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

TBCS - Appraisal Myths Reading - Judy-Anne

I found a pod cast involving the Teaching Council and ERO.
As far as I can gather the council wants appraisals to be about growth and development rather than compliance or accountability.
They note that there is a shared responsibility to meet the legal requirements of appraisals.  The council needs to ensure that the issue and renewal of practising certificates is based on  an appraisal of a consistent and reasonable standard, boards and professional leaders must ensure there is an effective appraisal process at their place and teachers and other leaders with practising certificates must participate in the process.

Appraisal should be a chance for teachers to reflect on their practice and think deeply about the relationship between what they do and the outcomes for their learners ( well being as well as achievement), their colleagues and the Standard

 3 prongs
How does what I do impact on others?
How does it fit the Standards?
How can the Standards support me to work more effectively ?

So there is an evidence component but also a conversation component

It should be collaborative
How does the appraisal support teaching and learning across the school?

The council sees evidence in two ways
The teacher needs evidence that they have participated in a system eg observations, notes from conversations, evidence of a process
Relates to the Quality Practice Template and the Standards, evidence may be in it’s naturally occurring place, eg planning
Then could be conversations around your goals, an example of important practice and learning for you or could be focused on inquiry.
Check Evidence: Putting together a folder or portfolio

How are you using the information or evidence to improve your teaching

ERO is looking for alignment - a clear line of sight between what it is, what’s happening and what’s trying to be achieved and what the outcome of that is.
I’m assuming this means that we are actually doing what we say we are doing.

Evidence could be:
Notes from student voice
Planning
Examples of practice
Learnings from students
Piece of policy that helped you decide on that approach
Research

Feedback on observations
Readings
Notes from conversations with mentor
Evidence to show how students were engaged
What learning was like
What achievement was like

Ie evidence to help you understand the relationship between your teaching, the outcomes for learners and the Standards

Curate evidence in a way that is readily accessible, but also be able to articulate where the links are and how they’re made


Reflections:
There is no one right way to do appraisals.
We don't need tons of evidence- more of higher quality is better
Appraisal should improve my practice

There is a further reading about appraisal which I have also added to the blog. Appraisals are obviously a current issue

Next steps
I would like to get my Play based learning information sorted to properly develop my 'why' as well as improve my 'how,' as an inquiry for appraisal
continue to link blog to appraisal document

• Engagement with school management systems and appraisal documentation/practices that lead to regular goal setting and review.
• Professional learning and development that aligns with the goals or next steps identified in the appraisal process and renewal of my practising certificate.
• Professional leader and colleague appraisal conversations that inform decisions around PLD needs.

TBCS - Appraisal Tools Reading - Judy-Anne

Appraisal tools giving teachers autonomy


Reflections:
There needs to be an environment of trust so there can be a give and take of  authentic feedback and a robust discussion
Teachers should set individual evidence based goals or inquiries that will improve their practice the most and therefore improve learner outcomes the most
Better to have evidence of practice changing reflections
Appraisal should be a vehicle for school change and improvement
Appraisal should demonstrate a journey of growth and development


Next Steps:
Consider carefully- what practices have I changed?
Remember to record these things- I tend to change things and then move on

• Engagement with school management systems and appraisal documentation/practices that lead to regular goal setting and review.
• Professional learning and development that aligns with the goals or next steps identified in the appraisal process and renewal of my practising certificate.
• Professional leader and colleague appraisal conversations that inform decisions around PLD needs.

TBCS - New student - Judy-Anne

There is a new entrant in Room 1 and at the beginning he settled into class extremely well and was great with listening and following instructions.
I feel now as though the honeymoon period is over and don’t feel I am doing very well with him.
I have been thinking about what to do about him and came up with some ideas while I was at Sally Clendon’s Literacy course.

Reflections:
It is quite difficult with one child starting in class by themselves. There is nobody else his age and they are all little and not always great at including new people. (egocentric)

Next steps:
.Find out his interests a bit more - things were a bit different with his transition so this wasn't really done as well as usual. We do know that he likes blocks!
. Let him play with the blocks outside so it doesn’t matter so much if he wants to knock them down while others are working
. Get a better supply of books just for him
. Print some books from Tar Heel reader for him
. Let him play more
. Make sure the others are including him
. Set up activities so that it is a good thing to be teamed up with him

The funniest thing about this is that on the first day back after the course I organised for this child to use one of the magnetic mazes for handwriting, not expecting him to do his handwriting in his book- but he used his book and handed it in like everyone else.
I had got him a big pile of library books, and made some sheets for him to practise writing his name and make his name with plasticine, pipe cleaners and magnetic letters. He sat at the table, read a book, put it in a pile of books he had read, then read another and another. He stayed at his desk rather than wandering the classroom as he had been doing.  He did a fantastic job of tracing his name- even other children couldn't believe how neatly he had written.
He had other children asking if they could come and read some of his books and use his plasticine too.
He sat beautifully when I called him over for memory verse testing and informed me that he had been tricking me when he was wandering around and bothering others in the class.

I told the class that I was so pleased with him that they could all have some free time. They were very pleased with him and he asked if he could go back and do his work, so went back to reading books. He did eventually change this to making a huge block tower.

I gave him a certificate for his fantastic work.

Day 2 and he is still working really well and very keen to be doing his work.

We haven't even got onto trying some of the items on my list yet!

• Involvement in appropriate PLD.
• Discussing my practice with colleagues and being open to new ideas.

• Personalising learning and making it meaningful for individual ākonga.
• Engaging appropriately with ākonga so they know their perspectives are listened to and considered.

• Engagement with subject associations, PLCs, local experts and community organisations.
• Identification of next steps and goals for ākonga.

TBCS - Maths Buddy - Judy-Anne

I’m not quite sure what made me think of it but I have been thinking of ways to use more technology in the class again. Craig is often talking about how well his children are progressing on Maths Buddy and I finally realised that we didn’t need to have licenses for everybody in the class!
We have started using year groups, watching the videos and answering the questions together. They have generally been pleased about how easy they were finding the questions. Rounding to the nearest hundred was tricky for the year 3’s though.

Reflection:
One of the advantages is that the videos are playing out loud so everybody can hear every lesson, they can choose to join different lessons if they like and I can also require children to watch a different level video, particularly if they found their level difficult. Some of them will be able to move up to the next level quickly.

Next Steps:
. Set some extra practice for rounding to the nearest hundred for the year 3’s, except luca who was very confident.

Standard 6 Teaching

Use an increasing repertoire of teaching strategies, approaches, learning activities, technologies and assessment for learning strategies and modify these in response to the needs of individuals and groups of learners.

Teach in ways which enable learners to learn from one another, to collaborate, to self-regulate, and to develop agency over their learning.

• Monitoring of ākonga learning during the implementation of a programme of learning, so that the programme can be adapted where needed to better achieve desired outcomes for ākonga.

TBCS - Lessons from Life Education - Judy-Anne

It is always lovely having Ingrid visiting. While I sometimes think she has a fabulous job I am not sure I would like (or cope well with) having a number of  different classes and levels in a day and even potentially a number of schools in a week. She also gets to be observed for every lesson - ugh. Plus she gets to play second fiddle to a puppet!
Life Education has lots of resources to share so there always plenty of options for follow up work.
Ingrid uses lots of many positive teaching methods. She makes the rules fun- eg put up your brain aerial if you want to speak, but also sets very firm boundaries. She gives clear directions and checks they are understood. Everybody gets a chance to shine. The children are engaged by the activities, the songs and of course they adore Harold. William in particular loved the science and knew which way up to put the snorkel.
The children enjoyed telling me how they had swum underwater with Harold on Friday and the room was all blue. There is some great technology in that truck!


Reflections:
Ingrid was very good about involving everyone, getting them up and moving and using songs. While I do all those things maybe I should keep a bit more of a record to ensure I am doing it regularly. Maybe I include some children more than others and we probably don't move and sing as regularly as they did with Ingrid. Maybe the question is 'how much movement and singing do they need?' If they are happy and on task are they getting enough?

Next steps:
. Get the puppets out
. Ensure we follow up on some of the learning from our sessions. Check with the children and also check back to Ingrid's lesson plan for Friday as I was away sick.
.Complete at least some of the work books at school
.Make thank you cards
. Art work about Harold swimming underwater
.Maybe write a story about Harold's visit to Kelly Tarlton's, and use of the snorkel to breather underwater
vocab list- respiration, oxygen, carbon dioxide, lungs, trachea, mouth and nose

3. Engage in reciprocal, collaborative learning-focused relationships with:

·         learners’, family and whānau

·         teaching colleagues, support staff and other professionals

·         agencies, groups and individuals in the community.

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

6. Use an increasing repertoire of teaching strategies, approaches, learning activities, technologies and assessment for learning strategies and modify these in response to the needs of individuals and groups of learners.

Provide opportunities and support for learners to engage with, practise and apply learning to different contexts and make connections with prior learning.

• Observing other teachers’ use of resources and teaching strategies.

TBCS - Strength finders PLD - Judy-Anne

It was really interesting to retake the strengths finders quiz and discover that my top 5 are the same as the first time I did it, just in a different order. The last time I took the test I had a different one in my top 5, which is still in my top 10.
Rob showed us the learner section so there is heaps of stuff I can look at and learn more about. He has suggested that the best use we will get out of it is if we actually look at our results, talk about them and use the resources regularly. It's great to know that all of this info and support is available to use as previously we had done the quiz, read the results and pretty much left it there. It is also a reminder that the same is true of many things we do at school - if we don't look at things and discuss them regularly they are of very little use to us. (that is why appraisals have previously been a bit hopeless at each school I have worked at- they were only ever looked at and discussed when it was 'appraisal time.')

I have started some of the modules and looked at some of the resources online. We had some good discussion around the strengths of the teachers in the school and it has made it clear why some of us do things the way we do. A number of my top strengths talk about being solitary and I know I need time by myself and time to think: being with people is quite draining for me, I don't do small talk!

Reflection:
A statement that really resonated was that "Acquiring knowledge is as much a pastime for you as it is a necessity of life." That's a really strong statement!I would not have considered acquiring knowledge as being necessary but I guess for me it is! It also helps to explain my hoarding of info and resources (never know when you might need it!) and why it is easy for me to start things, but not necessarily finish them. For me it is the knowledge acquisition and the process rather than the end product which is important.

Next steps:
.Purge some resources, I have started on this but it is never an easy process for me and I tend to be adding more while getting rid of others. Definitely a work in progress on this one.
. Develop systems- sometimes having all these resources is pretty useless because I can't find what I want when I want it! I did sort some of the folders on the shared drive, but I'm not sure they stayed sorted. I went back later to find things back out of the folders. Steve thought maybe moving folders just moved a copy so I need to go back and check to see if that is true. Hopefully I was just looking at an old version of the drive. I may need to check this with Rob otherwise.
. look at the Gallup site regularly. There is some good advice on it for applying your strengths
. Discussion with other staff about our individual and collective strengths and how we can make our team even stronger
. Make links with this information and Relationship Based Learning

• Ongoing active involvement in a school/community of schools or other professional learning communities (PLC).
• Participation in professional development (PLD), both in school and through outside agencies. Working with colleagues to enact the new learning. 

Mihi Assessment: Margaret 9 April 2019

Appraisal Documentation

TBCS- Appraisal Template - Judy-Anne

1. Post
2. Teaching Standard
3. How this fits the teaching standard
4. Reflection
5. Next steps
6. Label with your name, the standards it covers, Appraisal

TBCS - Steve - Beginning Principals Conference - October 2018

DAY ONE

Viviane Robinson

Planning

Is our curriculum part of our planning? What are our goals?
Where do the values etc appear and the special character?

Look at my planning with Margaret.

Is it child centred. What as a staff are we trying to achieve. see below.

evaluation associates have the rest of the above. email Cleve.

How courageous are you?

Can we change what is not working? How do we know?
School written reports, does the community want what is in them? would they like something else?
Is our special character represented as the parents would like it?
MOE requirement only states 2 written reports per year are required.

Check the calendar for time use. Where is the support and where is it needed?

1. Check timelines of goals and outcomes for all staff?
2. Share the working out of these goals.
3. What are the expectations of my staff and board? And my students?

Problem Solving

Does the quick fix only work for me, is it part of our processes?

Most urgent focus; next year staffing, budget etc.
What do we as a staff believe is our best use of resources, staff, technology, paint etc and list why or who will benefit by extra teacher aide hours?

What is your mission values statement. Can it be seen in your school?
Where does it fit into these questions?

Dr Lance O'Sullivan
The 'why' is the most important question we can ask ourselves.
Negative rewards cause as much damage as positive. Encourage the positive.
Create opportunity for leadership not just for the 'leaders'.

DAY TWO
Appraisals Christina Thornley : first steps in school wide appraisal.

see our blog labels and put criteria in one box. 2 observations per annum. Look at PLD days as examples.
Check that we do not need evidence, we need to be professionals is reflection part of our practise.
* Add feedback from our data re our schoolwide goals, each off us.
* Get Rob Clarke to feed into my appraisal.
COMPLETE AND SIGN OFF BELOW FOR ALL STAFF:
https://www.educationcouncil.org.nz/content/teachers-appraisal

CYBER SAFETY
netsafe to replace John Parsons.

TBCS - Design for Learning - Standard 5 - Judy-Anne

• Gathering ongoing ākonga feedback on what aspects of their learning ākonga are finding challenging and using this information to adapt programmes and teaching to better meet individual needs.
  

Margaret - Using Shared Document on Google Drive

As a class we tried  working together on a shared doc where the students had to watch a video and make comments on the pros and cons.  The task was set up on the class screen so I could see everyone who was working on it.  It was quite interesting to see them work out where they could type when someone else was there and they soon realised they could add comments to their classmates work.  It was great to see them adding positive comments to each others work as they read through and I felt this really helped those struggling writers or those who are always asking what to do as it was being modelled right there in front of them.  I could also add my comments and corrections for students to fix when they told me they were done.  This was done in real time so feedback was immediate.  I felt this worked really well especially with the students adding such positive comments which led to quite a positive atmosphere.
Next steps :  Find out how to freeze parts of a shared doc such as instructions so students cant change anything
Continue to discuss expected behaviours (not messing with other peoples work, encouraging comments only) when working collaboratively in this way ( the same as any other situation) and have these displayed around the room.

TBCS - Teacher Inquiry - Teaching Standards - Judy-Anne

I am interested in learning more about Play Based Learning and how I can do that well in  a single cell, single teacher classroom.
We have lots of resources available and lots of places to look for help. I recently attended a New Entrant Hui on this topic, and visited a number of preschools and schools last year looking at this issue. They were all multi teacher situations though.

Action Plan:
. Research Learning through Play
.Revisit readings from previous trainings and visits.
. Store all that paperwork in a central place on Google drive
. Consider class environment- what needs changing or purchasing?


.

TBCS- Learner Focused Culture - Standard 4 - Judy-Anne

We had a very exciting writing session recently when I set the children a writing task in  the activities section on See saw. They were to tell me about their perfect day but could write about it, draw about it, record it or tell me about it any other way they could think of.
Most of the younger ones chose to draw and / or record about it and were generally quite independent but helped each other a little.
The older ones generally chose to write about it. Portia discovered the emoticon button and was soon adding pictures to her writing, closely followed by Phoebe, then Willow and Brianna. They soon discovered a way to get the right picture to come up for particular words too. Sometimes they added the word to the story and sometimes it was just the picture. They spent at least 40 minutes writing these stories and only stopped because of the bell.


Portia got quite frustrated and was asking for help with selling her stuff on Sumdog. A number of children offered her help and she was very soon coming over to show me how much more money she had in her bank now.

The children are getting very good at asking each other for help rather than asking me.

TBCS - Kahui Ako COL - Learner Profile -Judy-Anne

We had a Kahui Ako  COL launch on 11 June at Motueka High School.
We were challenged to discuss some big concepts such as dissonance and deficit thinking.
One of the main things I felt challenged by was deficit thinking. How can I change my thinking and change my practise to do as much as I can for children while they are in my care? To a certain extent we need to take out issues of a less than desirable home environment or lack of parent involvement and engagement. Do the best you can for the children and their families that you can. Expect results!

 Learner Profile

Reflection - Steve - Plans

PLANS

I had a process in mind after our pld and teacher meetings.
So much I wanted to achieve. So little accomplished.
Not actually true but seems like it.
Things I wanted, not yet achieved.
1. ERO reading for meeting, prep for student achievement.
2. Observe Reliever to get a feel for application for position.
3. Appraisal system we are starting to share with staff not just teachers.
4. Ensure communication options are taken up by parents.
5. Go through procedures from the Student Achievement Policy from School Docs.
6. Writing Plan consistency.

Achieved
It was good to spend time not just observing the reliever but getting to 'pop' in to the classrooms, getting a feel for the atmosphere, attitudes etc.
Have a BOT member contacted all families to help them have Seesaw and School Loop.
Procedures checked.
Very 'pleasing' to see the outcomes of JA & C working together to have a confident approach to problems solutions, working together and being comfortable with where they are going (reading), and to see it in action in the classroom, great.

 Outcome: a realisation that my staff are competent, working towards the same outcomes I am. We are a better team than I had thought. My need to achieve/accomplish PLD, procedures, appraisals is more collaboration than me doing. I am not indispensable. Hope I can keep to this.

Reflection - Steve - Troubleshooting

What did I learn today?
Blogger is best used for our appraisal process, as we can use the labels to guide the teachers criteria.
This is a shared reflective space that can be used across the whole staff.
Calendar- tasks will be more effective than my current use of the notes.
Google suite access for the students by class.
Once we understand how to reflect (which we tend to do almost subconsciously with our students) we can make it a more formal approach to teach it.

So What?
I have a way forward to start the development of our appraisal system. The tag options will mean that it covers more than just reflection.
Still so much to do, one day at a time.
I am stuck on keeping my head above the water, wanting it done yesterday so it is more effective.

Next Steps
Practise and play.

Reflection on Learner Agency - Steve

What do I think it is?
It is the ability to identify and choose how to learn a skill not mastered previously.
It has a goal and next steps involved in the process.

What might I do or not do to get it?
Model it with examples.
Structure the environment to allow risk taking to help learn how to identify gaps in the skill base for a particular goal?
Encourage questioning to enable students to discover the next steps, try them and report on the outcome.
Guide them to develop another strategy form the results.

What might the teacher do to develop it?

• Model what it looks like
• Attitude
• Environment 
• Encourage risk taking to identify areas in need
• Improvement is the goal
• Goal setting for targets
• Encourage self reflection
• Success Criteria
• Co-construct goals
• Feedback - Feedforward

What might the teacher not do in order to develop it?

• Constantly set goals for them
• Have unwarranted goals
• Predetermined expectations without consultation. 
• Closed questions
• Give answers only.

What might be standing out?

1. The whole range of possibilities to meet our needs even the ones we didn't know about.
2. The Blog for developing our notes, has a good potential especially for appraisals.
3. Shared Notes for our staff meetings.
4. Amazed at the Google Forms, can't wait to try for our Sexuality Consultation.

What are my priorities to learn next?

1. Stop think focus on one area to work through.
2. Discuss our Blog especially if we are to use it for our appraisals, then see how we share it with all staff for theirs.
3. Change bookmarks, no words for ones I know.