Unteach Racism

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
What is the most important thing in the world?  It is the people, it is the people, it is the people. Maori Proverb.

Ubuntu

Dis is die mense

It is the people

I appreciated that the teacher's council does not see this program as criticism indicating that somebody has done something wrong or right. But rather helping us to accept where we are as a country with regards to racism, and triggering a starting point to unteach racism. 

This statement by Takunda Muzondiwa from Mount Albert Grammar School hit a chord in my heart. 

"At the age of 7, my family immigrates from Zimbabwe to Aotearoa. I pass through Customs but my culture is made to stay behind. In the classroom, I am afraid my tongue beats back to its African rhythm, is concussed by fear, or has all its memories obscured by amnesia. Yesterday I was an African, today I am lost."

My journey will consist of 3 stages: 

Identity

Confront

Dismantle

Racism is taught, you are not born a racist. It can be unlearned. And one might think you are not a racist, however, you could be implicit bias. Treating students differently than others for different reasons e.g. they might not be able to do the work, or based on where they are from. The question is how am I bias? I did the Implicit test. Not what I expected. I am taking a hard look at how my implicit bias will influence my learners. Our roots are deep. Racism is taught through many, many generations. But we have the choice to slow this taniwha down.

Here are some suggestions of what we can do:

• If Māori children are to achieve, it is crucial for teachers to lift their expectations of students and treat all students as having the same potential for achievement
• Check resources used - stereotyped?
• Having safe and productive conversations with people around me
• Start a conversation with colleagues using Tātaiako outcomes of learner and whānau voice to identify whether any learners are privileged over others in your setting.
• Make a list of the things you hope all your learners and their whānau would say about your learning community.
• Identify one activity you could put in place to understand if what you hope they would say is close to reality.
• Start a conversation on Hapori Matatū about what changes can be made in learning environments to agitate for equity
• create learning environments that promote access to equitable outcomes for all our learners.

What will I do first?

1. I will focus on lifting my expectations of my students and treat them all as having the same potention.
2. I will double check the resources that I use, that they represent my students and not the white privileged community. 
3. Have a conversation with my colleages and make a list that we would like our learners and whanau to say about our learning community. 

LifeKeepers

 A great course with valuable tools to recognize signs indicating suicide and how you can help. 

I now know: 

- More about preventing suicide

- Understand risk and protective factors

- Can identify warning signs

- Appreciate cultural differences linked to suicide prevention

- Know how to intervene with C.A.R.E.

- Know where to get the right support 

Growth Inquiry

Term 3

As part of my WSL role is my own inquiry in Growth Coaching. The goal that I set for myself with my external coach is: 

By  the end of Term 4 2021, (Friday 9 December 2021)  

I  have deepened my understanding of the GROWTH coaching  Framework and elements (Framework, skills, coaching way of being) so that I can coach my teachers in their inquiries to enable them to improve their teaching practices in literacy.

I had the opportunity to coach my DP while being observed by my principal. At the same time being videoed.

When I did the coaching my initial thoughts were that the questions I'm asking are not really getting to the root of the problem. It's hard to explain, but I felt like I wasn't asking the right questions. However, as soon as I started really listening to what she said instead of focussing on my notes, my questioning or prompts became better. 

This session was super powerful for me, as the feedback from my principal made me aware of what I was doing right (structured coaching session) and what I need to get better at  (setting my goals). We had a good discussion around the difference between what the goal is and what the next steps are. I was getting confused between the two and made my next steps (tiny achievable steps) my goal which could actually hold the process back, as coachees might think that that is all they have to do over a 5 or 6 weeks period of time. I grabbed the opportunity then to redo my DP's goal while co-constructing it with the help of my principal. 

Further, I shouldn't be saying, "Anything else?" I should be saying "What else?". 

Follow up with my ASL: 

I had a coaching session with my ASL and had the opportunity to coach her. The feedback was good which gives me the confidence that I am on the right track. 

When being coached by my ASL I found that my thinking process was better as I have an understanding of how the process works. So I don't feel anxious if she asks "what else?" as I did the first time I was coached. It's not a trick question, it's just the opportunity to think deeply. 

Feedback from my colleagues that I'm coaching: 

I asked feedback from my coachees to help me in my inquiry. 

The general feedback was that they liked the Growth Coaching model and that setting the goals that they feel is achievable was good. 

Here is what some of them said: 

"It is good to have you as a coach and keep me on track and motivated. I like that we reset my goal and made this clearer and more realistic as I was feeling a little bit over whelmed by the tasks I had set." This was after my session with DP that I went back to my coachee and we corrected her goal. 

And the other said, "In terms of feedback, I get the sense that you still feel quite a strong sense of responsibility to ensure that the process is happening properly, and ideally that sense of responsibility should shift to the person being coached (me)".

So my next step is to trust the process. Have a really good understanding of what a follow-up or check-in should look like. Know my coachees really well. Who needs more check-ins and who needs less. Supporting them does not mean pushing them...

Toolkit - Independent Learning

 After attending the workshop on Independent Learning, I realized that we are not far off with what we are currently doing in our studio. Something that I would caution the presenter about is going back to the Teacher creating loads of slides or documents which takes hours to make. So I took from the workshop what I could. 

A reminder that independent work should not be new learning, but the consolidation of work already learned. 

It should be relevant to their learning needs. 

It can be individual, with a buddy, or a small group of 3 or 4. 

Teach students how to solve problems: not interrupting teachers when teaching groups, possibly ask 3 before me, however, it will be better if they don't have to ask the teacher at all. All students are experts and they should be able to help each other without interrupting the teacher. 

The facilitator had weekly contracts that she created. Basically a choice board. What I did like, was the Morning tea ticket out. Students have to have read and entered into their reading journals in order to be able to go to MT.  The other nice idea was to add a house point value to each task completed. (However, I am cautious of not creating an admin heavy job for teachers). She keeps Fridays as catch-up days on contracts. 

Work that is expected in the contract has been taught prior. There is an exemplar in the modeling book with clear expectations. This will help with keeping work to a high quality. 

Toolkit - exploring iMovie

I took the opportunity to upskill myself in using iMovie. I used Maria Krauses' slide from Manaiakalani. I've used iMovie quite a few times in the past, but could only do the basics, so wanted to use the opportunity during lockdown to extend my skills. 

This is my Practice Run (please note, I did a few things in the movie to show my learning, not necessarily looking good)

What I learned: 

- how to change the theme

- change filters (I used black and white)

- to add a voice recording in a specific place

- add a sound effect

- fade music in our out at different places

- extend the length of a photo to match the music or sound effect

It took a bit longer than I thought to figure out how to export my movie. (I ended up googling this part) Just to realize I needed to give the movie some time. So tip for next time, when exporting, watch the little timer instead of clicking all over the place to try and understand why the movie is not downloading. 

Manaiakalani Programme Share Staff Meeting

 Today was our first share meeting with the focus on being on helping kids with additional needs. I joined this group as I hoped to get ideas on how to support students that struggle to stay engaged when working on the devices as well as hoping to get some magical solutions to students going on the wrong sites via the guest account. 

The meeting was very informal and teachers introduced what they were hoping to get out of the meeting. Most of the teachers in my group have much higher challenges where they work with non-verbal students and students that have high behavioral needs. 

What I took from the share meeting is again reiterating the value of the Tuakana Teina model. I would like to explore how we can set this up in the studio for students that struggle to stay focussed on their task and especially when new students come in, how to navigate on the Chromebook. 

Ambassador's refresher course

What is Coming Soon?

Seesaw Lessons:

It includes kids-friendly navigation. Lessons on letter formation, number, and key competencies. During the lessons, kids can click on links to take them to activities, and then students and mark off activities that have been done. The lessons also include instructional videos and multiple learning experiences (including hands-on activities). In the lessons, there will also be the opportunity to reflect.

Product Accessibility:

Another new feature is where you can add captions in different languages to show when a video is playing. Just change settings. 

Bulk Updates:

Bulk updates can be made via CSV sheets 

Messages:

A new Messages dashboard (Yay) will be coming soon. Teachers will now have the option to messages individual students, parents, or whole classes. Students will be able to start a message to their teachers that are connected to their studio. They cannot start conversations with other students, school admin, parents, or teachers outside their class. 

Progress View

An overview of the students' progress according to either their activities or their skills. These can be filtered by students, groups, or activities. 

It's always good to do these refresher courses, I am especially excited about the Messages feature that will kick in soon, so I signed us up for the pre-trials. I love connecting with my parents and feel like that has not really happened this year due to a number of factors. It will be so good if we as a studio can lift our positive messages home. And with the Message feature, parents don't have to wait for the teachers to communicate with them first before they can contact us. They can send us a message at any point in time.