Aftermath: Connection. Innovation. Reality.

Hard at work with some exceptional
people at Startup Weekend. 

August was a very busy month. It kicked off of course with the #edchatNZ conference. It has taken me a good month to process my thoughts and feelings around organising an event for 300+ teachers from across the country. Also in August, I attended TEDx Auckland. Of course, this took some time to process too. TED talks have a knack for pushing your mental boundaries and helping you re-examine the perspectives that we hold. Of course, the fun doesn't end there. I also went to Startup Weekend in Wellington - a hugely intense weekend competition where you go from pitching an idea for a company to creating the company, in one weekend. 

As you might imagine, I feel like my mind has been twisted and

Facilitator, deputy principal,  teacher,
student, and politician.  We are all
partners in our education future. 

reshaped, contorted, exhausted and ignited. After much processing however, I think I may finally be able to summarise my key lessons from August in three words. Connection. Innovation. Reality.

Lesson 1: Connection 

The #edchatNZ conference highlighted for me the huge power of connection. The momentum, the energy and the change that we can make for the better when a community is connected and empowered. But also, that those connections extend beyond the obvious, to politicians, to parents and to others in the community. 

I love Twitter. I love Twitter because I am judged not for my age, my years of experience or my title, but rather, I am judged for the quality of my ideas and my contributions. And this goes for everyone else on Twitter too. The quality of your interactions, contributions and even what you curate ultimately defines the success of your connections. And these connections are so hugely powerful. It gives anyone a voice, an audience and a community within which to learn. I am sure that any educator on Twitter would agree. It means that I am connected in a far more powerful way than if my conversations were limited to my staffroom. For example, I tweeted Nikki Kay, the associate minister of education whilst at Startup Weekend. Not only did she tweet back, she called me, on a Sunday afternoon to answer my questions about our project. And then emailed me some additional resources to support our project. What if all politicians were this connected? What if all teachers were this connected? How powerful would the teaching profession be? Or the relationships with our students? Or our communities? And how powerful would it be if educators, communities and politicians were actively connecting in this way all the time? What would this mean for the future of New Zealand? 

Lesson 2: Innovation 

Is innovation just a buzz word in education? Is it a skill? Is it essential? Is it useful? Should schools be innovative? Should teachers be innovative? Innovation comes with risk, should schools be taking risks? And what about teacher training programmes, should they teach future teachers to facilitate innovation? Is it even reasonable to think that teacher training programmes should address the idea of innovation in education? Or for them to examine innovative practices. To some extent, one can even question what innovation is in an education context.  

I am currently reading Grant Lichtman's new book where he tells the story of schools that have worked on being innovative or encouraging students to be innovative. One of these stories explains innovation as "Thinking of stuff is not innovation. Tinkering with stuff is not innovation. Even inventing stuff is not innovation. Innovation instead, when it’s done right, makes us go “wow, of course, why didn’t I think of that?” It creates complete experiences that we want to engage in. It eliminates inconveniences and hassles and improves our overall experiences. At its most dramatic, it creates entire categories of offerings, so new that we find it hard to name them at first." The reality is, as a science graduate with a one year teacher diploma and a few post grad papers, how can I even begin to prepare students for a future with big data, climate change, food security issues, markets and market demands that don't yet exist? To some extent, I also worry about education in this context. I get paid fortnightly, like clock work. I can have sick days. I can pay bills. I get 12 weeks of holiday every year. I don't have to work weekends if I'm very organised during the week. I am protected by unions, contracts and a system. However, for many people in society already, they work nights and weekends. They struggle to make ends meet working shifts, but also starting a business, paying the wages, rent and so forth for their businesses. People are already working in new fields that didn't exist ten years ago. As I type this email, there are 284 social media related jobs on seek.co.nz. With educators working in a protected bubble where we are not exposed to the rate of change in the industry, or even how different sectors are working, how can we hope to prepare students for the future, or even hope to understand the urgency with which schools need to change?  

Startup Weekend involved working side by side in a high intensity environment with people who are not necessarily working in education. I got to spend the weekend working with designers, programmers, marketing and finance types (as well as two fabulous educators, Gerard McManus and Tony Cairns). The experience reaffirmed for me the intense need that educators and students need to get outside the classroom, to ensure that we are learning and living in the real world, contributing in the real world, creating the future that we want. The risk of a classroom that is too teacher centred rather than community or student centred is that we may find in a few years time, as students leave our schools, that our students are not prepared for the reality of the world. 

Lesson 3: Reality  

HPSS students on a tour of Q Theatre 

The reality of a teacher is still that of marking, NCEA examinations or national standards, floods of emails, parents, behaviour management, department and professional development budgets. Increasingly over the past two years, I have wondered about why we see our systems as barriers rather than enabling constraints or even better, challenges to overcome? More importantly, if we really examine the systems that we have created, the systems that we enforce in our schools, do they really support our students to make progress in their learning? And did we base these systems our judgement or personal opinion? Or did we base it on research? If we examine the reality, rather than paradigms and perspectives that we have constructed, are our practices and systems really preparing students for an unknown future? And, do I really examine my systems and my practices and genuinely redesigning these for student needs? Have I examined my beliefs, my perceptions compared to research? Compared to the experiences and events of those working outside of education? The anecdotes we hear and share although they contribute to the reality, are not the whole reality, and it is important that we critically examine what shapes our perceptions, and that we challenge these constantly by stepping outside our echo chambers, both in and outside education.

There are many more lessons that I have learnt over the past months that addresses the nitty gritty, the teaching tools and techniques and new questions to ask. Lessons that unpack connection, innovation and reality in more detail. I am fortunate to work at Hobsonville Point Secondary school where powerful partnerships are part of our school principles. A powerful principle that I feel that I urgently need to explore in more detail. Partnering with the community, industry and families will hopefully mean that my students and I constantly challenge what we think reality might be. We might grow with the world, change it to be the place we want, rather than arriving in the world upon graduation from school.

My wish for you however, is that you step outside your classroom, your department you school or whatever other organisation you are involved with, and examine your perceptions and what kind of future they will lead to.

An update from Startup Weekend

You may have heard of Startup Weekend and you may have noticed my tweets today about our startup weekend project. So I thought I would take a quick moment to share with you what we are up to.

I turned up on Friday night for a pitch fire - time for you to share your one minute pitch for a company. This was then added to a quick poster displayed around the room. You then got to vote for your ideas with a sticker. It was through this process that I met my team for the weekend.

Using many of the design thinking process that Steve Mouldey and Di Cavallo have shared at Hobsonville Point, we have worked at empathising with a problem, seeking feedback, refining, refining, seeking feedback, refining and seeking feedback and again and again and some more. I was also introduced to the idea of validating - testing the idea with stakeholders. This involved a visit from the always fabulous Philippa, a Skype call with Tim, feedback and contributions via Twitter and emails from loads of the fabulous #edchatNZ crowd.

So... What have we come up with?

The problems: 

• Innovation enables us capitalise on opportunities HOWEVER 84% of our validation participants believe that innovation is not adequately taught in schools.
• Teachers do not have the skills, confidence or resources to support the development of key competencies from the New Zealand curriculum that result in innovative students. “they are trained to kick the ball into goal posts – innovation is about creating new goalposts” 

The unique value proposition:

• Increased engagement and by in from students in learning
• Safe Environment – facilitated through teachers and mentors
• A tool to prepare students for jobs that do not exist yet

Idea brainstorm of what the process might be that scaffolds students through the "innovation process"

But now, to make sure that we are creating a tool for teachers, by teachers, we need you!

• You can contribute your ideas about how to guide/teach/facilitate innovation here
• You can follow our Twitter account here 
• You sign up your interest in trying this tool here

#edchatNZ meme

I am still making sense of the events from the #edchatNZ conference. Hence, I really appreciate some questions to scaffold my thinking. Thanks Reid for this fantastic idea - a blogging meme about #edchatNZ!

If you get included in the blogging meme: copy/paste the questions and instructions into your own blog then fill out your own answers. Share on twitter tagging 5 friends.

1. How did you attend the #Edchatnz Conference? (Face 2 Face, followed online or didn't)
I was there. With bells and whistles on... I mean, I was wearing my fantastic new #edchatNZ hoodie thanks to the amazing educators who helped me put this thing together. Thank you Philippa, Matt, Sonya, Heather, Mel and Alyx. Your ideas, your feedback, your hard work, your encouragement and support is what made #edchatNZ happen. Thank you.

2. How many others attended from your school or organisation?
It was at my school. 125 students and 300 teachers all in the same building, learning side by side. I suspect that Hobsonville Point students will have a very different opinion about teachers when they grow up... After all, even on Saturday, we had students turn up at school. There was something beautiful about one of my students sitting next to me in a workshop learning about SOLO on a Saturday morning.

3.How many #Edchatnz challenges did you complete?
I completed ten of the challenges. However I feel a little disappointed that it slipped my mind to make the whole auditorium dance... Thank you Steve for making up the challenges!

4. Who are 3 people that you connected with and what did you learn from them?
It was absolutely amazing meeting some of steering committee for the first time! Imagine organising a whole conference with people via Twitter and Google Hangout and then meeting on the morning of the conference for the first time!! I really learnt what collaboration means through the organisation of this conference. It is the perfect example of just how powerful social media is for collaboration, not just connection. I was also super excited to have three amazing ladies from New York join us, especially since they reiterated something I really believe, there is something special happening in New Zealand education. Thank you Peggy, Bron and Marianne. Your presence and your contributions were greatly appreciated.

The steering committee 

5. What session are you gutted that you missed?
All of them! I would have loved to be in every session, to be able to support every presenter. Putting the programme together it just blew my mind that we could offer such a high calibre event with such an all star crew of presenters.

6. Who is one person that you would like to have taken to Edchatnz and what key thing would they have learned? 
I would have loved to have every one who has every participated in #edchatNZ there. Meeting face to face is completely awesome. However, in particular, I would also have loved to have Pascal Dresse there as he was one of the first people to really get onboard with #edchatNZ. New Zealand misses you!

7. Is there a person you didn't get to meet/chat with (F2F/online) that you wished you had?
Yes! But I tried my best. I guess we will just have to have another conference?

8. What is the next book you are going to read and why? 
The Key Competencies for the future book that Steve is hogging! Really looking forward to reading it as I am a big fan of the key competencies. You can see more of my reading plans for the near future on Goodreads though!

9. What is one thing you plan to do to continue the Education Revolution you learnt about at #EdchatNZ?
Where do I begin?? Blogging challenge, mentor groups, supporting all the new chats, planning another conference, emailing delegates to check on their progress... and a whole lot more!

10. Will you take a risk and hand your students a blank canvas?
Yes! But we will spend a great amount of time learning about painting techniques, inspiration, masters and muses. We will practice together and prototype so that eventually they can create a master piece for their future.

Thank you to all those who were there. You are all legends.

Preview

Turns out planning a conference keeps one a bit too busy to blog regularly. However, I thought I would just share a quick preview of what I am teaching this term.

There is no I in team

Bryce's team work game in action
We are looking forward to having students analyse their behaviour!

On Wednesdays this term I will be teaching with Bryce. Bryce will be doing PE and Health while I will be doing statistics. We started the module with some team building games. Students were then able to reflect on the experience using a google form. The same google form was also then used as a means to establish prior knowledge about statistics. Students then worked in groups to have a go at analysing the results from the google form.

Population Explosion Project

Thursday afternoon is my SPIN (special interest module), that I offer by myself. This spin is a maths module, however mixed up with one of my personal interests - anthropology. We started the session by watching the first few minutes of a video from the fantastic and entertaining statistician Hans Rosling. Students were then asked to generate questions from what they had just watched using a question grid and dice. We will be using their questions throughout the term to inform our statistical inquiry and hopefully draw some conclusions. 

Shout out to Cindy for this fabulous resource

Student selections of their most complex and most interesting questions

Apocalypse now

Apocalypse now on Friday is a module that I will be teaching with Steve Mouldey. In this module, students will be examining socio-scientific issues, however particularly looking at 'wicked problems' specifically outlined in Steve's current read - NZCER's Key Competencies for the Future. Students started the lesson simply by brainstorming in groups everything that is wrong with the world. They were then asked to sort these into groups with descriptive titles and then asked to provide a description of each category. Students were  then given time to explore the resources (videos, articles etc.) that Steve and I curated. Even on day one, we already had some interesting discussions about different perspectives when gay marriage came up as a topic. Steve couldn't join us, however but we made sure to keep him in the loop using our module hashtag on Twitter #apoclyps. Our visitor in class, the lovely Alyx also made sure to share the events. 

Have you registered yet?

Data Detective and a Trifecta of Tools

Flubaroo generate spreadsheet (student names removed)

Maybe it's because I did a science degree, maybe because I am an empiricist. Either way, I like having data to make decisions around. Education rockstar researcher Hattie emphasises how important feedback from the students about how they're learning is. So I wanted to share a trifecta of tools that help the busy teacher use data more effectively.

ideas about gravity before teaching and learning

ideas about gravity after teaching and learning

Step 1: A quick google form at the beginning of a lesson with an open ended question e.g. What do you understand about gravity? Followed with a few multi choice questions that look at common misconceptions about gravity.
Google forms work well on all platforms and devices including smart phones

Then... I use flubaroo (a google docs add on) to grade it very quickly on a spreadsheet. This gives me a spreadsheet with the lowest scoring students automatically in red. Hence, immediately I can move forward with differentiated tasks, team roles etc. based on what the students know.
Flubaroo is a simple to use google apps add on - when in a google spreadsheet, simply click on add ons and then install it


Step 2: Teaching and learning takes places including a range of different strategies.

Step 3: Students take the same test
Then... I use flubaroo again to see if students have made a shift in their understanding. Today, my students shifted from a 1.72 out of 4 to a 2.42 out of 4. I can also then identify which students need more intensive scaffolding or support in the next session.

Finally, I use word it out to paste the answers from the open ended question creating a before and after version with the students' answers. From the before and after I can see that students are now able to describe gravity with the vocabulary that I introduced today including mass, attracted and pull.
Word it out is a free tool that creates a word wall where the size of a word increases based on its frequency in the text that you input.

And with my trifecta of tools I can identify the students that need to be extended next time as well as the students that need to be supported. Using the view summary function in google forms I can also see how many of my students started with misconceptions about gravity and how many finished with the same or perhaps new misconceptions.

Before teaching and learning

After teaching and learning

The reality is that being a data detective just means that I am taking a really brutal, honest look at my own teaching. I can see that students no longer think that only planets have gravitational fields, but I can also see that there are still students who think that the moon has no gravity. 

It's hard being bad

When did you last feel completely incompetent? I’m not talking about momentary incompetence, like when you had to ask someone to open Fort Knox packaging. I’m talking about learning something completely new and not even knowing where to start, or tripping up over and over whilst everyone else seems to be getting the hang of it.

As a bit of a nerd who loves learning, I can devour educational readings faster than Homer Simpson does doughnuts. Put me in in a discussion or debate related to education and I’ll run circles around a lot of people. I can whizz my way around a computer too, a bit of troubleshooting here, some photoshop there and some e-learning too. I feel confident in my understanding of the nature of science, evolution, genetics and a few other science things. I build my understanding of new ideas quickly and easily without breaking a sweat. I make new connections fast. I am reflective, and I am good at identifying where and when I need to improve. Yet, despite having all these characteristics of what one might consider a good learner, I was reminded on Wednesday of the intense emotions associated with being a beginner learner. What's more, I was the kid in the class who knew the least.

My family moved to New Zealand in 2000. I attended a decile 10 school on Auckland's North Shore. My first experience of learning Māori was at teachers college for about four weeks, a total of 5% of my grade. And so, since I just don’t know enough about Māori language or culture to effectively teach my students how to honour the bi-cultural partnership in New Zealand, I decided to do something about it. 

Leoni, our exceptionally warm and skilled Māori teacher included me in her class as a student on Wednesday. I had to ask questions, and clarify my understanding. I had to ask the students for help because I could't remember how to begin my sentences. Or mid way through, I would suddenly forget what the next word in the sentence is, and then again, I would have to ask the student with whom I was partnered for help. I had to ask Leoni for help multiple times too, and ask her for clarification and guidance. Even though I theoretically know how difficult it is for students who struggle, students who have low literacy, students with learning difficulties, as an adult, it has been a long time since I could so completely emphasise with that feeling of complete and utter incompetence. There is an intensity to knowing that you are worse than everyone else in the class at something. It is uncomfortable, embarrassing and for many people, debilitating.

As I was reminded of just how intense learning can be, I was also fortunate in knowing that this was an invaluable experience that stressed to myself the empathy that I need to show those students in my class who are struggling. I could very easily not return next week to this class. Just as so many students wag class because they too have felt uncomfortable and embarrassed. I am fortunate in that for a long time, I have been working towards a growth mindset as described by Carol Dweck. Many of our students do not, and we need to help them develop this.

So, the week one hackyrclass challenge goal is beginning to develop a growth mindset. So I challenge you to go along to learn something that you know that you will be terrible at, simply because it will challenge your growth mindset and give you empathy for those who are still in the throws of developing it. And while you are doing that, I will go back for round two of Māori, so that at least I can be the top of the class student when it comes to persistence!

Starting the little hashtag that could - #edchatNZ

I joined Twitter in 2011 because I couldn't find a job. A very wise man suggested that I make a website to show off my e-learning skills. Apparently e-learning know how was a bit of a commodity. I did make a website, but I didn't have very much to put on the website. So I created a Twitter account to embed on the website. I tweeted a few educational tweets and then went looking for a few other education tweets to retweet. I found so much more than I bargained for. I started participating in Twitter chats #edchatUK, #byotchat, #flipclass and #pblchat. Inspirational stuff and right on trend!

But New Zealand is little when compared with the world wide web. I had found a few New Zealand tweetchers but knew there had to be more out there. And it was hard finding them. So in October of 2012, I took a leap of faith. I started a hashtag, #edchatNZ, so that I could find New Zealand educators on Twitter better. I realised that the most used hashtags were the ones that had regular chats associated with them. When in doubt, I always google things... I googled, how to host a Twitter chat. I set a date, and then started promoting. I used the PPTA Twitter account to track down New Zealand teachers with a lot of followers and asked them to retweet my 'add' for a New Zealand Twitter chat and hashtag (thanks Claire Amos and Michael Fawcett for their early support to get us off the ground). The night of the first #edchatNZ Twitter chat finally arrived. It was like having a party and being worried that nobody will show up. But the New Zealand teachers showed up. And they have been showing up every fortnight since. We have even trended on Twitter New Zealand, out tweeting the royals and the Twilight movie Eclipse.

The hashtag is now more than a year old and still going strong. In fact, due to #edchatNZ, I was able to recommend pioneer educators for the Network 4 Learning's POND, an online portal that will make nation wide collaboration much easier. And this year, we are taking things to the next level. Since #edchatNZ has built a network of teachers across sectors and curriculum areas who regularly collaborate, support and inspire each other, it was time to provide a face to face opportunity for the learning too. Since so much of the success of #edchatNZ is related to the the ability to give everyone a voice through voting for topics that are current, relevant and needed, the conference will need to do the same. Mark Osborne puts it well in his video below when he explains that there are different leaders in every chat, simply because the set up of #edchatNZ allows who ever has the skills, to take the lead.

 

Ten Trend 2 - Living in the Digital Now from EDtalks on Vimeo.

So in an effort to plan the first #edchatNZ conference, we are asking the conference attendees what they would like at their conference. And we are even getting their input on the dates. Of course we will invite the #edchatNZ teachers to participate as well through hosting workshops or even giving key notes. 

But this conference isn't just for the educators who are already regular users of the #edchatNZ hashtag. The goal has always been to unite New Zealand educators. So as well as aiming to provide a high quality, on trend conference, we are also hoping to do it for under $20. Preferably under $10. This means that student teachers, provisionally registered teachers and long term relief teachers whose schools often don't want to fund PD, might still attend. #edchatNZ is about building a community of connected, supportive, inspirational educators who are willing to share. And everyone is welcome.

Will you be attending our conference? You can vote for your preferred dates, topics and keynotes here. Or will you start a hashtag? What could you do to build a community that inspires yourself and others every day? 

Volanoes

V is for volcanoes in the A to Z challenge...

Welcome to Auckland, New Zealand, a city built on a dormant volcanic field. As a result, we have 53 volcanoes in Auckland. There is also Rotorua, one of my favourite New Zealand cities where you can visit geothermal tourist attractions, or just watch the steam rise and the mud bubble in a local public park. This is of course a wonder land for a girl who used to collect rocks. My mum tells me that we used to have arguments when she unpacked my far too heavy school bags because I wouldn't let her throw my rock collections out. Apparently I insisted that each one had a special colour, a special shape or something else special.

Public park, Rotorua New Zealand

This term, I will be working with Sally and Pete on a module called The MASTER behind the chef. We will be exploring our geological past, present and future through food and maths. Since every year, I identify my insufficient knowledge of Māori language and culture as a professional development need, I am really looking forward to working with two educators who are role models in this field.

Even more so, I am excited to explore the great impact that these beautiful but vicious features of our landscape have had on New Zealanders. As a tourist in New Zealand, you can have corn cooked in a geothermal pit as Māori did in their past. A friend of mine has a tiny garden at the foot of Mount Albert, another Auckland volcano. She rarely buys vegetables because her soil is so fertile due to the volcano on her doorstep. Just as Māori found value in the geology of the landscape, so too can we find value in it now. There are parts of our knowledge about volcanoes that have evolved, but there are also parts that stayed the same. The New Zealand Curriculum requires that all students should learn about how scientific knowledge changes over time, and so, I am looking forward to a great term exploring the ties with which geology connects New Zealand past, present and future.

Rotorua, New Zealand

Rangitoto Island, Auckland, New Zealand

There is still magic in the world

U is for Unusual and unexpected in the A to Z challenge...

As a tweenager, I was somewhat obsessed with all things magic. I am part of the original Harry Potter generation after all. As well as Harry Potter though, there were others. Patricia C. Wrede's enchanted forest chronicles, Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet but also Orson Scott Card's Enchantment. It was during this phase of my life that I discovered my favourite book of all time - Ender's Game (see the video below for the movie trailer). If you are going to surround yourself with magic and science fiction, and then mix in a very overactive imagination, there is really only one way things will end... A grown up who still believes in magic. The magic isn't so much fairies and dragons anymore though...

Take for example the incredible things shared on www.iflscience.com on a daily basis. On their home page right now is an article about a recently discovered earth size planet in a habitable zone and another about some super massive black holes that were discovered. On the BBC's science page you can find some wonder in the scientist who made an exceptional discovery using a kitchen blender, dishwashing liquid and pencils. It seems there really is magic in the world, and it is found in science.

As a science teacher, I often feel that I have two main goals. The first, is to introduce and expand students' knowledge and curiosity of the marvels, the magic, the unusual and the unexpected in science. The second is to teach them that with great power, comes great responsibility (yes that is a quote from Spiderman, but I think it's from Voltaire originally which gives it a bit more street credit).

With these two goals in mind, think about my term one module called glow in the dark cats. The magic and marvel part is obvious, glow in the dark animals! This then leads you to learn about genes and genetic engineering. And then next thing you know, Voltaire and Spiderman with their idea of great responsibility turn up. Is it ethical to produce glow in the dark animals? Would be it be ethical to apply this technology in other places? Is it ethical to genetically engineer humans?

Again keeping in mind these ideas of teaching science with the goals of curiosity and responsibility, I would like to share with you a plan for our next term at school. English teacher and Deputy Principal Claire Amos and I will be teaching a module all about Ender's Game. While she will look at all thing English (I'm imagining language features, character development etc.), I will have a term to explore the science behind Ender's Game. Think gravitational fields, planets, stars and space travel. It doesn't end there though. Ender's Game as you may know, is centred around the idea of war games. And of course, our students today are very familiar with war games. So what if we could get a real scientist to come and monitor student's brains as they play war games to see if they are affected? Thanks to Claire and her new friend, Dmitry Selitskiy we just might... I will keep you updated.

With great power comes great responsibility, and I hope that all teachers take this to heart. We are able to install wonder, awe and engagement in many of our students. But we can also take it away. How are you hoping to install wonder, awe and curiosity in your students? But also, how are you educating them about the risks and dangers? Energy crisis, future food shortages, over population?