TBCS - Craig - Mission and Vision

I was challenged while reading how to develop Mission and Vision statements to Imagine a family moving into our community and making the decision about which school to send their children to. To use my imagination to see why they would be exploring our school, how they would find us, and what would be the result of sending their children to our school. I was challenged to write this story out and add as many details as possible and to encourage others at my school to go through the same process.

These are the stories that describe what it looks like when our school is doing their best work. We were to share our stories and keep these stories in mind as we began the process. These stories are the background of the mission statement, the context behind the actual words.

I was to make a list of what our school does and does not do. Starting with the good and not undervaluing what we provide. Schools operate within communities, alongside families, Churches, and a multitude of organizations that provide value for children but our school has a unique calling in the formation of children. I had to define what our school does for families who choose us.

“A Christian school mission statement must sell the school to prospective families and donors alike, rally the community in a multitude of different ways, and direct the overall operations.” 

My list of what our school does includes…

• ·       Our school seeks to honour God and help each student know Him as Lord and Saviour.
• ·       We are here to partnership with parents to train up their children.
• ·       We prioritise knowing God’s Word, memorizing it, and putting it into practice.
• ·       We encourage the developing of character traits including Love, Obedience, Perseverance, Integrity, Courage, Respect, Servanthood.
• ·       Our school is small and family like so everyone knows everyone else.
• ·       The older students are equipped, encouraged, and given the responsibility to lead by setting a good example for the younger students and to look after them.
• ·       All students are taught and encouraged to be inclusive and to look out for others first.
• ·       We learn to work together and be part of a team.
• ·       Each student is encouraged to work to their best, and educational programmes are tailored to meet each student at their point of need and are flexible enough to allow them to continue to grow at whatever speed they can achieve.
• ·       Students become self-motivated and develop the desire to work above and beyond the limits of the lessons.
• ·       Students are encouraged to identify and use their unique God-given talents for the benefit of all.
• ·       We encourage prayer.
• ·       We develop self-discipline.
• ·       We equip students for our digital age with the use of personal devices.
• ·       We encourage physical fitness and expose students to different sporting codes.

A possible Mission Statement…

At Tasman Bay Christian School, our mission is to honour God and in partnership with parents, nurture students who know and love God, have hearts of faith and service, are self-motivated lifelong learners, and exhibit Christ-like character; bringing hope and leadership to their schools, families, churches, and communities.

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith” Hebrews 12:2

The mission statement describes the reason for existence as well as a reference point, a reminder. Along with the core beliefs and core values, a mission statement provides the boundaries for which the school stakeholders agree to work creatively within. The work they engage in is designed to achieve a shared vision, a public declaration that schools use to describe their highest-level goals for the future. In other words, what a school hopes to achieve if they successfully fulfil the school’s mission.

Mission statements represent the intellectual and cultural memory, and the will of the local place and people. Mission statements are common statements of mutual understanding that reflect local habits, place, and legacy. Mission statements answer four key questions: Who are we? What do we do? Why do we do it? For whom do we do it?

Vision or aspiration statements are precise, adaptive and responsive. Its tenets should be reflected in curriculum, assessment, instruction, projects, and learning artifacts.

A simple analogy might be arrows and a target. One might immediately associate arrows and vision, right? The arrows, shot from the bow, are what we use to accomplish the mission. The arrows, however, represent the mission in this analogy. They are the reason the school exists and remains the same. The target represents the vision or aspiration statement. It can change and should change periodically by assessing the needs of the families and students who are choosing your school.

A possible Vision Statement

In a world where there are less absolutes and truth is fluid and self-determined, Tasman Bay Christian School aims to engage students in a biblically-based Christ-centred education that equips and challenges them to reach their unique potential spiritually, academically, socially, and physically utilizing innovative and engaging curriculum and teaching practices delivered by qualified, caring Christian staff.

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” Luke 2:52

Reference Centre for the Advancement of Christian Education.

TBCS - Teaching Beginning Readers - Judy-Anne

Finding the pathway of success


Main takeaways:
Struggling readers overly rely on meaning and sentence structure as compensation for poorer decoding skill.

Teachers need to be equipped with the knowledge and teaching methods that consider what happens in the brain as children learn to read.

..when teachers have the knowledge and resources for twaching the code explicitly and systematically, children's reading outcomes improve.

Next steps:

Upskill phonics knowledge

• Undertaking PLD and further professional reading.

Margaret 28 August 2019 Beginner Teacher Writing Workshop

I found the writing workshop very useful.  Jan had some very practical strategies.  Most weren't new but things I remember from teacher training and had forgotten about or time constraints meant they weren't being used properly.  Also reinforced things we were already doing successfully which is always good to hear.
Top ideas from the course were:
- getting students to write for an authentic purpose and letting them write to their passions - plan at the start of the term what real writing they could be doing
- there is not enough "writing with" when we do our 'I do' 'we do' 'you do"
- Using the writing group planner when conferencing with children and focusing on 1 thing at a time (this is for marking too)
- When kids have done their best at getting a story ready to be published (proofreading/redrafting etc) then teacher fixes it before publishing so kids can see what it could look like. (I had not been doing this)
- A free writing book - which teacher can look at but not mark
- Working on story ending (this is definately a focus next) by finding great story endings as examples, breaking down and writing our own endings.  The Deeper Features by Di Stilton has examples to use which Jan will send to me.
- A word list related to our topic to send home and discuss with parents - to build prior knowledge

Many other wee gems also amongst my notes to use along with what we are already doing.  Jan is also sending the power point from her workshop to go with the notes.

Notes from Course and Resources

Effective Literacy Practice

Literacy Learning Progressions

Juniours

Select the best words and language features to say it – use strong verbs rather than too many adjectives

-        Best possible order

-        Personally significant

-        Thinking time

To do this writer – vocab, oral language, reading

Beginning of term thinking of real purposes for writing

-        Clear, authentic purpose

E – ASTTLE writing – planning.  Been marked down as they don’t have a written plan but if writing is sequential then there is planning (in their head)

Quality writing

-        Rich in ideas, information, thoughts or feelings

-        Precise in its meaning

-        Structured or well organised

-        Flows well, engaging beginning and a satisfying conclusion

Write to their passions – let them write about what they want

Endings – find stories/books that have great ending.  Deconstruct and write their own endings.  Collect good examples

Vocab list – talk about it, use it in their writing, not just a list on the board, new words at home (post on seesaw for at home discussions)

Writing Programme

Instructional and Independent

Independent writing – 20 mins a day at least.  Not teacher assessed, don’t need to mark everyhthing.  Sustained Silent Writing, Diary/Journal, 1 x speed writing, 1xfree writing.  Free write book

When marking – mark to the goal eg punctuation, spelling – focus on 1 thing

Speed writing/word blast – 10 minutes – word counts – graph progress – use a picture or event to generate ideas.  1 minute to plan – 5-10mins to write, 1 min checking then students count their words.

Tell your class stories about you.  Get them to do the same using a map, drawing, then write the story.

Marshfield Dreams – Ralph Fletcher (telling a story and mapping it – drawing it)

Optimal Learning Model across the Curriculum

I do/we do/we do/ you do – the we do is not done enough – teach deeply don’t touch lightly

Teaching Deeper Features – examples – Di Skilton

Quick Help – Marshell Digs – Boys writing

Marking

Conferencing

-Look at 3-5 students books each day and note learning needs

- Stamp I for independent

Publishing – teacher to take home and fix it before publishing once the student has done their best to proof read. Have them meet success criteria – they get to see what its supposed to look like.  Year 4 up should publish 3 pieces a term

Early finishers – don’t want more work, they want to go deeper into what they were doing.

Brainstorming buddies 1,2,3 buddies to build vocab

Capitals – fist pump, Commas – turn, Full stop – turn, numbers – signal

Notebook – building prior knowledge, jotting down ideas, before beginning a topic, send home for discussions with parents

Writing monitoring sheets – groups, stories to share

Front Loading – not too many ideas no more than 2

Sitting time – age plus 10 minutes instructional time

CARE – COPY AND RIP OFF EVERYTHING(give them 30 seconds to steal as many answers as they can)

Lego instructions – build, then write instructions for someone else to build.

Kete

The Literacy Place.com

The Literacy Shed

TBCS - Relational Leadership - Judy - Anne

Professor David Giles
Relational Leadership
The essence of leadership is relationship

Our mandate is to grow children not measure them

Life centric - what is giving life to this place?

To ponder
When is education, pedagogy,  curriculum, leadership not relational

If you get the culture right the learning follows

We are after leadership formation not leadership development

Leadership is not a solitary thing
What are the questions to ask yourself in relation to your contribution over the next 3-5 years
What do we want the school to be known for?
Leadership journey is mostly about finding out who we

How do we walk alongside and change the narrative

Major takeaways:
Leadership is not solitary
Our mandate is to grow children, not measure them
Education is always relational
What is life giving about our place?
What do we want to be known for?
What do I want my contribution to be over the next 3-5 years?

Next steps:
Check out appreciative inquiry
Consider what I want my contribution to be over the next 3-5 years



Undertaking PLD and further professional reading

TBCS - Teacher Imposter Syndrome- Judy-Anne

Reflections:

I had no idea there was actually a name for it but I know that I have spent the greater part of my teaching career waiting for somebody to walk into my class and tell me I have no idea what I am doing and no business being in the classroom. A few years ago I said something to that effect to one of our senior teachers and they said they felt the same! 

It certainly meant I had to read this article!

I am not a perfectionist by any stretch of the imagination nevertheless one of the statements that really resonanated with me was that ' Aiming to be a perfect teacher was an unattainable and pointless goal.'

One of the challenges with teaching is that there is always more we could do, or things we could do better. Sometimes we have to remember to celebrate what is going well- celebrate the small wins. Wouldn't we do that for our children?!

The other statement that I realised was me to a T was 'people with imposter syndrome explain away any success as luck, chance, or a result of something outside of their actions. I did that frequently and still catch myself doing it now. This just needs to stop.'

Celebrate the wins- no matter how small.

I had a chat with Margaret about this too because I realised that this artickle could possibly have been describing her as a beginning teacher- ie appearing capable but inside really struggling. 

Next steps:

Celebrate the small wins

Be prepared to take credit for successes rather than assuming it was luck, chance or someone else who made the difference

Ensure I check in with Margaret regularly to ensure she is doing the same!

• Undertaking PLD and further professional reading.

• Appropriate and professional communication with colleagues, ākonga and whānau.

Modern Learning Environments?

Modern Learning Environments aimed at equitable outcomes and relationship building.

Of those below from https://www.ero.govt.nz/publications/leading-innovative-learning-in-new-zealand-schools-april-2018/appendix-2-oecd-ile-project/

I was able to see this in action. See the photos.

 Some students were involved in cooking, one was asking of staff , selective questions around food allergies, and diet foods. Two were doing the mixing of ingredients, both creating different foods while still similar. A small group was creating a piece of writing for The Mapua Literacy Festival, two were receiving direct assistance from the teacher, and another two were working together to help each other with different topics. In a separate area some were researching their topics, while others were working on their Maths.

All the students were working with and around each other in a way that complimented their own learning.

Next Steps, is to record these types of learning, so that we can share the understanding of the underlying processes that were taking place. We tend to take it for granted.

Outcome: I would like to work with the teachers to help build student awareness and provide us with student voice for these opportunities.

The eight basics of motivation

Students are more motivated to engage in learning when:

1. they perceive stable links between specific actions and achievement
   
2. they feel competent to do what is expected of them
   
3. they value the subject and have a clear sense of purpose
   
4. they perceive the environment as favourable for learning, and
   
5. they experience positive emotions towards learning activities.
   

Students:

6. direct their attention away from learning when they experience negative emotions

7. are more persistent in learning when they can manage their resources and deal with obstacles efficiently

8. free up cognitive resources for learning when they are able to influence the intensity, duration and expression of their emotions.

The seven principles of learning

This project has explored the nature of learning through the perspectives of cognition, emotion and biology, and provided analyses of the implication for different types of application in learning environments. The research was synthesised to create seven transversal ‘principles’ to guide the development of learning environments for the 21st century.

Learners at the centre

The learning environment recognises the learners as its core participants, encourages their active engagement and develops in them an understanding of their own activity as learners.

• Learners are the central players in the environment and therefore activities centre on their cognition and growth.
• Learning activities allow students to construct their learning through engagement and active exploration.
• This calls for a mix of pedagogies, which includes guided and action approaches, as well as co-operative, inquiry based and service learning.
• The environment aims to develop ‘self-regulated learners’, who:

• develop meta-cognitive skills
• monitor, evaluate and optimise the acquisition and use of knowledge
• regulate their emotions and motivations during the learning process
• manage study time well
• set higher specific and personal goals, and are able to monitor them.

The social nature of learning

The learning environment is founded on the social nature of learning and actively encourages well-organised co-operative learning.

• Neuroscience confirms that we learn through social interaction – the organisation of learning should be highly social.
• Co-operative group work, appropriately organised and structured, has demonstrated very clear benefits for achievement as well as for behavioural and affective outcomes. Co-operative methods work for all types for students because, done well, they push learners of all abilities.
• Personal research and self-study are naturally also important, and the opportunities for autonomous learning should grow as students mature.

TBCS - Craig - Reflection on Teaching Math with Math-Buddy

Maths Buddy

Where I come from.

I come from a background of teaching Math from a textbook. I must admit that I loved it and would not hesitate to go back to that way because it ensured I taught the whole syllabus and, with the addition of weekly revision test and the strick focus on learning times tables, my students became very good at Math. It's success spurred me on and I became very confident at teaching Math. Any of my students who left my class to go to another school were considered exceptional at Math in the schools they went to.

It worked because all my students had been taught the same way in year groups and were reasonably similar in ability. Repetition and Revision along with teaching the best way to do something instead of 5 different ways, enabled my students to have confidence in their ability as Mathematicians.

Where I am now. 

I now find myself in a fantastic little Christian School and in a lovely class that has three year levels and abilities ranging from year one to year seven.

My normal approach to teaching Math will not work in this environment.

Fortunately, someone before me has had the foresight to purchase the Mathbuddy programme for the use of all students in the school.

Maths Buddy

Mathbuddy is a New Zealand created, curriculum-based programme that is constantly updated and research-based. It covers students from Year 1 to Year 13, including A Levels. Its strengths lie in the teaching videos for every lesson, the lesson summary available for each lesson, and the access each student has to every grade, not only their own.

Each learning area is broken into sections that have reviews to pretest and post-test. There are also weekly revision tasks that can be assigned. The work completed, progress made, and struggles encountered are easily identified by the teacher's console. You can assign tasks and give time constraints if you choose. A timeline history gives a breakdown of every lesson viewed and attempted with the resultant mark.

The students get instant feedback on whether any given answer is right or wrong and what the correct answer should have been if their answer was incorrect. There is an 80% pass level as standard so if a lesson is not passed, the student can rewatch the video lesson and attempt the lesson again.

Strengths of Maths Buddy

• It meets every student at their point of need. Nowadays, there is a big emphasis on individualised programmes for each student. Under normal textbook conditions in my class that would be almost impossible. I have, at the moment, students working at Year 1, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 levels. Each student is different. Each student works at a different speed and has strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Maths Buddy allows for all of these differences and allows each student to be challenged at their level. It doesn't hold back the progress of more advanced students and conversely, it doesn't push students who struggle beyond what they can handle.

• Every lesson has a clear teaching element which is designed to give the students the tools needed to complete the task. This frees me as the teacher from having to give what would end up being 40-50 lessons every Math period.

• If you are struggling in a particular area you can, at the click of your mouse, jump down a grade and complete the lessons at that level, cementing the groundwork for the lesson you will jump back to. This access to all grades can be a great help.
• It uses lots of real-life examples and 

• It covers the whole curriculum.

• When you finish your grade level, you can move to the next grade level and carry on. You are always learning and progressing.

What does that leave me as a teacher to do

Maths Buddy, just like any textbook or programme is a tool. It is something employed by me as a teacher to reach the goals I have in the area of Math. How you use Maths Buddy is entirely at your discretion. At the end of the day, my job is to teach my students how to understand and apply Math...

I have chosen to get my students to do every lesson in order. They are to watch the video, open the lesson summary in a separate tab, and do the lesson. If they don't pass at 80%, they are to follow the first three steps again. If after two tries, they still have not passed, I will go over the lesson with them and allow them to try again. If this still doesn't work, I will get the student to check in with me for every question before they push enter to go through their workings and resultant answer. When I am not giving individual lessons, I roam the room and check on the progress of each student and lend a word of encouragement or help as needed. I tend to have a good grasp of every student's work.

Through my teacher console, I keep an eye on each student's progress and struggles. I log the students progress in an easy to read XL spreadsheet and write any student's name in my planning book that is having trouble and the area I need to help them with.

Conclusion.

I very much appreciate Maths Buddy. Both my students and I have a positive attitude towards Math. all my students have progressed well over the course of the year. many have made outstanding progress.

Student Voice

Positive

It is fun but sometimes hard. Jak

I like that you don't have to wait till the end until you know the correct answer and score. (Portia)

I like how it has diagnostic tests so you know which ones that you don't know. (Zach)

I like how there is a video so it tells you how to do the lesson. (Chanyn)

It's very educational (Jak)

It makes your brain work (Ella)

I like the way you can choose the background colour and when you get 100%, you get some ribbons and confetti on your screen. (Madelynne)

I like how some of the questions are challenging but when you start learning them, they get easier. (Raphael)

The order of the lessons is helpful like fractions and decimals. (Mercy)

I like it because you can go onto the next year. (Reuben)


Negatives and how to overcome them.


Sometimes it doesn't tell you how to do a question in the video. (Madelynne)
Ask my teacher how to do it.

Occasionally it takes a long time for the questions to load. (Portia)
Reload the programme.

Some questions don't get explained in the video so I don't really understand it. (Raphael)
Ask my teacher or someone next to me.

Design forLearning

• Structuring learning tasks so that all ākonga experience a degree of success, but also ensuring that they are required to stretch themselves to fully succeed.

Learning focused culture

• Effectively incorporating digital media into the learning environment.

TBCS - Compliment- Judy-Anne

It was lovely and quite encouraging to have a parent tell Steve that she really enjoyed seeing the children playing in class and wished the junior room had been like that when her boy was in there. Quite a surprise as that is not what I thought her preference would be.

It's always nice to hear that people think you are getting something right. This is a job in which it is very easy to feel that you can always do better and therefore not actually stop to think that you are actually doing well.



Next Steps:

I have joined the Happy Healthy Teacher  face book page. Lots of positive messages and encouragement there.

TBCS - Routines- Judy-Anne

Sometimes it is easy to take for granted all the great things our children do. It was awesome to arrive in class after break today to find all the children doing their readiing- either reading books or on Lexia. The part that was funniest to me is that on Friday we normally head to the library after break and don't do reading the normal way at all!  Sometimes it is extremely hard to change their routines.

The children have routines, but also choice within those routines (eg could be reading, Lexia, reading games, listening to stories on the ipad)








Next steps:

Continue with strong routines and regular communication about changes to routines.

Maths Buddy

Maths Buddy

Mathbuddy is a New Zealand created, curriculum-based programme that is constantly updated and research-based. It covers students from Year 1 to Year 13, including A Levels. Its strengths lie in the teaching videos for every lesson, the lesson summary available for each lesson, and the access each student has to every grade, not only their own.

Each learning area is broken into Achievement Objectives. Each child starts at their level with a pretest (Standard Diagnostic) which identifies strengths and weaknesses, which also allows for monitoring through lessons, pretest and post-test (Comprehensive Diagnostic). There are also weekly revision tasks that can be assigned work completed, progress made, and struggles encountered are easily identified by the teacher's console. You can assign tasks and give time constraints if you choose. A timeline history gives a breakdown of every lesson viewed and attempted with the resultant mark. Also available are any lessons they have completed with the questions and answers.

The students get instant feedback on whether any given answer is right or wrong and what the correct answer should have been if their answer was incorrect. There is an 80% pass level as standard so if a lesson is not passed, the student can re watch the video lesson and attempt the lesson again. Then the Teacher is able to assist with specific lessons.

Strengths of Maths Buddy

• It meets every student at their point of need. There is a big emphasis on equitable outcomes and individualised programmes for each student. Each student is different. Each student works at a different speed and has strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Maths Buddy allows for all of these differences and allows each student to be challenged at their level. It doesn't hold back the progress of more advanced students and conversely, it doesn't push students who struggle beyond what they can handle.

• Every lesson has a clear teaching element which is designed to give the students the tools needed to complete the task. This frees me as the teacher from having to give what would end up being 40-50 lessons every Math period.

• If you are struggling in a particular area you can, at the click of your mouse, jump down a grade and complete the lessons at that level, cementing the groundwork for the lesson you will jump back to. This access to all grades can be a great help.
• It uses lots of real-life examples and 

• It covers the whole of the NZ Curriculum.

• When you finish your grade level, you can move to the next grade level and carry on. You are always learning and progressing.

What does that leave me as a teacher to do

Maths Buddy, just like any textbook or programme is a tool. It is something employed by me as a teacher to reach the goals I have in the area of Math. How you use Maths Buddy is entirely at your discretion. At the end of the day, my job is to teach my students how to understand and apply Math...

I have chosen to have students do a pretest. They are to wat and posttest. In need they can watch the video, open the lesson summary in a separate tab, and do the lesson. If they don't pass at 80%, they are to follow the first three steps again. If after two tries, they still have not passed, I will go over the lesson with them and allow them to try again. If this still doesn't work, I will get another student to go through their workings and resultant answer. When I am not giving individual lessons, I roam the room and check on the progress of each student and lend a word of encouragement or help as needed. I tend to have a good grasp of every student's work.

Through my teacher console, I keep an eye on each student's progress and struggles. I log the students progress in an easy to read XL spreadsheet and write any student's name in my planning book that is having trouble and the area I need to help them with.

Conclusion.

I very much appreciate Maths Buddy. Both my students and I have a positive attitude towards Math. all my students have progressed well over the course of the year. Many have made outstanding progress.

Student Voice

Design forLearning

• Structuring learning tasks so that all ākonga experience a degree of success, but also ensuring that they are required to stretch themselves to fully succeed.

Learning focused culture

• Effectively incorporating digital media into the learning environment.

Teachi

TBCS - Craig - Strength finders - PLD

As part of our ongoing PLD with Rod from Learning Architects, he started taking us through the Strength finders course. It started with a 45-minute online questionnaire to identify your personal strengths. Each staff member completed the assessment.

My top 5 of the 34 were Responsibility, Relator, Belief, Connectedness, Strategic.

Each strength was then analysed with how you can use the particular strength to thrive, actions you can take to maximise your potential, and what blind spots you need to watch out for.

It was interesting seeing yourself laid out in a chart and noting how each staff member was quite different. The process took about half a day.

Reflection.

I could see myself in most of what I read, and I was most interested in the blind spots to look out for. One is not being good at saying no. Another is being seen as critical.
The real strength of what we did lay in analysing others and their reports. I was helpful and rewarding looking at each other's strengths and seeing how we all fitted in as a team.

Where to from here.

1.  Visit the Gallop site regularly.
2.  Read up and get to know what each of the strengths include and identify how I am using them and how I could do better.
3.  Get to know other staff's strengths to work better together and have more job satisfaction.
4.  Once I know the strengths well, analise my students and how I can empower them to gain more satisfaction from the learning process and take more ownership for their learning.

The process will be ongoing