Friday 25 October 2019
Rāmere, te 25 o Whiringa-ā-nuku 2019
In this week’s update:
- uLearn19 Rōpū – Auahatanga/ Innovation
- Rōpū Pāngarau/ Maths Group: Digital Curriculum 2020 update
- Te Reo Me Tikanga Māori: FUSH – Anton Matthews
- Tuhituhi/ Writing: Resources / UDL article
- Rōpū Taunaki Ako/ Learning Support: Famous people with Dyslexia
- Pānui ngaio/ Professional Reading: Top Tech Tips
- Podcast: Classroom Communities
1. uLearn19 Rōpū – Auahatanga/ Innovation
Our final keynote speaker for uLearn19 was Sally-Ann Williams, CEO of Cicada Innovations in Australia, who spoke on the Auahatanga / Innovation theme.
Linking creativity to authentic world problems Sally-Ann stated that ‘good ideas come from anywhere.’ Tales of fail were just as important as success and that we don’t wait for perfection – just get started! Sally-Ann concluded by offering three suggestions for how we, as educators, could do this in our schools, kura and centres to work with our learners:
- Find a problem to solve – this is what causes people to become passionate about learning, when the things they are addressing are authentic and meaningful to them. Reference to the SDGs (refer to illustration) for those looking for inspiration.
- Co-create an investigation – draw on the minds and talents of many, including those in other classes and in the community. Crowd – source the ideas and generate enthusiasm as problem solvers.
- Create space to give something a go – acknowledge that real innovation takes time, it requires risk taking and will involve failure.
Closing the conference with such an inspirational view of what’s possible provided the best possible way of sending delegates off to ‘make a difference’ in their own context. As teachers we need to ask ourselves: how are we shaping our future?
We can make a difference – link here to Young Person’s Guide Changing the World.
2. Rōpū Pāngarau/ Maths Group
We would like to develop a snapshot across our kāhui schools of where teachers feel they are at with regards to the implementation of the digital curriculum. The goal would be to be able to offer targeted PD and next steps. The purpose of the digital curriculum is about teaching pupils to be creative with technology, rather than simply consuming technology. This should prepare them for the modern workforce. How ready are we to implement this?
Here is a link to a short survey to help us to provide targeted professional development.
3. Te Reo Me Tikanga Māori
Top tips for normalising te reo Māori: FUSH – Anton Matthews
Anton Matthews co-owns ‘Fush’, a bi-lingual restaurant in Ōtautahi/Christchurch. He has also created a channel on YouTube where he teaches everyday te reo in simple bites. You can take most of this reo and apply it in the classroom or at home.
(Beware, the first three are toilet humour, so watch them first.)
If you want to read more about his mahi, there’s a great article on stuff.co.nz
4. Tuhituhi/ Writing – Resource links
For our teachers of younger students here is a link to a writing task that will really ignite our creative writers.
Universal Design in Learning – Enables equity in Education and able to be applied in all learners, areas of the curriculum and classroom practices.
Follow the link here to CORE BLOG – He kōrerorero, he whakaaro on UDL
“Providing high quality education is a matter of social justice” (Ministry of Education, 2019). As teachers and leaders our bottom line is that no-one will be left out or discriminated against. As everyone learns differently, finding ways to create flexible, barrier-free learning environments is of critical importance if all students are to thrive.
UDL can help us in this work. It gives us a framework to design learning environments that are “flexible, and where barriers to learning can be identified and removed at the outset (Ministry of Education, 2019). It can help us towards equitable access and participation in education. Follow the link here to guides from TKI to universal learning.
Supporting visual literacy – using images in our classroom
Students’ classwork is becoming increasingly digital. Whether creating a slideshow, blog post, presentation, or document, images are always needed. Teachers also regularly need images for class blog posts, assignments, presentations, course work, videos etc. But where do we find these images free of copyright? Kathleena Morris http://www.kathleenamorris.com has put together a resource for free images, copyright, and creative commons that you can subscribe to on this website.
5. Rōpū Taunaki Ako/ Learning Support Group
Famous People with Dyslexia – raising confidence
There are many famous people throughout history with dyslexia, who have made a great difference to the world. It is important to recognise these people and celebrate them. This could really lift the confidence of our students. Let’s inspire the minds of our students with dyslexia to be confident, forward thinking, innovative and original. Print this picture and hang it in your classroom. Challenge your students to find more.
6. Pānui ngaio/ Professional Reading: Top Tech Tips
7. Podcast: The Classroom Community
This week, we’re looking at our theme of community through our third lens, that of classroom practice. As in what would the classroom look like if the community itself was the curriculum?
That’s a question that this week’s guest Dave Cormier has been grappling with for over a decade. His work around “rhizomatic learning” has generated a ton of new thinking about what classrooms might be in the modern world. In this model, curriculum is not driven by predefined inputs from experts; it is constructed and negotiated in real time by the contributions of those engaged in the learning process.
That idea fits pretty neatly into the self-determined learning world of the Internet where we can choose our teachers, our information sources, and our experiences in profound new ways. But it’s not as neat of a fit into traditional classroom systems, structures and, of course, curriculum.
To keep up to date, follow us on our Kāhui Ako website: https://orewakahuiako.com/
Upcoming:
Kāhui Ako ki Orewa 
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