Kāhui Ako ki Orewa

 

Rāmere, te 13 o Poutū-te-rangi, 2020

1. Rōpū Pāngarau/ Maths Group: LPF update

2. Te Reo Me Tikanga Māori: At the marae

3. Tuhituhi/ Writing: Writing workshop progress

4. Rōpū Taunaki Ako/ Learning Support: Learning Ladders

5. Pānui ngaio/ Professional Reading or Viewing: Be kind to Yourself

6. Ngaio pukapuka kōrero/ Professional Development: DT session at Orewa College

1. Rōpū Pāngarau/ Maths

Linda was fortunate to attend a hui run by the ministry in their Wellington offices on Friday, 6 March. Besides loving any excuse to visit our capital city, she found the day to be both informative and incredibly useful for planning the Kāhui leaders’ way forward with the curriculum progress tools. As a Kāhui Ako we have spent many hours on both the writing and maths learning progressions frameworks. It was therefore encouraging to hear the following quote from one of the attendees:

The LPF gives teachers the big picture, with eloquent descriptors of NZC levels 1 through to 5. PaCT is ‘just’ the tool for generating data. But the data is powerful and has been compared to the well-known Plunket Graph.

The beauty lies in the simplicity of the graph: If the student is underachieving according to the projected graph, intervention is required.

The other beauty of PaCT is the information that can be tailored to suit the audience. Whether it is a report for the Board of Trustees, Kāhui Ako kura, senior leaders, teachers or parents and whānau, the information can be generated quickly and efficiently. If you are interested in reading more, find the link to the full post here.

2. Te Reo Me Tikanga Māori

Kia ora e te whānau,

Unfortunately, in light of the latest announcement from the World Health Organisation regarding the classification of Covid19 as a pandemic, we were not able to hold the pōhiri. Apologies to all for the last-minute cancellation but we will be re-booking the event in the future.

This week we have had a busy time at our marae, Te Herenga Waka o Orewa. On Wednesday, tumuaki/ principals and kaiarahi Māori/ Māori leaders met at the marae with Kereama Nathan, our kaumatua.

Kereama took us through the history of the marae over the past 40 years. We then broke into groups to discuss what history, both nationally and locally, we want our tamariki to be taught in our kura; how we will access this information; barriers for teacher delivery and how we can ensure our precious local history can be protected in the future.

Moving forward, we will use the kōrero from our discussions to plan our pathway forward. Leaders are planning a day in the future where all leaders from all local kura including those on the Whanagaparāoa peninsula can come to learn the historical perspectives of the many iwi that can claim the right of mana whenua in our area pre-colonisation.

3. Tuhituhi/ Writing

We held our writing workshop on Wednesday 11th March at Orewa College in the newly refurbished ‘Cafe.’ We welcomed two newly appointed in- school leaders from Silverdale Primary, Rhian Storey and Rebecca Smith as well as Shelley Ross from Wainui School. Our session together was highly productive and we have made huge progress in the tasks we set ourselves in 2019.

• Draft of all four writing posters completed.

-Expository

-Descriptive

– Persuasive

-Narrative

• Icons designed for posters
• ‘Kids Speak’ matrix now being developed, aligned to curriculum levels
• Self -assessment matrix being developed in surface features from Years 7-10

Next steps

Posters

• Final selection of icons for posters
• Develop a generic ‘writing process’ poster
• ‘Testing’ of posters with students / writing focus group teachers
• Graphics team to work on design
• Printing of posters and shared to our kura.

Our intention with designing these posters for our Kāhui Ako is to ensure our students and teachers have a common language and understanding of the criteria needed for each of these text types from Years 1-10. Teachers could use them to assist in their teaching and planning, unpacking each step in the posters with their students. Students might use them as a reference of what is required for each text type.

‘Kids Speak’ matrix / Self Assessment matrix

• Continue to develop these using our reviewed Orewa Kahui matrix, L.P.F. and the New Zealand Curriculum literacy progressions and writing levels.
• ‘Testing’ with students / writing focus group teachers
• Sharing to our kura

Thank you to all who attended our workshop, it was a fantastic morning with lots of mahi accomplished.

4. Rōpū Taunaki Ako/ Learning Support Group

Learning Ladders

Learning Ladders can help all students to set aims and goals for gaining skills or achievements. There are a number of ways ladders can be used:

• The goal or aim is on the top rung of the ladder. The steps to achievement are broken up into steps, written above each rung, starting from the bottom, all the way up to the ultimate goal.
• Each rung can represent a different skill or skill step
• Each rung could be a learning session with a goal in each rung set for each session. A student progresses once achieved.
• A check / recognition ladder
• Students self checking their level of learning and/or achievement
• Students can record their successes on each rung of the ladder. It becomes a log of success, building upwards.

Twinkle have some good examples:

To create your own simple versions, use paint colour sample cards as the ladders. Start with the lightest colour at the bottom and strongest colour at the top. Each square can be written on (See example below)

5. Pānui ngaio/ Professional Reading or Viewing:

Whether you’re just starting out or well into your teaching journey, this short video is a great reminder of what we love (and loathe) about our teaching job.

Covid-19: This article takes a closer look at the epidemic curve graph: The three phases of Covid-19 – and how we can make it manageable. How is the coronavirus likely to play out, how does it end, and does our behaviour make a difference? Here infectious diseases expert Dr Siouxsie Wiles walks us through the epidemic curve, with illustrations by Toby Morris: Link to full article here.

6. Ngaio pukapuka kōrero/ Professional Development

We have booked a Digital Technologies PD day at Orewa College on March 26th at 10-3pm. This is Ministry funded and run by Core Education. It will be an introduction to Digital Technologies curriculum, including how to integrate in a variety of curriculum areas and levels. Staff from various schools attended similar sessions last year and feedback has been positive. There is no cost to schools for the training and lunch is provided.

Anyone interested will need to register using this link. It would be fantastic if we could get a few people from each school.

To keep up to date, follow us on our Orewa Kāhui Ako Website.

UPCOMING: