledge or an interest in that area. Then we worked with those students at "Action" time (although some students roved between teachers and that was totally fine). 
  • We had some resources the students could go to when they didn't know who to look up, what search to use or what was a good site for something. One was a list of links. The other was a slideshowThis supported the learners to be independent when a teacher wasn't available to help them get to their next step. 
With many of our learners being priority learners, and many of the projects being so specific, it was at times a task to give the students the help they needed to get to where they wanted to go but not over scaffold them. Many became more confident as they went on, and often sought out other students for support rather than teachers.

It wasn't always easy or smooth, as chasing marbles rarely is. However, the outcomes were what we had hoped and planned for:

*Transference of active learning skills
*Engaged and motivated learners
*Community & whanau engagement in learning
*Personalised learning opportunities
*Purposeful lateral learning

And man, it was FUN.