I have all my notes and thoughts available on my ipad , however they are in notes and as such are not so easily transferable.
I use these notes to refr too and all of them have the what next for Riverdale School. The frustration for me is the apparant waste of time to transfer these across to me blog.
Today I have learnt to set each of my tabs up as separate blogs with web linked address so that I can write directly and separately onto each post.
As I have 6 months of these it is going to take me some time so for this half year I will have them there to show Carol but they will not be all added to my blog yet.
Our next session is going to be add a gadget which will allow me to take a video of meetings or discussions or points of interest and to put it straight to my blog.
The whole point of this Professional learning is to facilitate the recording of my work in the simplest format.
Leadership inquiry to date
so far the information on what inclusiveness looks like from a Ministry perspective is light. We have had sessions with GSE and so far all that they can say is that our school has a unique circumstance with the severity of some of our children in LC 14 and so this will look different for us.
Both Sue and I are looking at this topic . So far I have collected some stories of schools that have particular models and ideals and have these on file .
It is obvious that we will write our school inclusive statement at the conclusion of this year. It will have several components including ORS students, students with learning difficulties Maori students and also the community aspect.The following are the notes from my visit to Lakeview
PLG School Visits
Lake view School. 430 Ed
Connecting with the Maori Community
A
merged School including intermediate and 2 others , one decile8 the
other decile 2 .No connections with the school and community
Members of the TOA group took the staff meetings
Under 5 dimensions of Tataioko ,groups that included a Parent discussed what these meant to the community
TOA has a constitution that we could use as it outlines strategy and direction
The BOT give TOA the licence and mandate to operate
Principal is exec member of TOA
5 year process from initiation to current status
Moving staff to be as committed ........how is he going to do this ?
Note to me
Make
sure I have the folder on Maori engagement when speaking to schools
about our community connections..the what and how........then the actual
academic outcomes
To do.....discuss Kelly and Jack
Entry interviews ...capture this in writing ..info given by Patents to us...Transition classes could do this here ..
Develop a Whanau advisory group on site
That is Jack Nathan Jacob how can we get another representation
Deane
, Shane and Raymond could we get Trieste or Wiremu too?who are our
Maori Parents? The group needs a name and could work like the PTA
...similar to the original Roopu group
We
need to meet regularly and formalise the minutes ie zTermly....and
discuss the achievement data and what is the next thing we want to
achievement
Meeting
time .......7-9 food mahi Tahiti- Kai Tahi....our hangi and concert is
our end of year event , could be a Matariki celebration event as well
food sharing and again the community Parents put it on teachers are the
guests
Could we actually meet and have Parent Reps in our discussions with a Maori Rep......maybe a BOT , Staff and Community session
Powhiri of welcome each term to welcome new staff and children
The
ultimate dream ...Parents can come into the classroom at any time and
that here is a place where parents an come into to make coffee and chat
at any time ...LC5 ..our staff room , how would this go with staff ?
Preschoolers at M tea time or would it be more likely to be at start and
end of day?
Invites and encourage Parents to come to Te Puawai .
We also have a community meeting set up for August 15( as per my self note above) with all the current stakeholders of our Maori students to plan out the next steps for us to move forward. This is around the required cultural competency for our teachers.We have moved away from TeReo as static sentences and to a more natural speaking option. So far the staff have had a Teachers only day with Jack ..(this is on the blog under meetings )....and we have all visited the Marae where I gave my thanks without prompt cards. We have also hosted the kindy to a Mihi whakatau where I gave the opening address in Maori with minimal notes.
We are at a stage where I feel I am having to delicately balance what individuals might want, what the staff are and are not capable or willing to do ..not an easy balance curently.
We have also had 2 meetings with the Property sub committee re our plans for future modern learning environments that will contribute toward better outcomes for students and a way to facilitate group learning, self directed student ownership and capitilising on teachers strengths in a group situation.This has developed into a new area of inquiry for me and is part of my sabbatical application that goes to the MOE this week.
I have read extensively around modern learning environments , and again this year have visited a new build in Amesbury school to look at physical environment and teaching style. Coupled with this I am spending quite a bit of time in the senior school coming to understand how the complex arrangements work for students during the self directed learning time. This understanding of what currently happens in our school alongside Lanes work around real learning not self directed fluffing about and the work we have done with strengthening our own learning model for childrem...The Riverdale Wave are coming together in my head, so that I will be able to lead , drive this next year , starting with our year 5/6 team. I know there will be some blending of styles and compromise but I believe we have the foundation for the next step in self -directed learning with a team of teachers working with groups and individual students to target teach and support students to make their next steps in learning.
I am gathering info around both the physical and personnel aspects required .
The reading I am currently undertaking is "World Class Learners" Yong Zhao ...Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students particularly Freedom to Learn....Student Autonomy and Leadership Chapter 7 which encompasses three interconnected elements:
"A safe healthy , aesthetically appealing, and inviting physical environment; an engaging, friendly, and supportive social and emotional environment;and a rich stimulating and diverse cognitive environment.
The physical environment is the physical space where children conduct their education. The social - emotional environment is the culture of the school.It is the values,the rules that govern socil interaction, and the infrastructers that deploys the human resources to support student education experiences . The cognitive environment is the brains and hearts of the staff, the teaching and learning activities, and other resources that children engage with cognitively."
This is the complex combination of factors I am looking at through out the remainder of this year in order to try and align our physical constraints , the opportunity for some building work this year and then the decisions by year end around the use of space and teacher expertise to facilitae and enhance the opportunitys for learners to be self directed and or supported to achieve more...this would make a great sabbatical project.
BOT
we have ended up with essentially a new BOT and as such they are in need of training.
We have had the roles and responsibilities session lead by Carol. We have had a further sessionon data and portfolios.
to date I have met with 3 BOT members individually and we have looked at their selected portfolio , the expectations , the policy review aspect and the procedures that sit behind this. This is a new initiative where by I hope that each member will be familiar with their particular responsibility and thus guide our discussion ensuring we are complying with our own policy. It is also a geat way to do a whole policy review and renew if required. I have therefore created a new document that outlines each meetings purpose to include the Strategic review , the goal review , the data meetings and also the BOT professional development coming up...this has met with general appreciation as it is clear and succinct , unlike my talking time!
We also used the format of dividing BOT members up into groups with Team leaders for the midyear progress reporting and the new members had to complete the summary for the rest of the BOT .There were some excellent questions from new members around what the data actually said and also around the indicators used to make judgements. This means that the members have self selected data and indicators as a PD session for them.
PLG
I have continued to actively participate in my PLG group.
again my notes from these meetings a ...always with thinking or to do parts for me are on my ipad and will be transferred to PLG blog .
I have yet to provide the BOT with my PLD plan .
