Whakatauki cards

I am always looking for ways to bring more te reo Māori into my classes. However, doing this in a really meaningful way when my own understanding of the reo is limited can be a challenge. One resource that I created this year to help are the cards pictured in these photos. I collected a range of whakatauki from this book with their translations and a brief explanation of their meaning. I then created a number of activities to use with students. This worked even better than I expected as students really enjoyed the discussions of how these important generational lessons applied to them. 

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)." 

Growth mindset ludo

 

A resource I have been working on this year is 'growth mindset ludo'. As students move around the board, they land on various reflection questions about fixed and growth mindsets to help them identify the patterns in their own thinking. After all, it is reflection that helps us learn from our mistakes and improve. I'll make sure to share more about this game when it is done. 

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)." 

Guerrilla warfare

Wikipedia describes Guerilla warfare as "a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants ... fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military". Due to their size, they tend to avoid head-on confrontations, focusing instead on very targeted attacks including sabotage, ambushes, and hit-and-run tactics. 

I often wonder about guerilla warfare as a metaphor in education... 

When education attempts to make large-scale shifts, such as by introducing more Mātauranga Māori in the curriculum, there are those people who hide in the shadows and staunchly defend their existing territory. You might even be able to think of examples where someone deliberately sabotaged a project, or planned an ambush to derail an initiative.

Of course, we can use Guerrilla techniques for the positive too. Just think of the Guerilla Girls and how they have done this in the art world. The photo I have selected to share today reminds me of the guerilla girls a little. It is a simple action I have taken that did not require permission, lots of infrastructure or resources, and was a one-person action that impacted a larger group. What did I do? I just made a small sticker for each staff members' computer so that it is easier for staff to identify various priority learner groups when they take the roll. It is a simple action, but it really helps people know who the students in front of them are. What other small things can we do as leaders that to reduce the cognitive load for our colleagues to make it easier for them to do their jobs effectively? 

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)." 

Learner agency rubric

Our community of learning has been focussing on increasing learner agency across our schools. We have developed rubrics to help us track our progress in doing so. The photo above shows a staff activity where teachers were asked to think of examples of existing practices in our school that promote learner agency. We then collected some data about where teachers felt we were on this rubric to help us set professional learning school goals for next year. 

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)." 

Bones

 

The misinformation around COVID and vaccination has particularly highlighted for me the importance of ensuring that science needs to be more inclusive. This year I've been trying to assess science in more ways than just writing. One of the ways that I believe science excludes students is that it relies too heavily on writing to communicate an understanding of scientific ideas. Hence, this year I designed and taught a unit called Bones. We focused on creating models and representations of bones. This illustration was produced by a year 10 student. Pretty amazing right? 

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)." 

Elwyn Richardson

 

The pottery work in this photo is some of the artworks produced by the students of Elwyn Richardson. If you don't know, Elwyn was an influential educator both in New Zealand and internationally for the impact his educational philosophy had. I was lucky enough to get to see some of these artifacts in person earlier this year when I visited the University of Auckland's Epsom Campus. I include this photo here because it is a good reminder that sometimes we have to break the rules to succeed. It is when we break the rules that we are able to break free from racist institutions. It is when we break the rules that we see innovation occurring. However, knowing when to break the rules and when not to requires wisdom. So just how does one acquire wisdom?

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)." 

Power

 

Today's photo is from my PLD journal. As you can see I do like a bit of bullet journaling. The notes on this page are from a PLD session lead by Perry Rush. I was reminded again about why I think the idea of a student-centered focus in education is problematic as it still results in an imbalance of power structures. I am more interested in how I might become a genuine partner and collaborator in the learning journey of a student. My reasons for shifting to this position are long and complex. But in a nutshell, our society is full of stories that show what happens when there is an imbalance of power. I talk more about how I came to reframe how I thought about power sharing in the classroom in this post. In particular, I talk about how I am increasingly convinced that a lack of power contributes significantly to the disparities we see in the academic achievement of Māori and Pasifika students. 

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)." 

Photo essays

One of the things that frustrate me about our current education system is that it has a bias toward using writing as a means to represent learning. Students are asked to write essays, write reports, write an email, write a letter, write a story. In science, this is particularly evident through the prioritisation of exams, tests, and reports that remain fixed as one of the primary means to assess students (not in all contexts but in many). I have a hunch that this bias contributes to the lack of cultural and gender diversity represented in science fields. In response, I wanted to spend some time this year emphasising some other modes of communicating ideas in science. The photo above was taken by a student as part of their photo essay about climate change. Here is the task I used to scaffold students in their photo essays. 

("It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...)."

Inquiry baskets of knowledge

It's been a little while since I've blogged regularly so to get back in the habit, I thought I would share one photo every day for the remainder of the school year to capture some of my learning, reflections, and creations for 2022. Each photo is accompanied by a short caption. The idea is to keep it short, simple, and reflective. I would love for people to join me - if you do, make sure you include #edphoto22 on whatever platform you share it (Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, wherever...). 

This is a photo of students' literal baskets of knowledge. Their key learning and questions from their inquiries were summarised on strips of paper that were then weaved into a kete (basket). Students also reflected on the purākau (story) of Tāne and the baskets of knowledge and what this could teach them about how to tackle their own pursuit of knowledge in their inquiry. Here is the full resource if you wish to repurpose or reuse it.