Friday 29 November 2019
Rāmere, 29 o Whiringa-ā-rangi 2019
In this week’s update:
- Rōpū Pāngarau/ Maths: Digital curriculum self review tool
- Te Reo Me Tikanga Māori: Lessons and Resources for 2020
- Tuhituhi/ Writing: Writing focus group progress
- Rōpū Taunaki Ako/ Learning Support: Inclusive reflection
- Pānui ngaio/ Professional Reading: Vintage Innovation
- Video: Insight into iGen
1. Rōpū Pāngarau/ Maths Group
|
2. Te Reo Me Tikanga Māori
Kai ora e te whānau kāhui,
Our team has been busy collaboratively planning for teaching te ao Māori in 2020. We are in the midst of creating a set of lessons and resources that can be used in the classroom by teachers of any ability. The idea is to remove as many barriers as we can so that every classroom teacher to be able to deliver the Māori curriculum. Whakawhanaungatanga Māori Lesson 1-3 Term 1
To support teachers, we are creating a set of teacher notes for each series in the form of a PDF. The lessons generally consist of karakia, waiata/songs, kemu/games, new words/kupu hou and an element of te reo Māori.
Teacher Notes: Whakawhanaungatanga
We are also trying to create our own resources where we can so teachers can print resources without having to worry about copyright. An example of this is a body parts poster created by Linda Rubens from Orewa College.
We will be working hard to make these lessons and resources available for term 1 2020 along with an overview. Any feedback/feedforward is welcome.
3. Tuhituhi/ Writing
Last Wednesday the 20th November, our in-school leaders met to work on their two focus areas at Orewa College.
Orewa Kahui Ako L.P.F.matrix – review and refine matrix. Our team of teachers have been putting in lots of time to work through our original matrix in all seven aspects of writing. They have looked at current changes to the L.P.F. to keep this document up to date and relevant, unpacked the detail of each step and added or amended when necessary. Not an easy or quick task! Alongside this they are also developing a glossary of terms for teachers to use with the L.P.F. They have made great progress and we hope to get this out to our schools early in the new year.
Anchor Charts – develop charts across genre from curriculum levels 1-5
Following on from the Maths group idea of developing tuakana-teina/ mentoring with college and primary school students, we have collected student voice in the development of our anchor charts. Students worked together looking at what essential steps they need when writing persuasive and information text. Our older students led these discussions and supported the students to record their ideas for our teacher focus group to look at. We were all amazed at how articulate the younger students were and the clarity they saw in the steps students could use.
Our writing group were then able to develop a chart for persuasive writing based on the student voice collected. The chart is simple in design with the idea that the headings or steps be used as teaching points based on the level of your students. We have shared this ‘draft chart’ to all schools so we can gather teacher voice on our chart design as well. Visuals for each heading will also be designed and chosen by a selection of students across our community. On completion of this chart we will then be able to apply our design concept to other genre anchor charts. We hope to have our first ‘pro-type anchor chart’ out to our kura early in 2020.
Email sblackburn@wainui.school.nz if you have any feedback.
4. Rōpū Taunaki Ako/ Learning Support Group
As learners, we all need to reflect in order to make progress moving forward. This is not always an easy process for any student, let alone those with learning and/or behavioural difficulties. Reflecting on relationships with other students, group function, learning achieved, processes used help us to make good future decisions. Here are three activities which can help students learn to be confident in their reflections of each other and their learning.
5. Pānui ngaio/ Professional Reading
It’s true that our world is changing. The prevalence of social media means our students will grow up with a worldview shaped by algorithms as much as families or neighborhoods. Meanwhile, robotics and automation continue to replace manufacturing jobs. Rapid prototyping is now easier than ever and we’re just beginning to see what can happen with automation and machine learning. Virtual reality is still in its infancy and we can’t predict what it will mean for the way we perceive our world. Moreover, our students will enter a world where artificial intelligence will replace a significant number of analytical jobs. We can’t predict what the future will hold with advanced robotics and nanotechnology.
In the face of these rapid changes, it’s easy to think, “Let’s prepare them for the future. Let’s transform our schools into places that are cutting edge and new.” Maybe add some high-tech makerspaces. Let’s teach students how to use the 3D printer. Let’s teach them how to use Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Let’s teach every child to master coding.
But here’s the counterintuitive truth: if we want to prepare our students for this future, we shouldn’t focus solely on the future. As a teacher, I’ve seen the promise of interactive whiteboards, personalized learning programs, and one-to-one netbooks to revolutionize education. Years later, many of these gadgets are now obsolete.
But certain strategies will never be obsolete. Deep conversations. Meaningful collaboration. Epic projects. Creative thinking. Curiosity. These are the strategies that will help students become adaptable, nimble, and able to iterate. If they can think divergently and make connections between unrelated ideas, they’ll actually anticipate change more quickly. This idea is at the heart of vintage innovation.
6. Ataata/ Video
A slightly old TedX talk that still contains some powerful viewpoints. For example:
“Technology is only new if you remember the way it was before.”
To keep up to date, follow us on our Kāhui Ako website: https://orewakahuiako.com/
UPCOMING:
Kāhui Ako ki Orewa 
Leave a Reply